Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here with a puzzle whose gimmick was easy to PIN down.
Theme: PIN DROP
Veteran constructor Catherine Cetta quietly drops four types of PINS into today's grid. We will look at those clues first:
18 Across. Cautious person's motto: SAFETY FIRST. 
24 Across. Like many ignition switches: PUSH BUTTON. 
36 Across. Trios of goals: HAT TRICKS. A HAT TRICK is three successes of the same kind. The term is often used in hockey or soccer to refer to three goals in a game by one player. It was first used in 1869 in reference to cricket.
51 Across. Anklets worn with a poodle skirt: BOBBY SOCKS. 
Then the reveal:
57. "Come back to that later," and an apt title for this puzzle: PUT A PIN IN IT.
The first word of each of the themed answers is a type of PIN, as illustrated below.
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| l to r: SAFETY PIN, PUSH PIN, HAT PIN, and BOBBY PIN |
Works for me! Now let's explore the rest of the puzzle....
1. Took a chair: SAT.
4. Small tool in a knife block: PARER.
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| The three knives (l to r) are chef's, utility, and paring. |
14. Forensic series with the theme song "Who Are You": CSI.
Who Are You by The Who is featured in the opening credits for the TV show CSI.
15. Trumpet sound: BLARE.
16. Dress with a flared skirt: A-LINE.
17. One who might say, "I like ewe!": RAM.
20. Neck of the woods: AREA.
22. Indigenous Canadians: CREE.
23. OR professionals: RNS. Registered Nurses work in Operating Rooms.
28. Ghostly sound effect: MOAN.
16. Dress with a flared skirt: A-LINE.
17. One who might say, "I like ewe!": RAM.
22. Indigenous Canadians: CREE.
23. OR professionals: RNS. Registered Nurses work in Operating Rooms.
28. Ghostly sound effect: MOAN.
Cab Calloway ~ The Ghost of Smokey Joe ~ 1939
29. Guest's guest: PLUS ONE. If you are invited to an event and if your invitation says you can bring a date then you are the guest and your date is your guest -- also called your PLUS ONE. 
30. Food court pizzeria: SBARRO. Carmela and Gennaro Sbarro opened their first restaurant in Brooklyn in 1956. Today Sbarro has grown to 630 locations in 28 countries. That-sa lotta pizza!
32. Snappy agreement: YEP.
33. Heart of the matter: GIST. In a nutshell, GIST crossed over to common use from the legal world.
35. Positive: ASSET. An ASSET is in the positive column so I suppose one could say these words are connected.
39. Early anesthetic: ETHER. ETHER was replaced by other substances in the 1960s.
42. The Bulldogs of the Ivy League: YALE. I knew this one because the Friday before last MalMan told us that the mascot of YALE university is a bulldog named Handsome Dan. He posted this adorable pic.
43. Snatch: NAB.
46. Primitive shelter: LEAN-TO. I learned this word when I read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a girl. Pa built a LEAN-TO outside their cabin's door.
48. Tenon's partner: MORTISE. I bet our builders on the blog knew this one. Learning moment for me. Now I know what to call the pieces of my coffee table that come apart every time I move it to vacuum the area rug.
50. Science centers: LABS.
54. Here, in Paris: ICI. I used this comic for Catherine's August 19th puzzle.
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| Translation: You Are Here (ICI) and: Your shoelace is untied. |
55. Diabolical: EVIL.
56. Gnat or mosquito: PEST. To understand this 49 sec. scene from Lilo & Stitch (2002), you need to know that Pleakley is an alien Professor of Earth Studies who thinks that mosquitoes are an endangered species. This is his first encounter with an actual mosquito on Earth. His professional excitement soon turns to ... well, you'll see.
62. Headsail on a sloop: JIB.
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| You can read more about this sloop and see a larger diagram here. |
63. Flurry: SPATE. 
64. Rogue: KNAVE. Def: (noun) a tricky, deceitful fellow.
65. One of five principal resources in the game Catan: ORE. Last month the board game Catan was in the news because of the Buffalo Bills football team. link to ESPN article
66. Cosmetician Lauder: ESTÉE. (1908-2004) She was an American businesswoman who entered the cosmetic field when she helped her uncle sell his beauty products. She has been quoted as saying, "I never dreamed about success. I worked for it."
64. Rogue: KNAVE. Def: (noun) a tricky, deceitful fellow.
65. One of five principal resources in the game Catan: ORE. Last month the board game Catan was in the news because of the Buffalo Bills football team. link to ESPN article
66. Cosmetician Lauder: ESTÉE. (1908-2004) She was an American businesswoman who entered the cosmetic field when she helped her uncle sell his beauty products. She has been quoted as saying, "I never dreamed about success. I worked for it."
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| There are many beautiful photos of her. |
67. Shooting sport: SKEET. Here is a 2:14 min. how-to video:
68. Iota: BIT.
Down:
68. Iota: BIT.
Down:
1. Feisty: SCRAPPY.
2. In most cases: AS A RULE. for the most part; generally
3. "Pencils down!": TIME'S UP. Think of a written exam.
4. "Finding Your Roots" airer: PBS. This is a TV show where Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. guides influential guests into their roots, uncovering deep secrets, hidden identities, and lost ancestors. Here is a list of the guests queued up for Season 10.
5. Brownie __ mode: A LA.
6. U.K. fliers: RAF. Royal Air Force
7. Standing up straight: ERECT.
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| He still isn't wearing socks. |
8. Back in fashion: RETRO. RETRO was first used as an adjective in 1972. I would have guessed it harkened back further than that.
9. Barista employer: CAFE. Barista was first used to mean "a person who makes and serves coffee to the public" in 1982. (I am not as surprised by that.) Barista is gender-neutral in English.
10. Boxer who said, "The will must be stronger than the skill": ALI. Muhammad ALI (1942-2016), among other things, was a boxer with a 3-letter name who gave the press rhyming quotes.
11. Self-reflection aids?: MIRRORS. Cute clue! "Diaries" also has seven letters.
13. "Better we skip it": LET'S NOT. ...and say we did.
19. Hankerings: YENS.
21. Satisfied sounds: AHS.
25. Four-time Bacall co-star: BOGART. Here is a timeline of their relationship from People Magazine.
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| Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall |
26. Meter, e.g.: UNIT. UNIT of measurement
27. Challenge: TEST. This clue works if they are both verbs ... or nouns.
28. __ transit: MASS. Mass transit is "the transportation of large numbers of people by means of buses, subway trains, etc., especially within urban areas".
31. Cookie-makers: BAKERS.
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| Everyone loves a cookie-maker! |
36. Small chicken tenders?: HENS. I did not understand this one. I know that a HEN is a female chicken but a HEN is full grown, not small. Maybe it means that chicken tenders used to be HENS??? I am sure one of you will be able to explain it to me.
37. Two-syllable foot: IAMB. An IAMB is "a metrical foot consisting of one short syllable followed by one long syllable or of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable."
38. Be sickly sweet: CLOY.
39. Earth's orbit around the sun, e.g.: ELLIPSE.
40. Where to leave leaves: TEA CUPS.
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| Some people leave the Disneyland TEA CUPS ride feeling quite dizzy. Hey, was that Santa?! |
41. Savanna woodlands, to a giraffe: HABITAT.
43. "Well done!": NICE JOB. Catherine's grid has 14 seven-letter answers (2 horizontal and 12 vertical). NICE JOB!!
44. "Maybe your iPhone can answer that": ASK SIRI. SIRI is the digital assistant on iThings.
47. Terse "Well, duh!": OBVI. OBVIously!
49. Outdo: TOP. This one made me think of Hahtoolah because she always outdoes herself with her blogs. They're TOPs!
52. Sty sounds: OINKS.
53. Lose a staring contest: BLINK.
Also, Blink-182 is an American rock band from southern California.
They formed in 1992. Here is their story of triumphs and tragedies over the years.
Reading that article explains this song, One More Time (2023).
#It'sNotTooLateToTellThePeopleAroundYouThatYouLoveThem
55. Pentathlon sword: EPEE. This 2 min. video gives a quick run down of the five events.
58. Had a bagel, say: ATE. What's your bagel order? I'll take a toasted pumpernickel, please.
59. Scot's denial: NAE.
60. "Eh, __ seen enough": I'VE. Well, just one more....
61. Vietnamese spring festival: TET. Tết, short for Tết Nguyên Đán, is the annual Vietnamese New Year celebration. It's date changes each year because it begins on the second new moon after winter. In 2025, it will be on January 29.
58. Had a bagel, say: ATE. What's your bagel order? I'll take a toasted pumpernickel, please.
59. Scot's denial: NAE.
60. "Eh, __ seen enough": I'VE. Well, just one more....
61. Vietnamese spring festival: TET. Tết, short for Tết Nguyên Đán, is the annual Vietnamese New Year celebration. It's date changes each year because it begins on the second new moon after winter. In 2025, it will be on January 29.
The grid: 
That's all from me. PINNY for your thoughts?
