39. Springfield bartender Szyslak: MOE - This Halloween you could have gone as MOE, Homer Simpson's bartender.
40. Perlman of "The Mindy Project": RHEA - Yeah, I know, she'll always be Carla from Cheers
42. Recipe words: STIR IN.
44. Kerfuffles: ADOS.
48. Stuffed shells: TACOS.
49. "This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey From Refugee to Congresswoman" writer: OMAR.
50. Multiparty merger statement?: WE DO.
51. Cut down to size: ABASE.
52. Like some series finales: MIDSEASON - New for me:
What’s a MIDSEASON Finale?
First, a midseason finale is the last episode of a traditional, weekly-airing television season before it goes on hiatus for a month or more. It may be called a winter finale or even a fall finale, but they all mean the same thing: Your show won’t be back on the air for a while.
54. Harder to come by: RARER.
55. Handy bookmark for a note-taker: INDEX CARD.
56. Head lock: TRESS - 😋
57. Bear markets?: TOY STORES - 😋
Down:
1. Corporate department: SALES.
2. Chef and farm-to-table pioneer Waters: ALICE.
3. Not easily moved: STOIC.
4. Dance partner?: SONG - Of all the wonderful Mary Tyler Moore scenes, this is one of my very favorites
5. Forward's opposite: AFT - The AFT of the Titanic rose high into the air before sinking
6. Far from perfect: FLAWED.
7. Cuba libre: RUM AND COKE.
8. Had an epic fail: ATE IT - I bought a Beta Max camera and player
9. Feudal laborer: SERF.
10. Lives it up: HAS FUN.
11. Belief of more than 2 billion people: ISLAM.
12. Downside of some self-cleaning: HAIRBALLS - No problem here because Lily gets brushed very frequently
14. Cornstalk toppers: TASSELS - I made big money hiring hundreds of kids every summer for 23 years to DETASSEL corn to make hybrid seeds. Why it is done.
23. Step up: RUNG - Quickly!
24. Moonstruck: RAPT.
25. Homicide detective Rizzoli of "Rizzoli & Isles": JANE - The character and her portrayer
26. Caramel lollipop in a yellow-and-red wrapper: SUGAR DADDY - Memories of my misspent yute
28. "Whatevs": LIKE I CARE - When did "I could care less" equate to "I couldn't care less"?
30. Number of World Series wins for the Nationals: ONE - World Champions in 2019. Worst record in MLB in 2022.
31. Quartet with the 2021 album "Voyage": ABBA - Forty years after their last concert, ABBA got together again, had themselves digitized, filmed a new concert with 160 cameras, incredible lighting and sound that made for an unbelievable concert! Harbinger of more to come?
32. Where elbows might be on the table?: PASTA BAR.
Theme: "I only regret that I have but one livestock to exchange for my crossword solvers"
Puzzling thoughts:
First off, kudos to Nathan Hale - both our Nation's patriot and today's puzzle constructor - for their contributions. But since a Google search and a Crossword Corner search show nothing for "Nathan Hale Crossword Constructor", I must conclude that our Nation's patriot rose from the dead to generate this giggly grid. Or if indeed there IS a Crossword Constructor with the same name as one of our Nation's patriots, then perhaps this is his/their first published puzzle. If so, more kudos. A debut puzzle at LAT is one to be proud of!
Let's dig into this treat and see what kind of exchange Hale made ...
20-across. *Era known for Pegasus and other winged stallions?: WHEN HORSES FLY. Of course, the more common phrase is: "When PIGS fly" ...
33-across. *Tenderize steaks?: BEAT A DEAD COW. The more common phrase is "Beat a dead HORSE" - as this visual depicts
41-across. *Pet restriction set by the condo board?: DON'T HAVE A PIG. My favorite of the three punny clues. "Don't have a COW" is the more common phrase ... Gary Larson (the comic strip author, not the crossword constructor) says it best:
And the unifier: 56-across. Wall Street site, and what happened in order to form the answers to the starred clues?: STOCK EXCHANGE. Brilliant. Here is a STOCK "Exchange" that most investors would not welcome ...
14. Cantina breakfast element: HUEVO. If we are truly giving a CSO to our Latin American cornerites, perhaps a video for them is in order?? Gawd I hope this means just what it says (Queremos Vacaciones = "We want vacations") ... sung by the famous trio "Tres HUEVOs" ... I know someone will find another version of "Tres HUEVOs" ...
15. Smell: ODOR. If we take this clue as a verb, could you then say: "I ODORed a rat?!"
16. Plus: ALSO.
17. Four pairs: OCTET. Couldn't it ALSO be two trios and one pair?
18. Machu Picchu's land: PERU. Home of the INCANs, too. Fun Fact #1: Did you know that Machu Picchu was where the INCANdescent light bulb was created?
19. Frog sound?: RASP. CROAK wouldn't fit; RASP as in a RASPy voice. Got a frog in your throat?
23. Goof: ERR.
24. Ambient musician Brian: ENO.
25. Like many hunter-gatherer societies: TRIBAL. [Vocabulary dot com] "TRIBAL SOCIETY: hunting and gathering society, hunting and gathering tribe group that supports itself by hunting and fishing and by gathering wild fruits and vegetables; usually nomadic
28. Want: DESIRE. Different than a NEED. Just ask my partner Margaret ... we had many "DESIRES" for our new house but focused on the NEEDS
32. Pub fare: ALE. I fancy a game of darts, myself
36. Either of the "Grey Gardens" women: EDIE. WAG. Short for EDITH
39. Actor Barinholtz: IKE. I guess "Presidential nickname" was too easy for a Friday
40. Greenlit: OK'ED. The term "Greenlight" has both a positive and negative connotation. It originated from the railroad industry as the "green light signal" meant it was OK to continue forward on the tracks. In slang, it means the OK to commit a crime or a "hit" [Dictionary dot com] [Wiktionary dot com]
46. State Dept. URL ender: GOV. Not to be confused with a State Dept. nickname: GUV
47. Famous __ cookies: AMOS. But if you didn't know the answer, how could you say he was "famous"??
48. Lackluster: ANEMIC. As in lacking luster
52. Contacts online: E-MAILS. Oh, the verb form. Not your contact "list"
54. Notable period: ERA. During the "dead ball ERA" in baseball, most pitchers had a very low ERA
55. Pleased sigh: AAH. What I didn't just sigh as I realized I still have nine more "across" clues, and all of the "down" clues left on which to comment ...
60. Rental car choice: AVIS. How about an SUV or SEDAN? Nope, neither fit here
62. "Rubyfruit Jungle" writer __ Mae Brown: RITA. If I were ever to have one of my crossword puzzles accepted by the LA Times, I know that I will have to bone up on my books, movies, plays, songs, et al, to make sure I have some robust clues! ;^)
63. Radical: ULTRA. ULTRA doesn't sound nearly as cool as "RADICAL"
64. "Whip It" rock band: DEVO. About time for another visual, Moe ...
65. Elemental unit: ATOM.
66. Sea-bound group: FLEET. Of course, Moe thought of a different definition for FLEET ... maybe it's my upcoming colonoscopy in early 2023 ... Fun Fact #2: Who created the FLEET Enema? Charles Brown Fleet, a young pharmacist who moved to Lynchburg, VA in 1869, invented and began selling his Fleet's Chap-Stick lip balm. In 1893, Fleet developed the formula for phospho-soda, the basic ingredient for the Fleet Enema" [Lynchburgvirginia dot gov]
67. Yoked team: OXEN. If you watch my video for 14-across, that would be Yolked team
68. Strong urges: YENS. Also, a weak currency
69. Directory items: FILES.
Down:
1. __ down: ate with relish: CHOWED. HOT DOG is what I eat with relish ...
2. Game that introduced the joker into modern playing cards: EUCHRE. Here is a link
5. "Take that!": SO THERE. Lots of these type clues use the term "playground retort", but these sound so much more "adult" ... ;^)
6. Brand of helmet cams: GO PRO. Visual time:
7. __ of March: IDES. 15TH fits, too
8. Warning from a driver?: FORE.
9. "Would I lie to you?": TRUST ME. As an aside, I spent the better part of 45 years in Sales and Marketing ... please go back and re-read Fun Fact #1 to see if you "TRUST ME" ... ;^)
10. Soccer great Lloyd who wrote the memoir "When Nobody Was Watching": CARLI.
11. Listen to, as a recording: PLAY BACK. My fellow Stooges were these kind of "BACKS" - watch the first 10 seconds or the whole 3:42 of Curly, Larry, and Moe
12. Donkey: ASS. How many of you spell this word "A$$" when referring to a different definition?
13. Soak (up): SOP. Fun Fact #3: SOP is an acronym for: Standard Operating Procedure. It's a SOP to SOP up gravy with a roll or piece of bread
21. Window seat at the front of an airplane, often: ONE A. If the clue read "Aisle seat at the front ...", the answer could've been several choices depending on the aircraft's configuration. But the left window seat on ALL commercial aircraft is designated with the letter "A"
22. Cold, in Córdoba: FRIA. Una vez más, un video en español
26. Spiky succulent: ALOE. These "guys". We have an arboretum nearby that has a plethora of these. Here's one in bloom
27. More than off-color: LEWD. Moe-ku/haiku #1:
Former Bush VP Took Methaqualone, then cursed. New name? Dan QuaaLEWD
29. "Suuuuure": I BET. What skeptics might say about one or more of my "FUN FACTS"
30. "Land __ alive!": SAKES. We go from LEWD in 27-down to one of the milder oaths out there. I think this expression dates back to the '30's and '40's. Speaking for those my age and older, bless your heart to whomever came up with this clue! ;^)
31. Notion: IDEA. By this time, I've plum run out of IDEAs to make this blog more silly. Good thing, eh?!
34. Early DVR brand: TIVO. Fun Fact #4: TIVO is an acronym for Television Input Video Output
35. Old Venetian magistrate: DOGE. This clue - as the clue in 30-down - plays to an older crowd. Had the constructor or editor wanted to play to a younger crowd, the clue might've been: "Cryptocurrency starter"
36. Leg up: EDGE. Does that mean that a male dog has an EDGE over a female dog when doing their business?? Oops, the silliness just re-appeared ...
37. Unhappy ending: DOOM. Kinda like the character's name in the Spider-Man comics and Marvel movies
38. Like kudzu: INVASIVE. Fun Fact #5: Kudzu was intentionally introduced to North America by the Soil Erosion Service and Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s for the purpose of controlling soil erosion in the American Southeast
42. Saintly glow: HALO. Does this guy have one??
43. "Take a hike!": AM-SCRAY. In a puzzle where LIVESTOCK is featured, what better time to use a phrase that is in PIG Latin
">
44. Pique-nique setting: PARC. Frawnch. Picnic in a PARk
45. Piqued: IN A HUFF. Wait a second ... didn't we just have pique in the clue above? Multiple meanings for Frawnch words spelled the same?? Do they think they're English???!!! ;^) [Dictionary dot com] says about the word origin: "mid 16th century (denoting animosity between two or more people): from French piquer (pique) ‘prick, irritate’
49. "Wolf Hall" novelist Hilary: MANTEL. [Wikipedia dot com] "Dame Hilary Mary Mantel DBE FRSL was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, Every Day Is Mother's Day, was released in 1985
Moe-ku/haiku #2:
A former slugger's Fireplace shelf's built from bats. It's Mickey's MANTEL
50. "No argument here": I AGREE.
51. Flouts the rules: CHEATS. [Collins Dictionary dot com] says: "What does flouts stand for?
To treat with disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff at; mock. To flout the rules of propriety." Is CHEATS, then, a bit of a stretch???
53. "Here we go!": IT'S ON. A trailer from the movie "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"
54. Physicals: EXAMS. More of a dialog now, with your doctor/PCP/PA/Nurse Practitioner than an EXAM. About the only "physical" thing they do is to listen to your heart and lungs through a stethoscope
57. Sky box?: KITE. Ha Ha
58. Historic British school: ETON.
59. "__ Want for Christmas Is You": ALL I.
60. Hubbub: ADO.
61. Aggravate: VEX. Hope I haven't VEXed you with today's blog!
Comment to your heart's content below ... as an aside, yours truly had a published puzzle yesterday at Newsday. Click on this link if you'd care to take a stab at it. The puzzle is called "Young 'Uns" on November 3. Have fun! Thanks to MalMan who noticed it!!
Today's constructor,
Carly Schuna, is relatively new, with one puzzle in the
NY Times
and two in the LA Times. I can give you no better introduction to this
multi-talented person than
Husker's review of her March 26, 2022 outing. BTW it looks like Carly could give CrossEyedDave a run for the
money
in the cake department.
Today Carly wants to talkcars, one of modern life's
necessities. She does this with 4 punny clues, each
containing the name of a carmanufacturer, and then
filling with 4 commonly used two word phrases, each beginning with one
of the manufacturer's popular models:
17A. Place that showcases certain Fords?:
ESCAPE ROOM. An
escape room, also known as an escape game, puzzle room, or
exit game, is a game in which a team of players discover clues, solve
puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a
specific goal in a limited amount of time. OTOH, a FORD ESCAPE looks
like this:
2023 Ford Escape
29A. Beacon that illuminates some Hondas?:
PILOT LIGHT. A
pilot light
is a small gas flame, usually natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas, which
serves as an ignition source for a more powerful gas burner. OTOH, a
HONDA PILOT looks like this:
Honda Pilot
46A. Starting line for a race exclusively for some Hyundais?:
ACCENT MARK. Among other uses accent marks, also called
diacritical marks, are used to indicate the correct pronunciation of words to which they
are added. OTOH, a HYUNDAI ACCENT looks like this:
Hyundai Accent
62A. Overall condition of certain Nissans?:
ROGUE STATE. "Rogue state" (or sometimes "outlaw state") is a term
applied by some international theorists to states that they consider
threatening to the world's peace. These states meet certain criteria, such as
being ruled by authoritarian or totalitarian governments that severely
restrict human rights, sponsoring terrorism, or seeking to proliferate weapons
of mass destruction. I'm sure everyone can think of at least one
ROGUE STATE that has been in the spotlight for the last half
year. OTOH, a NISSAN ROGUE looks like this:
Nissan Rogue
No reveal, circles, or asterisks. Here's the grid:
Let's see if we can keep this one on the road ... Across:
1. Minor in astronomy?: URSA. The BABY BEAR that is. Given
that male bears are cads, URSA MAJOR must be the
MAMMA BEAR.
5. Golden St. region: SOCAL. SOuthern
CALifornia.
10. Org. that includes the Sun and the Sky: WNBA. Here are the
WNBA teams.
14. Gravy __: BOAT.
15. Extremely, in slang: HELLA. Shouldn't this be HELLAVA?
19. Marine mammal with the same colors as an Oreo: ORCA. Or "Confection with the same colors as a marine mammal" could be yet another clue for OREO.
20. Save: RESCUE.
21. Digital covers?: TOE SOCKS. They keep your piggies warm.
23. Broadcasting: ON TV. Does anybody watch this anymore?
25. Result of a crash?: NAP. I'm about to crash. I think
it's time for my NAP.
26. Planets, poetically: ORBS. I still think
Clyde Tombaugh
was right. Hand up if you think there are 9 planets?
35. Diner staple: MELT.
36. Oft-injured knee parts, for short: ACLS. An
ACL injury
is a tear or sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) — one of
the strong bands of tissue that help connect your thigh bone (femur) to your
shinbone (tibia).
37. Falcon's 69-Across: AERIE. Sounds kinda scary to me.
38. In the style of: ALA. Teri and I visited ALA a year
back to attend a wedding. A beautiful state with friendly, generous
people.
39. Heartburn remedy: ANTACID. IMHO, the best ANTACID is drinking
lots of water.
41. Nail-biting NFL periods: OTS.
42. Dharma follower: HINDU.
Dharma
is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no
direct single-word translation for dharma in European languages, it is
commonly translated as "righteousness", "merit" or "religious and moral
duties" governing individual conduct.
44. Desktop with a Retina 5K display: IMAC.
Sweet! Hand up if you've got one Apple scruffs?
45. Promote aggressively: TOUT. Thankfully the
TOUTING season will be just about over by next Tuesday, followed by
the WRANGLING season over what the REAL results were.
48. Gear on a tour bus: AMPS.
49. "Wanted to mention," for short: BTW.
50. Ailing: SICK.
52. "Ahem": EXCUSE ME.
57. Reunion attendees: NIECES. And
39D AUNTS.
61. Cross off: X OUT.
64. Tollbooth pricing unit: AXLE. Correlates nicely with the
number of wheels and weight, and thus road wear.
66. Former Indiana governor Bayh: EVAN.
Birch Evans Bayh III, born December 26, 1955 (not to be confused with
his father Birch Bayh, Jr.), is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and Democratic Party politician who
served as a United States senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011 and the 46th
governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997.
69. Egg holder: NEST. If they're high enough they can be pretty
EERIE.
Down:
1. Taxi alternative: UBER. We tried
UBER
when we attended a wedding in New York, but the traffic was so bad there that
we found it was faster to walk or take the subway. We did have a lot of
success with
LYFT
in D.C.
3. Anatomical pouches: SACS. These containers seem to vary
so much in their form and function that I was unable to find an overarching
definition for them. The best I could come up with was this Wikipedia
subtopic with
a menu of links to different types of sacs.
4. Not without consequences: AT A COST. A clue is
related to the Hindu concept of
Karma (see
42A).
5. Ovenware for roasting vegetables: SHEET PAN.
6. Above, in odes: OER. Perhaps the most famous usage of this
word is in
the ode to our nation's flag: "O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming ..."
7. Coagulate: CLOT.
8. __ gobi: potato and cauliflower dish: ALOO. Here's a recipe
for
Aloo gobi. I first learned the word Aloo from
Aloo parathas, Indian pastries stuffed with spiced potatoes. I guess Aloo
must mean "potato"
12. Mets manager Showalter: BUCK.
William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter III
(born May 23, 1956) is an American professional baseball manager for the New
York Mets. Previously, he served as manager of the New York Yankees
(1992–1995), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998–2000), Texas Rangers (2003–2006), and
Baltimore Orioles (2010–2018).
Buck Showalter
13. Word of woe: ALAS. See 9D.
18. "I threw away my golf shoes when I got a hole in one," e.g.:
PUN. Or maybe "I like to putter and dig holes"
...
22. Leaves in a bowl: SALAD.
24. Mr. Boddy in Clue, e.g.: VICTIM. Speaking of
PUNS.
26. Missouri River city: OMAHA.
Omaha is the largest city in Nebraska
and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United
States on the Missouri River, about 10 mi (15 km) north of the mouth
of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city, Omaha's 2020 census
population was 486,051A. I did
one of DAB's puzzles last week and he clued this as "Nebraska city that
sounds like a German grandmother's laughter." Another CSO to Husker.
27. Remnant of the past: RELIC.
28. Sauvignon __: BLANC.
Sauvignon blanc
is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of
France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words
sauvage ("wild") and blanc ("white") due to its early origins as
an indigenous grape in South West France. A CSO to
CMOE.
Sauvignon Grapes
30. Andes animal: LLAMA.
The llama
is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack
animal by Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Or the beast in an Ogden Nash poem.
31. Filmdom awards: OSCARS. Did they give any awards this
year? All I heard about was
this:
"The Slap Heard Round the World"
At least Reuters photo-journalist Brian Snyder made some money from
it.
32. Husband-to-be: GROOM. A
bridegroom
(often shortened to groom) is a man who is about to be married or who
is newlywed.
33. Ask (for): HIT UP.
34. Battery units?: TESTS. Here's a
battery of tests
to determine the usefulness of a battery of tests.
39. Reunion attendees: AUNTS. And 57A NIECES.
40. Gross feeling: ICKINESS. "adjective. Informal. Not pleasant or agreeable: bad, disagreeable,
displeasing, offensive, uncongenial, unpleasant, unsympathetic. Slang:
yucky" - The Free Dictionary
43. Showed for the first time: DEBUTED. The T is
silent.
45. Relax for a bit: TAKE TEN. I've only got time to
Take Five:
47. Dances suggestively: TWERKS. I checked out some GIFs, but I
don't think Margaret Farrar would approve.
51. Opposite of trans: CIS.
Cis–trans isomers are stereoisomers, that is, pairs of molecules which have the same formula, but whose
functional groups are in different orientations in three-dimensional
space. The prefixes "cis" and "trans" are from Latin:
"this side of" and "the other side of", respectively. Here's an example
of cis-2-butene and trans-2-butene, both colorless gases used in
the synthesis of gasoline.
cis-trans isomers
52. Proctor's handout: EXAM.
53. Sentimental sign-off: XOXO. Hugs and kisses. The first
recorded usage X was in 1763 by a
parson Gilbert White. The origin of O is
speculative and more recent.
58. Buckle: CAVE. CAVE is short for CAVE IN, a
synonym for BUCKLE:
59. Airport guesses, for short: ETAS.
60. In the mail: SENT.
63. Shoshonean language: UTE.
Shoshone, also spelled Shoshoni; also called Snake was a North American
Indian group that occupied the territory from what is now southeastern
California across central and eastern Nevada and northwestern Utah into
southern Idaho and western Wyoming. Their language was one of the
Uto-Aztecan languages. The State of Utah derives its name from the
UTE language.
Shoshone Indian
Cheers, Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof
reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Carly Schuna, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle,
its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below. We'd love to hear from you.
24. Arrives, and an apt description of the sets of circled letters: SHOWS UP.
Melissa here. I'm putting the grid up top, so you can see C.C.'s clever gimmick. The circled letters, read UP, are all Broadway SHOWS.
Across:
1. Flash __: impromptu gatherings: MOBS. One of my all-time favorite flash-mobs, even though it's quite old now.
5. Chew like a squirrel: GNAW
9. Pretzel topping: SALT.
13. Pentathlete's sword: EPEE. The five events in the modern pentathlon—fencing, swimming, horse riding, pistol shooting, and running—were chosen to reflect skills that cavalry soldiers of the 19th-century ought to possess and refine.
14. Low opera voice: BASSO. From Wiki: Basso profondo (Italian: "deep bass"), sometimes basso profundo, contrabass or oktavist, is the lowest bass voice type. Below: Basso Profondo Trio - Song of the Volga Boatmen.
15. Joshua __ National Park: TREE. Two distinct desert ecosystems, the Mojave and the Colorado, come together in Joshua Tree National Park.
16. Swell: RISE.
17. "Your work is awesome!": I'M A HUGE FAN. When I met my son's new girlfriend, she said "I'm a huge fan of your work," meaning my son. How can I not love her?
25. City that hosts the State Fair of Texas: DALLAS.
29. Fifth of a nickel: CENT.
31. Round of applause: HAND.
33. Aggravate: IRK. And 40A just a few below ...
34. "I'll handle this": LET ME.
36. __-Free: contact lens solution: OPTI.
37. By way of: VIA.
38. Fact-checker's catch: ERROR.
39. Leave stunned: AWE.
40. Troubled to no end: ATE AT. 1) Annoyed 2) Annoyed greatly 3) Annoyed no end 4) Annoyed persistently 5) Bedeviled 6) Bothered 7) Bothered a lot 8) Bothered a lot 9) Bothered big-time 10) Bothered constantly 11) Bothered deeply 12) Bothered greatly 13) Bothered incessantly 14) Bothered nigglingly 15) Bothered no end 16) Bothered persistently.
42. Thanos, to the Avengers: FOE. Supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
43. Those, in Spanish: ESOS.
45. "Say cheese!": SMILE.
46. QB stats: TDS.
47. Org. fighting for LGBTQ rights: ACLU. What do we want? An end to acronyms! When do we want it? ASAP!
48. Garlic's covering: SKIN. For a few years I lived in Gilroy, just on the other side of the fence from one of the Christopher Ranch garlic processing plants. When they were drying, it would literally rain pieces of the paper skins for days.
49. Emphatic agreement: YES I DO.
51. Washed-out: PALE.
53. Go out for a bit?: NAP. Cute.
56. Light in signs: NEON.
58. Text from a glum chum: SAD FACE. There's an emoji for most everything. 🧄
60. Gala celebrating the Academy Awards: OSCAR PARTY.
64. Heavy burden: ONUS.
65. Like ground chicken: LEAN.
66. Dubai dignitaries: EMIRS.
67. Fully aware of: ONTO.
68. Palm fruit: DATE.
69. Promotional sample: DEMO.
70. Turns blue, maybe: DYES. The image that popped into my head was Violet, from Willy Wonka.
Down:
1. Deserve: MERIT.
2. Offer one's two cents: OPINE.
4. One with a crystal ball: SEER.
5. Go and Go Fish: GAMES.
6. Org. that uses cryptanalysis: NSA. National Security Agency.
7. Arthur in the International Tennis Hall of Fame: ASHE.
8. "__ that be nice!": WOULDN'T.
9. Real bargain: STEAL.
10. Bark: ARF.
11. Field for grazing: LEA.
12. Value of a Q tile, in Scrabble: TEN. Trivia: The highest score ever achieved for a single move in a Scrabble tournament was by Cathy Evans of Redbridge, Essex, who played QUETZALS for 365 points during the November 1986 Letchworth Open Scrabble Tournament.
14. Bathroom fixture: BIDET.
27. Sans serif typeface: ARIAL. Font and design geeks will enjoy this documentary all about Helvetica. You can watch the whole thing free here.
28. Go rollerblading: SKATE.
30. Music genre that spawned screamo: EMO. Never heard of screamo.
