Theme: Get Thee Gone - The unifier would have us start each part of the themes with it's own start.
17A. *Sydney's locale, familiarly : DOWN UNDER. Go Down(Be nice.), Go Under.
21A. *Man, according to a longtime Desmond Morris best-seller : NAKED APE. Go Naked(Be nice.), Go Ape
33A. *Bluntly : STRAIGHT OUT. Go Straight(Be nice.), Go Out.
42A. *Skip-over-ads button : FAST FORWARD. Go Fast, Go Forward.
55A. *Hosting squad : HOME TEAM. Go Home, Go Team.
61A. Overachievers, and a hint to a word that can precede both words of the starred answers : GO-GETTERS
Argyle here. Lois should have blogged this one. Sort of doubled up on yesterday's theme. Very good fill.
Across:
1. Beat to a pulp : MASH
5. Dapper Dans : FOPS. "A dilettantism in nature is barren and unworthy. A fop of fields is no better than his brother on Broadway." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
9. Very cold : GELID
14. Mental block buster : IDEA
15. Guinness who played Obi-Wan : ALEC
16. Memorable mission : ALAMO
19. Bantu-speaking South Africans : ZULUs
20. Ain't right? : AREN'T
23. WWII bond designation : SERIES E
26. Mental block buster : MUSE. I like my first choice better. MASE(maze).
27. Spoiled-rotten kids : BRATS
29. Doggone : DAD-GUM. Dictionary prefers DAD-GUMMED.
37. Sun Devils' sch. : ASU. Arizona State University in Metro Phoenix, Arizona.
38. Work like a dog : TOIL
39. Clumsy dummy : OAF
40. Iditarod racer : SLED
41. "I'm with ya" : "YUP!"
46. Like porn : X-RATED
48. Very strange : EERIE
49. Skyline-blurring phenomenon : HAZE
51. One begins parallel parking in it : REVERSE
59. Lucy's landlady : ETHEL. Mertz.
60. "It was you," in a Verdi aria : ERI TU. Musical interlude Clip(4:35)
64. Odom of the Lakers : LAMAR.
65. Pianist Gilels : EMIL. Gilels plays the Prelude in B minor(3:22).
66. Case for notions : ETUI
67. Annapolis frosh : PLEBE
68. Smelling awful : RANK
69. "Look __, I'm Sandra Dee": "Grease" song : AT ME. Clip(1:35).
Down:
1. Big name in muffler replacement : MIDAS
2. Love to bits : ADORE
3. Runoff collector : SEWER
4. Memorable Alps crosser : HANNIBAL
5. Bleacher creature : FAN
6. Stale : OLD
7. Rounded hammer part : PEEN. Image.
8. "Get outta here!" : "SCRAM!"
9. Feasts one's eyes on : GAZES AT
10. Gave the slip : ELUDED
11. Tra-__ : LA-LA
12. "No need to wake me" : "I'M UP"
13. Two caplets, say : DOSE
18. Wombs : UTERI
22. Twisty-horned antelope : KUDU. They will never replace reindeer.
24. Droop : SAG
25. Cultural credo : ETHOS
28. Hillary's department : STATE
30. Big shindig : GALA
31. Web browser : USER
32. Emmy-winning newsman Roger : MUDD
33. River of Hades : STYX
34. Take to the road, as a rock band : TOUR. Styx on tour, cute. Memorabilia.
35. Philbin co-host : RIPA. Kelly.
36. "I'm gonna make him an __ he can't refuse" : OFFER. From Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather"(1972).
40. Popular Dixie drink : SWEET TEA
42. Main movie : FEATURE
43. Wood-shaping tool : ADZE. Here someone is using a small adze to form the interior of a bowl. Clip.(1:39)
44. Rock in a seam : ORE
45. Transfix : RIVET
47. What a treater picks up : THE TAB
50. Gung-ho : EAGER
52. Suave Butler : RHETT. Dashing.
53. Red Cross supply : SERUM
54. Borden's spokescow : ELSIE. Image.
55. "SOS!" : "HELP!". "Mayday! Mayday!"
56. Like some vaccines : ORAL
57. Play charades : MIME
58. NYC gallery : MOMA. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Tim Burton Entrance to MoMA's Special Exhibitions Gallery.
62. Bathtub booze : GIN
63. "Benevolent" fellow : ELK. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Answer grid.
Argyle
65. Pianist Gilels : EMIL. Gilels plays the Prelude in B minor(3:22).
66. Case for notions : ETUI
67. Annapolis frosh : PLEBE
68. Smelling awful : RANK
69. "Look __, I'm Sandra Dee": "Grease" song : AT ME. Clip(1:35).
Down:
1. Big name in muffler replacement : MIDAS
2. Love to bits : ADORE
3. Runoff collector : SEWER
4. Memorable Alps crosser : HANNIBAL
5. Bleacher creature : FAN
6. Stale : OLD
7. Rounded hammer part : PEEN. Image.
8. "Get outta here!" : "SCRAM!"
9. Feasts one's eyes on : GAZES AT
10. Gave the slip : ELUDED
11. Tra-__ : LA-LA
12. "No need to wake me" : "I'M UP"
13. Two caplets, say : DOSE
18. Wombs : UTERI
22. Twisty-horned antelope : KUDU. They will never replace reindeer.
24. Droop : SAG
25. Cultural credo : ETHOS
28. Hillary's department : STATE
30. Big shindig : GALA
31. Web browser : USER
32. Emmy-winning newsman Roger : MUDD
33. River of Hades : STYX
34. Take to the road, as a rock band : TOUR. Styx on tour, cute. Memorabilia.
35. Philbin co-host : RIPA. Kelly.
36. "I'm gonna make him an __ he can't refuse" : OFFER. From Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather"(1972).
40. Popular Dixie drink : SWEET TEA
42. Main movie : FEATURE
43. Wood-shaping tool : ADZE. Here someone is using a small adze to form the interior of a bowl. Clip.(1:39)
44. Rock in a seam : ORE
45. Transfix : RIVET
47. What a treater picks up : THE TAB
50. Gung-ho : EAGER
52. Suave Butler : RHETT. Dashing.
53. Red Cross supply : SERUM
54. Borden's spokescow : ELSIE. Image.
55. "SOS!" : "HELP!". "Mayday! Mayday!"
56. Like some vaccines : ORAL
57. Play charades : MIME
58. NYC gallery : MOMA. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Tim Burton Entrance to MoMA's Special Exhibitions Gallery.
62. Bathtub booze : GIN
63. "Benevolent" fellow : ELK. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Answer grid.
Argyle