60A. Robotic solar system explorer : SPACE PROBE. Robe. For boxers/judges. One for the ladies.
32D. Gibbon : LESSER APE. Serape. Mexican wrap, as shown on this festive guy. The only theme entry where the clothing spans two words.
The unifier is placed in the very middle of the grid as two cross-referencing perps:
38A. With 24-Down, category of garments fittingly found in the circled letters : OUTER
24D. See 38-Across : CLOTHES
And a bonus entry at the bottom of the grid:
66A. Put on fancy attire, with "up" : DRESS. Like this. Quite smart looking.
Hey, it's Dennis; my turn in the barrel. Had one stumble in solving this one, which was putting 'Glenda' for 2D.
Just a couple observations about today's offering: this puzzle has only 34 blocks, low for a Tuesday, resulting in an impressive Dan Naddor Index (non-theme entries with 6 or more letters) that C.C. used to highlight in Dan's puzzles: 20.
The key themed words are consistently placed too. In this type of circle gimmick, those circled words are not always consecutively placed and can appear anywhere in the theme entries; the beginning, middle or end. A well-done Tuesday puzzle.
Across:
1. "A Death in the Family" author James : AGEE.
5. Name on a fridge : AMANA. I swear, if you only did crosswords, you'd think there was only one brand of Appliances (Amana) and one brand of TVs (RCA).
10. Quote as a reference : CITE.
14. What flags do in the wind : FLAP.
15. Beeper : PAGER. Remember these? Seem so archaic now. The first ones basically just transmitted phone numbers, and you'd put '911' at the end if it was really important. Oh, and we quickly figured out how to send obscene words using just numbers.
16. Jazzy Anita : ODAY. She changed her name from Colton to O'Day, pig latin for 'dough', as in money.
19. Luggage tag datum : NAME.
20. Building additions : ANNEXES.
21. Steamed up : ANGERED.
23. Caesar's "that is" : ID EST.
24. Contract provision : CLAUSE. Not him.
25. "Way cool!" : RAD.
26. Train track : RAIL. Alliteration.
29. Woodland deities : SATYRS. The Nymph pursuers. Wow, so realistic!
32. Atoll enclosure : LAGOON.
34. Demi of "G.I. Jane" : MOORE. Say what you might about her, but she got herself in incredible shape for the movie. Definition like this does not come easily.
35. Frosty's smoke : PIPE . Friend of mine did one of these with a fake blunt instead of a pipe. Neighbors with kids weren't thrilled.
40. Wind blast : GUST. This is what a serious crosswind landing looks like when the wind is gusting perpendicular to the flight path.
41. Up to one's ears (in) : AWASH
43. Aussie lassie : SHEILA . Very topical, given Kazie's recent outstanding slide show.
45. Take a bad turn : WORSEN
47. Razor's cutter : EDGE
48. Homer, to Bart : DAD
51. "Angels & __": Dan Brown best-seller : DEMONS. It precedes The Da Vinci Code and explores the Illuminati. A great read, one that resulted in a few bleary-eyed mornings for me.
53. "Don't even go __!" : THERE
55. Arachnoid zodiac sign : SCORPIO
57. Spiny lizards : IGUANAS. Kinda stately looking, huh?
59. Wrist-to-elbow bone : ULNA. Here. Have we had 'humerus' in a crossword before? Seems like a good crossword word.
62. Kid's summer haven : CAMP.
63. Chart holder : EASEL.
64. Mix with a spoon : STIR.
65. Many a proposal is made on one : KNEE. My first thought was 'bet'.
67. Cops, slangily : HEAT.
Down:
1. Festive gathering : AFFAIR. I'm not sure how 'festive' he's feeling.
2. Witch who helped Dorothy get home : GLINDA. Here.
3. Merited : EARNED.
4. Fencing blades : EPEES.
5. Recess at St. Peter's : APSE. As shown here.
6. PC alternatives : MACS.
7. Turkish title : AGA.
8. Tibet neighbor : NEPAL. Has anyone from our group been there?
9. Sports venues : ARENAS.
11. Challenging words : I DARE YOU. Those words have gotten me in trouble more than a few times. In his interview, Harvey said for non-theme fills, he likes to "work in phrases as much as possible, because I think they're usually more interesting."
12. Not exactly exciting : TAME .
13. Gawked at : EYED .
18. Crowd scene actor : EXTRA. X is the only scrabbly letter in this puzzle.
22. U.S. Pacific territory : GUAM
27. Back in time : AGO
28. Debtor's letters : IOUS
30. B&O and Reading : RRS
31. Filming site : SET
33. Financial aid criterion : NEED
35. Fido's foot : PAW
36. "Letters from __ Jima": 2006 film : IWO. One of the greatest battles in Marine Corps history. They were fighting an enemy that wasn't so much on Iwo Jima, as in it. Cost over 6800 Marine and Army lives to take it, but by securing the island, American bombers were able to use the island as a strategic emergency landing area, coming back from strikes on the Japanese mainland. Saved many pilots and crews.
37. "Sorry about that" : PARDON ME. You betcha.
39. Fix, as a fight : RIG.
42D. Rope fiber source : HEMP.
44. Ease off : LETUP.
46. Spread publicly, with "about" : NOISED. Yeah, it's legit; has anyone ever heard it used?
48. Indicate : DENOTE.
49. Oil-rich peninsula : ARABIA.
50. Most of 49-Down : DESERT. Nice link w/above.
52. Like stock without face value : NO PAR. Story of my golf game.
54. Tough to take : HARSH.
55. Use a straw : SUCK. Uh.......no; not gonna.
56. Scot's family : CLAN. Check out these Scottish clan crests.
57. Tops, as a cupcake : ICES. Hey, if you're gonna indulge, indulge!
61. Wall St. group : ASE (American Stock Exchange).
