Tuesday, January 7, 2025 Gary Cee

  Theme:  PICK UP LINES.

Today's crossword puzzle by Gary Cee reminds us about some things we can pick up.  Those things are the second word in each of the answers to the clues marked with asterisks.  They have nothing to do with the cheesy pick up line illustrated above!  

The big reveal is right in the center of the puzzle:

37-Across. With 39-Across, "Move faster!," or what one can do with the end of the answer to each starred clue: PICK.  Together, 37- and 39-Across spell out PICK IT UP.  Let's see how this applies to the "starred" clues -- the ones marked with asterisks.

17-Across. *Teen magazine launched in 1965: TIGER BEAT.  Tiger Beat was an American teen fan magazine marketed primarily to adolescent girls. The magazine had a paper edition until December 2018, and afterward was published exclusively online until 2021.  And of course, you can PICK UP the BEAT, which means to start playing or moving in rhythm with the music, and perhaps to speed up a bit.

25-Across. *Nail-biting moment: CLOSE CALL.  A close call is a narrow escape from danger or disaster.  Some folks bite their nails at such tense moments!  And of course, you can PICK UP a CALL, or let it go to voicemail.

55-Across. *British tabloid: DAILY MAIL.  The Daily Mail is a British daily tabloid newspaper published in London. It was founded in 1896. As of 2020, it has the highest circulation of paid newspapers in the UK.  And of course, you can PICK UP the MAIL.

64-Across. *Notation for a fretted instrument: GUITAR TAB.  Tablature (or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering or the location of the played notes rather than musical pitches.

Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the guitar or lute. It was common during the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and is used today in notating many forms of music.  And of course, you can PICK UP the TAB -- pay for something, especially for what someone else has bought or used.

Time for me to PICK UP the pace.  Onward!

Across:

1. New puppy's need: NAME.

5. Photo app option: CROP.  I use phone and PC apps to CROP my photos. You?

9. Smidgen: SKOSH.  Some people say:  Just a SKOSH of cream in my coffee!  Merriam-Webster says:  The word skosh comes from the Japanese word sukoshi, which is pronounced "skoh shee" and means "a tiny bit" or "a small amount." The Japanese word was shortened by U.S. servicemen stationed in Japan after World War II. 

14. Spoken, not written: ORAL.

15. Atmospheric glow: AURA.  

Amazing aura around this person!

16. Pool divisions: LANES.  C.C. has shared some impressive swimming with us.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Free of profanity: CLEAN.

20. Film festival city on the French Riviera: CANNES. 

Festival de Cannes

21. Covert org.: CIA.  This organization is the Central Intelligence Agency.

23. Tail off: EBB.  Recede, lessen, reduce, tail off ...

24. Basketball giant Shaquille: O'NEAL.  Shaquille O'Neal, known commonly as Shaq, is a former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program Inside the NBA. He is a 7-foot-1-inch and 325-pound center who played for six teams over his 19-year career in the NBA and is a four-time NBA champion. Even I knew the gist of that.

Shaq

25. [Theme clue]

28. Toronto's prov.: ONT.  Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario.  An abbreviation in the clue hints at an abbreviation in the answer.

Is it really so pretty, CanadianEh?

29. Clarinet kin: OBOE.

31. Yiddish put-down: SCHLUB.  That poor SCHLUB just doesn't get it!  No one asked for a put-down!  Today's puzzle is about pick-ups!

32. Gal: LASS.  Conjures up a young woman of Sweden, Norway, or Scotland.  

34. Expenditure: COST.

36. Really gets to: RILES.

37. [Theme reveal]

39. [Theme reveal]

41. Lawful: LICIT.  LICIT means not forbidden, or lawful.  Somehow I hear "illicit" more often!  

44. "The Sweetest Taboo" singer: SADE.  Popular singer of crossword puzzles.

46. Quarrel: SPAT.  A brief, petty argument.

50. Orange shape: SPHERE.  A sphere is a round solid figure, or its surface, with every point on its surface equidistant from its center.  An orange is not a perfect sphere, but it's certainly glorular.

52. "Give me a __?": HAND.  Some of our solvers hate conversational prompts as clues.

54. "Now __ seen it all!": I'VE.

55. [Theme clue]

57. Estate measures: ACRES.

59. Pat gently: DAB.

60. No longer hush-hush: OUT.  Google's AI Overview explains, "Out" means something is openly revealed or not kept secret, while "hush hush" means something is kept secret or confidential, not to be discussed openly; essentially, "out" is the opposite of "hush hush."

61. E.B. White's "__ Little": STUART.  A wonderful book for children, by the author of Charlotte's Web.

Stuart Little

62. Like male lions: MANED.

64. [Theme clue]

66. Liquid measure, in Britain: LITRE.  In the U.S., we spell it "liter," and we only use it to measure large amounts of soda pop.

67. Overturn: UNDO.

68. Sonic the Hedgehog creator: SEGA.  It helps to have had teenagers at a certain point in history.

69. Navy prisons: BRIGS.  The brig on the Starship Enterprise looked OK.

Picard!  Who do you have in the brig?

70. Scratchy tone: RASP.

71. Paradise: EDEN.

Down:

1. "That's just wrong": NOT COOL.

2. Media magnate Huffington: ARIANNA.  Arianna Huffington is a Greek American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of The Huffington Post, the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and the author of fifteen books. She has been named to Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list.

Arianna Huffington

3. Shopping list holders: MAGNETS.  My refrigerator door is not magnetic; my magnet collection went to waste.

4. Supreme Court justice Kagan: ELENA.  Elena Kagan is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and is the fourth woman to serve on the Court.

Elena Kagan

5. Autos with meters: CABS.  If you've ridden in a taxi cab, you know there's a meter showing the increasing cost of the journey as you go along.

6. Feel sorrow over: RUE.  Regret, feel remorse ... we've all been there, on the way to doing better!

7. Fortunetellers: ORACLES.

8. Place for a firepit: PATIO.

9. Utah's capital, briefly: SLC.  Salt Lake City.

10. Crispy, nutritious snack: KALE CHIPS.  I'd like to make baked kale chips, but I'm convinced it will take more water, electricity, and personal energy, than will be gained from the consuming thereof!

11. Solid yellow on a pool table: ONE BALL.

12. Aquamarine: SEA BLUE.  Also a gem of that color.

13. QVC alternative: HSN.  QVC (Quality Value Convenience) and HSN (Home Shopping Network) were pioneers of modern consumer retail in the late 1980s and 1990s. They changed the way people shopped by introducing the concept of televised home shopping,

18. Move to a new house, informally: RELO.  American English short for "relocate."

22. Burro: ASS.

25. Hash slingers: COOKS.

26. Very light brown: ECRU.

27. Nt. wt. units: LBS.  Net weight units: pounds.  Abbreviations call for abbreviations.

30. Secretly include on an email: BCC.  BCC stands for "blind carbon copy" and is a feature in email that allows the sender to send a copy of an email to additional recipients without the other recipients being aware.

33. Steven who said, "When I grow up, I still want to be a director": SPIELBERG.  He started making films at age 12, and was bound and determined to continue.

Steven Spielberg

35. __ pool: TIDAL.

38. Coy response to "You're awesome!": I TRY.

40. First number in most countdowns: TEN.

41. Mind-altering drug: LSD.   Lysergic acid diethylamide.  Growing up in the 1960s, I kind of hoped that taking LSD, shacking up in Haight-Ashbury, and free love at outdoor festivals, would not be required in my young adulthood.

42. Lightweight Apple tablet: IPAD AIR.

43. Wine served at a trattoria: CHIANTI.  At a small Italian restaurant, you may order an Italian red wine produced in the Chianti region of central Tuscany.  

45. Steak option at a seafood house: AHI TUNA.  Ahi tuna is often called "steak" because when cut into thick slices from the loin of the fish, it resembles a beef steak in its appearance, texture, and ability to be cooked to different doneness levels, from rare to well done, just like a steak.  Tuna are big fish.

47. Illegally downloaded: PIRATED.  I remember when we told the kids to get Napster off their computers.  No stolen music in the house!  

48. Commonplace: AVERAGE.

49. Nuclear treaty topic: TEST BAN.

51. Angsty rock genre: EMO.  If you're new here, welcome to the most popular rock genre in LA Times crossword puzzles.

53. Analytics input: DATA.

56. Foretell: AUGUR.  This clue augurs well for a good finish today.

58. Put a whammy on: CURSE.  “Put the whammy on” means to cause someone to have bad luck or to jinx them.  Did someone put the whammy on our dear RosE?  We all wish her complete healing.

Flowers for RosE

61. "Enough!": STOP.

62. Org. with Angels and Dodgers: MLB. This organization is Major League Baseball.  I didn't even have to look it up before bolding typing it out.

63. __ Moines, Iowa: DES.  DH has family there!  And it's freezing!  

65. TSA checkpoint needs: IDs.  When you go through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, you need to show IDentification.

Here's the grid:

How did you do with today's theme? 

Did you PICK IT UP quickly?

Or did you miss a BEAT?

-- NaomiZ

Monday June 24, 2024 Larry Snyder

  

Happy Monday, everyone! Today's offering comes to us from OVERachiever Larry Snyder. Husker Gary introduced us to Larry on his June 3, 2023 LAT debut.

Theme:                          Overdoing It!

I am always impressed when a constructer can double-up on the themers. Let's take a look:

17 Across. Like structurally significant walls: LOAD-BEARING. I knew this one from watching HGTV. It'll cost extra!

• OVERLOAD.  to load with too great a burden or cargo
• OVERBEARING.  unpleasantly domineering

30 Across. Many a beach resort condo: TIMESHARE.

• OVERTIME.  in addition to normal working hours
• OVERSHARE.  reveal an inappropriate amount of detail about one's personal life

39 Across. Taking every point, in hearts: SHOOTING THE MOON.  Hearts is a card game. explanation

• OVERSHOOTING.  going past (sometimes unintentionally)
• OVER THE MOON.  extremely happy; delighted

46 Across. Have a guilt-free conscience, so to speak: SLEEP EASY.

• OVERSLEEP.  sleep past the time one intended to wake up
• OVER EASY.  a way to cook eggs so both sides are fried but the yolk remains runny

Then the reveal:

64. Repeatedly, or what can come before the main components of 17-, 30-, 39-, or 46-Across: OVER AND OVER.

When something is said repeatedly it is said OVER AND OVER. Also, two OVERs are paired with the two parts of the themed answers. 

Well done, Larry! I especially liked your grid-spanner, SHOOTING THE MOON.  

Hmmm.... I wonder if C.C. will pay me OVERTIME for having to write two explanations for each answer?  😜

Next, I'll go OVER the remaining clues:

Across:
1. Lettuce wrap lettuce: BIBB.  Fortunately I could only think of one variety of lettuce with a 4-letter name. Here is a P.F. Chang's copy-cat recipe. It calls for ground turkey or chicken but I want to try it with tofu.

BIBB lettuce makes nice cups for the filling.

5. "Tapestry" artist King: CAROLE.  Tapestry is the title track of the second studio album by American singer-songwriter, Carole King (b. Feb. 9, 1942). Here is a version with the lyrics:  

11. Weaken: SAP.  

14. Opera solo: ARIA.     and     36 Across. Kind of soprano: MEZZO.

MEZZO-soprano ARIAs offer a rich vocal range  for the middle female singing voice (between soprano and contralto). This is Raehann Bryce-Davis singing La Luce Langue at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp, Belgium in 2021. She will knock your socks off!  

15. Soft end of a pencil: ERASER.  cute

16. One more than bi-: TRI-.

19. Cherry shade: RED.  not the protection from the sun provided by a cherry tree

20. Creative motivation, casually: INSPO.  INSPiration

21. Floating ice chunk: BERG.  not a 4-letter nickname for iceberg lettuce (See 1-Across.)  

hanging out on the BERG

22. Actress Merrill: DINA.  (1923 - 2017)  Her father was Wall Street broker E.F. Hutton and her mother was cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. NPR ran this piece when she passed away.

23. Use oars: ROW.

25. "No harm done": IT'S OKAY.

27. Chew the fat: GAB.     and     71 Across. Chews the fat: YAKS.  

33. Beginning on: AS OF.

35. Sorento automaker: KIA.  Here are the details on the 2025 model from Car and Driver magazine. When did KIAs get so large?

43. 41-Down variety: PEKOE.     and     41 Down. Brewed beverage: TEA.

44. Floral garland: LEI.

45. How only two Super Bowls have ended, for short: IN OT.  an Easter egg??

This just happened last February when the Chiefs beat the 49ers IN OverTime in Super Bowl LVIII. The other time was seven years ago when the Patriots beat the Falcons in Super Bowl LI.

50. Moody music genre: EMO.

51. Cajole: WHEEDLE.  

53. Droop: SAG.  Blame it on gravity!

Old 97's (You know I love them!)

No Baby I from their seventh studio album, Blame it on Gravity

"You got them tears

They fall like pearls

Blame it on gravity, yeah

Blame it on being a girl"

55. Gripped: HELD.

56. __ A Sketch: ETCH.  

"screen time" in the 1960s

59. Maps app output: ROUTE.

63. In need of chicken soup, maybe: ILL.

66. "Fee, __, foe, fum": FIE.  I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive, or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

(Hand up for preferring the dead option when this happens.)

67. Make fizzy: AERATE.  On my recent cycling trip in the Pyrenees I tried txakoli wine (not a type-0! how to pronounce). It is not in itself fizzy but they pour it from on high so it AERATEs by the time it gets to your glass. (See the 9 sec. video below.) You are supposed to drink it quickly, before the bubbles leave. more info  

He makes this look easy! 

68. Dread: FEAR.

69. Supporting: FOR.  as in "I am FOR this ballot measure"

70. Bishop's neighbor on a chess board: KNIGHT.  

Down:
1. Indonesian island that has more than 20,000 temples: BALI.  That is about 1 temple for every 225 people. Balinese Hinduism

2. Wrinkle remover: IRON.  

3. Leaning: BIAS.  "Atilt" took today off.

4. Negative media coverage, for short: BAD PR.  Public Relations is shortened.

5. Fair grade: CEE.  

6. Part of UAE: ARAB.  United Arab Emirates

7. Hard to find: RARE.

8. Egyptian god of death and rebirth: OSIRIS.  ESP for me but it turns out he was one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt.  more info.

9. 50 meters, for an Olympic pool: LENGTH.  I liked this fresh angle! I also like a 50-meter pool. The pool where I swim these days is only 25 yards. I feel like I am constantly turning around.

10. Unit of energy: ERG.  The erg is a unit of energy equal to 10⁻⁷ joules.

11. Home plate umpire's parameter: STRIKE ZONE.  Great fill! I saw that "batter's box" fit but that did not seem quite right so I waited for a couple of perps.

12. Large stadium: ARENA.

13. March 14, to math fans: PI DAY.  3/14 is the day we celebrate 3.14  

18. Kick (out): BOOT.  

Nancy Sinatra released These Boots Are Made for Walkin' in 1966.

22. Sequence before fa-sol-la: DO RE MI.  

24. Crowdsourced site, briefly: WIKI.  Today's meta moment:  Wikipedia's entry about Wikipedia  

26. Alike: SAME.

27. Sound of shock: GASP.

28. Tennis legend Arthur: ASHE.

29. Merchant with novels, memoirs, etc.: BOOK SELLER.  I recently read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. There is a picture of a cat on the cover so I kept waiting for a cat to appear in the story. Spoiler alert:  no cat.

31. Least amt.: MIN.  MINimum

32. Two under par, in golf: EAGLE.  

34. Tricked: FOOLED.

37. Speed (by): ZOOM.  

38. "You may be __ something there": ONTO.

40. Cued (up): TEED.

42. Angry cat sound: HISS.

47. An hour before midnight: ELEVEN.  11:00 p.m. is one hour before 12:00 a.m. Whose great idea was that?!

48. "Great" czar: PETER I.  (1672-1725)  more info

Hand up for quickly filling in P-E-T-E-R what???

49. Three feet: YARD.

51. Faint scent: WHIFF.

52. Prefix meaning "sun": HELIO-.  Helios was the Greek sun god. He drove a chariot across the sky from east to west every day.  

relief sculpture excavated at Troy

54. Silly: GOOFY.

57. Rocky projection: CRAG.  This is a 5:35 min. video about a couple looking to find a new location in Greece for sport climbing. They establish ROUTEs on a gorgeous and challenging CRAG.  

58. "Thirty days __ September ... ": HATH.  I useth the knuckle trick.  

60. Eye layer: UVEA.  

61. Flooring wood: TEAK.     and     64 Down. Flooring wood: OAK.

62. Messes up: ERRS.

65. Com alternative: NET.  Top Level Domains (TLDs) See #4 below. (Click to enlarge.) 

Here's the grid:

That's it for today. sumdaze, OVER and out!

Friday, January 19, 2024, Gary Larson and Amy Ensz

Theme: He who hesitates is lost

Puzzling thoughts:

This is better ... back to wordplay in a Friday puzzle. And today's puzzle did not just commit wordplay in the entries; it did so, too, by its reveal: 59-across. Book supplements, and an apt title for this puzzle: ADD END UMS

Ok, if you want to nitpick, the plural for ADDENDUM is ADDENDA (which I suppose could be another puzzle theme in a few years), but a couple of googled dictionary sources say it's OK to use ADDENDUMS. Maybe Yellowrocks or Misty will chirp in and give us their expert opinion? But I digress ...

Today's puzzle is a collaboration between Gary Larson and Amy Ensz. The two of them have collaborated on puzzles here (mostly on Sunday) as well as the Wall Street Journal. In an interview, Gary refers to his wife as "Amy". I wonder if her last name happens to be Ensz??

Anyway, the puzzle has four entries and a reveal; 55 characters in all. That is a lot of theme characters for a 15x15 grid (minimum number of theme characters is usually 40)... which leads to a plethora of 3-letter entries (I think I counted 19), as well as 4-letter and 5-letter ones. I am no speed demon, but today's puzzle was completed in record-Friday-time (less than 9 minutes). Once I "got" the gist of the puzzle (adding an "UM" to the end of the entries) it solved quite quickly. But that did NOT diminish the enjoyment I had figuring it out. Here are the entries:

 

16-across. Class reunion attendee who's in no one's yearbook?: WEIRD ALUM. 

Weird Al

Weird Alum (also Weird Al)

 

25-across. Proper etiquette at the plate?: HOME DECORUM.

Home Decor

Home Decorum

 

37-across. Impulse behind the gift-giving in "The Twelve Days of Christmas"?: PRESENT MOMENTUM.

Present Moment

Present Momentum

 

47-across. Discussion panel about sheets, duvets, blankets, etc.?: COVERS FORUM.

Covers For

 

                                                                  

                       click on this to expose:       COVERS FORUM

 

Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words ... let's see how the rest of the words got THEIR moment(um):

Across:
1. Framing piece: JAMB. How about a Moe-l'ick right off the bat??

Welch's factory worker named Sam
Was found stealing. He went on the lam;
Tried escaping through door
Of the Company Store.
Don't you know he got stuck in the JAMB?

5. Swiatek who won her fourth major singles championship in 2023: IGA. Pretty sure that she does her food shopping at the "Hometown Proud" store in her area

8. Carding pre-entry: I.D.'ING. A bouncer's duty, perhaps, at a popular nightclub?

13. Vineyard measure: ACRE. The vineyards abroad generally use the term "hectare" to refer to this: "A hectare is a unit of measurement used by farmers to describe an area that is 10,000 m². Another way of looking at it is 1 hectare is equal to around 2.47 acres. As grapes for wine making are grown by farmers, the standard farm practice of measuring in hectares still stands" [Google search]

14. Russian dynast: TSAR. TSAR vs CZAR: Always remember TSAR is the head of a Russian dynast-TEE, CEE?

15. West Coast NFLer: NINER. They have a big NFL Divisional Round playoff game tomorrow vs the Packers

18. Dried poblano: ANCHO. CSO to Lucina, perhaps? I bet she knows a thing or two about peppers!

19. Off the street, in a way: GARAGED. Our subdivision has homes all with two-car garages, and allows for on-street parking on just one side to allow for emergency vehicles, et al, to pass freely

21. Irish capital: EURO. Since DUBLIN didn't fit, I knew that the "capital" meant their currency. Northern Ireland uses the British Pound, I believe

22. Touch: TAP.

27. Many of the Marshall Islands: ATOLLS. Another Moe-l'ick:

A PIRATE liked to wander afar,
On a boat, or by plane, or by car.
His next year's travel goal,
Is to see an ATOLL
Called Raroia; Its Airport Code? RRR!

29. Order member: NUN. Moe-ku:

Sister at convent
Was brash. Superior said,
"We'll have NUN of that!!"

30. Seldom seen: RARE. Also, the way that Chairman Moe likes having his steaks cooked (beef or tuna)

Perfect sear

31. IRS action: AUDIT. Has anyone here been AUDITed by the IRS?? Want to talk about it??

34. Place for a mineral scrub: SPA. Believe it or not, the Chairman had a mineral scrub (Dead Sea salt) when he visited Israel 15+ years ago ...

41. "__-boom-bah!": SIS. I rather doubt that modern-day cheerleading squads utter this

42. "The __ in Me": Britney Spears memoir: WOMAN.

43. Senior advocacy group: AARP. AARP counts seniors as those over the age of 50; I never referred to myself as a senior until I was eligible for Medicare

44. Bank of China Tower architect: PEI. CanadianEh!, can you confirm that he once lived on Prince Edward Island??

45. Hot Wheels maker: MATTEL.

53. Go out with: SEE.

54. Again: ANEW.

55. Sang high notes?: YODELED. Old commercial for Swiss Miss:

57. Shopping aids: LISTS. Our shopping LISTS have one of two titles on them (depending on who's shopping): naughty or nice

63. Looks down?: MOPES.

64. Pharmacy orders, informally: MEDS.

65. Far offshore: ASEA.

66. Catch in a trap: SNARE.

67. Hindu title of respect: SRI.

68. Business review app: YELP.

Down:
1. Giant part of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton: JAW. Took me a couple of tries to get this; I knew it wasn't an ARM

2. Big heart?: ACE. Fun clue

We only play with Jumbo Index cards!!

 

3. Sports doc's order: MRI.

4. Part of an icy breakup: BERG. Another fun clue; iceBERG

5. Quran faith: ISLAM.

6. Speedometer, e.g.: GAUGE.

7. Set, as an alarm: ARMED. Moe-ku:

My first alarm clock
Was shaped like an octopus
ARMED and dangerous

8. Cookbook writer Garten: INA.

9. Make a meal of: DINE ON.

10. Run up, as debts: INCUR.

11. Jacket style named for an Indian leader: NEHRU. This brings back memories

12. Best man's best friend, often: GROOM. Another fun clue

14. Need for poi: TAROS.

17. Arlene of classic cinema: DAHL. Or, Willy Wonka creator Roald

20. Sturdy material: DENIM. This clue threw me off for a few moments

22. Infield protectors: TARPS. Abbr. for TARPaulin

23. Centipede platform: ATARI. Centipede is an old arcade game

24. Sponge features: PORES.

Sponge, au naturel

 

26. Adorable: CUTE. This little guy, maybe?

Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen (PBGV)

 

28. Guitar legend Paul: LES.

31. 24/7 money source: ATM.

32. Thurman of "The Producers": UMA.

33. __ Quixote: DON.

34. Sports figures: STATS.

35. Blender setting: PUREE.

36. Copious: AMPLE.

38. Washbasin jug: EWER. Moe-ku:

Famous artist was
Asked to paint still-life. He said,
"EWER kidding, right?"

39. Loud: NOISY.

40. NL East player: NAT. Washington NATional

44. Tin alloy: PEWTER. PEWTER is an alloy composed primarily of tin with varying quantities of hardening agents such as antimony, bismuth, copper and lead

45. Grand Canyon rentals: MULES. Not now; overnight lows are in the teens and high temp's are barely above freezing

46. Hymn finale: AMEN. This is a beautiful rendition of Gloria Patri

47. Settles: CALMS.

48. Gibson garnish: ONION. A martini usually is garnished with an OLIVE or LEMON peel; a Gibson is garnished with a pickled ONION

49. Italian scooter: VESPA. Moe-ku:

Italian priest rode
A scooter to evening Mass
VESPA, for vespers

50. Bubbles up: FOAMS.

51. More eccentric: ODDER.

52. __-wip: dessert topping: REDDI. Anyone ever do this with a can?

56. June 6, 1944: D-DAY. My dad enlisted on D-Day; he had his 18th birthday just a few days before

58. London-to-Paris dir.: SSE. Directions, anyone??

60. "__ your head!": USE. What I usually say to myself when trying to figure out the puzzle themes

61. Airport code for Australia's second largest city: MEL. Airport code for MELbourne

62. Plant juice: SAP.

Here's the grid: Thanks to sumdaze for showing me how to caption my pics!! 😘

For those who asked for a grid showing the answers to the 01/16/2024 Universal Crossword puzzle: