17. Cats' request on seeing birds through the window? : LET US PREY. This one made me smile. Now I know why they put their little paws together whenever they see a bird outside.
25. Attention-getting craze? : HEY FEVER. Like Willie Mays, the Say HEY kid?
41. Ottoman ruler's pier? : THE DOCK OF THE BEY. I guess Mos Def's real name of Yasiin BEY would have been too obscure to use for this entry, huh?
52. "L.A. Law" actress' work period? : DEY SHIFT. This one doesn't really work for me - it should be "DEY's Shift."
66. Optimistic Spanish ruler? : REY OF HOPE. If you don't know your Spanish, this could have been a toughie.
I caught onto the theme right away, so the puzzle was pretty much solved left-to-right, top-to-bottom.
Across
1. Pros handling returns : CPAs.
5. Nos. that affect connecting flights : ETAs. I wonder if a CPA's GPA would affect the ETA of your IRA?
9. Like dry mud on cleats : CAKED.
14. 1979 DownBeat Hall of Fame inductee, familiarly : ELLA. The great Fitzgerald.
15. Beer ingredient : MALT.
16. "Spider-Man" director : RAIMI.
19. Brother of Miriam : AARON. Could also have been Moses.
20. Obeyed the doctor : SAID "AH".
21. Romp : PLAY.
23. Suffix with Capri : OTE. A Capriote is an inhabitant of Capri.
24. Actress Kunis : MILA.
27. "Bravo, señor!" : OLE.
29. "Blah blah blah": Abbr. : ETC.
31. Bavarian article : EIN.
32. Kid-lit detective __ the Great : NATE.
34. Speck : IOTA.
37. Dangerous bacterium : STAPH.
44. Senate Finance Committee chair Hatch : ORRIN.
45. Sundance's gal : ETTA. Place.
46. Like Gen. Powell : RET'D.
47. Storm, on the Beaufort scale : TEN. An empirical scale that relates observed conditions to wind speed.
49. iTunes purchase : APP.
51. Sign of success : VEE. Victory. Or two. Or peace.
57. California's __ Valley: Reagan Library site : SIMI.
59. Porter, e.g. : ALE.
60. Wind with a wide range : OBOE.
61. __-Dazs : HÄAGEN. Real ice cream, but totally bogus name.
64. Choir platform : RISER.
68. Taboos : NO-NOs.
69. Banjo spot : KNEE.
70. Tennis edge : AD IN. After deuce (a tie score of 3 each), a player must be up by two points to win the game. So if the server is up by one point, (s)he has the "AD" vantage "IN" his/her court, since if they win the next point, they would win the game.
71. Ring setting : STONE.
72. Proverbs : SAWS.
73. Trim on a curtain : LACE.
Down
1. Animation units : CELS.
2. Court entry : PLEA.
3. Skydiving device : ALTIMETER.
4. Riyadh native : SAUDI.
5. No-nonsense : EMPHATIC.
6. Stuff on the street : TAR.
7. Hebrew alphabet opener : ALEPH.
8. Topic for Strunk and White : STYLE. Pay $9.99 for the paperback, or read "Elements of Style" online for free.
9. Ingredient in the stew étouffée : CRAYFISH. I wonder what CREY FISH would be? "Crey" is slang for crazy, I think.
10. Financial rating : AAA.
11. Russian ballet name : KIROV.
12. Act badly? : EMOTE.
13. Eatery with its own lingo : DINER.
18. Fire __ : SALE.
22. "'Tis true!" : AYE.
26. Put in a log : ENTER.
27. Savvy about : ON TO.
28. Portrayer of a big scaredy-cat : LAHR. The cowardly lion in "The Wizard of Oz."
30. Soft drink choice : COKE.
33. Works on books : EDITS.
35. Elmo fan : TOT.
36. Old Spice rival : AFTA.
38. Sal Tessio portrayer in "The Godfather" : ABE VIGODA.
39. Folk icon Seeger : PETE.
40. Stevenson villain : HYDE.
42. Podunk-like : ONE HORSE.
43. Footwear for the Step Brothers : TAP SHOES. I never heard of these guys, but the answer could be intuited.
48. Penpoint : NIB.
50. "La Vie en Rose" chanteuse : PIAF. It was the signature song for Édith.
52. Fixes, as a heel, perhaps : DARNS. I know women who have married a heel, thinking they could fix him. Never works.
53. "Middlemarch" novelist : ELIOT.
54. Easy kind of question : YES/NO.
55. Where roads divide : FORKS.
56. Singer __ Marie : TEENA. Lots of singers today, it seems.
58. Taj __ : MAHAL.
62. Bigger than big : EPIC.
63. Hawaiian goose : NENE. We now know what they look like, right?
65. It's quite a stretch : EON. I know, I know - but I am almost done.
67. Source of pliable wood : YEW. See? I told YEW it would soon end.
That's it from me for now!
Marti
