Theme: End for end. Suffixes are swapped between the two words of the answers to wackily change their meanings.
20A. Choir members during the sermon?: SINGERS WAITING. Singing waiters. Restaurant gimmick.
24A. Grocery employee dealing with a shortage of shelf space?: STOCKER STUFFING. Stocking Stuffer. Christmas.
47A. Top sellers sealing the deal?: CLOSERS PITCHING. Closing pitchers. Baseball.
53A. News hound's sign-off?: ROVER REPORTING. Roving reporter.
Hi all, Al (mostly) here again. A pretty solid Thursday puzzle overall, I liked seeing SNORKEL and some of the clever clues. Not much else jumped out and grabbed me, but I could just be sleepy yet. On with the analysis then...
ACROSS:.
1. Sieben und eins: ACHT. German: seven and one macht eight.
5. Roe source: SHAD. Caviar.
9. Finish the doughnuts?: GLAZE. Wisconsin is down to one remaining Krispy Kreme. That wave sure peaked and receded quickly.
14. New York restaurateur: SHOR. Toots. Apparently a big deal with celebs. Anyone not from NY ever heard of him?
15. Not, some time back: NARY. Shortening of "never a".
16. "The Kiss" sculptor: RODIN. A depiction of illicit love taken from Dante's Inferno.
17. Certain conic sections: PARABOLAS.
19. Gladiator's milieu: ARENA. From Latin harena "place of combat," originally "sand, sandy place" The central stages of Roman amphitheaters were strewn with sand to soak up the blood.
22. Reaction to one who's revolting: ICK. That's sick.
23. Palais denizen: ROI. French: palace, king.
33. Neighbor of Arg.: URU. Argentina, Uruguay.
34. Evoke gaiety with gags at a gig: SLAY. Overwhelm.
35. He shared the peace prize with Shimon and Yitzhak: YASIR. Peres, Rabin, Arafat, 1994, the Oslo Accords.
36. "Do the __": MATH. An alternate idiom for "It doesn't add up"
38. Male sovereigns' address: SIRES. From Latin "senior" for elder.
41. Polynesian pendant: TIKI. Carved image of the creator-ancestor of Maoris and Polynesians.
42. Lent a hand: AIDED.
44. __ Jackson, Fonda title role: ULEE. I only got this because of how often it appears with Fonda's name in these crosswords.
46. One of the 10 lowest digits?: TOE. This one shouldn't have tricked me, but it did. Looking at too many numbers lately.
51. Monodrama about Capote: TRU.
52. Toy magnate __ Schwarz: FAO. Frederick August Otto Schwartz.
61. Anglo-__: SAXON.
62. Road safety feature: GUARDRAIL.
63. Throw out: EJECT. Literally in Latin: Ex- prefix(out) jacere (to throw).
64. Once, once: ERST. Earliest.
65. Make eyes at: OGLE. Low German oglen from oege, meaning eye.
66. Indian noble: RANEE.
67. "He __ not sleep": Shelley: DOTH. Adonaïs: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats.
68. Pill bottle instruction: DOSE.
DOWN:.
1. Some cobras: ASPS.
2. Spiced tea: CHAI.
3. Cape __: HORN. Chile. Not quite the lowest tip of South America, named for the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands.
4. Disastrous: TRAGIC. Tragedy is apparently literally "goat song," from tragos "goat" + oide "song." The connection may be via satyric drama, from which tragedy later developed, in which actors or singers were dressed in goatskins to represent satyrs.
5. Reef exploration gear: SNORKELS. From German navy slang Schnorchel "nose, snout," related to schnarchen "to snore". So called from its resemblance to a nose and its noise when in use.
6. Dutchman who painted "Gypsy Girl": HALS. Cleavage...
7. Got __ deal: A RAW.
8. "L.A. Law" actor: DYSART. Richard. I didn't recognize any characters even after I saw all the pictures...
9. Please: GRATIFY.
10. Actress Loughlin: LORI. I did recognize "Jessie's Girl" though.
11. Yemeni port: ADEN. Today's geography lesson.
12. Sock it to: ZING. "High pitched sound," of echoic origin.
13. Faline's mother, in Salten's "Bambi": ENA.
18. Bremen brew: BECKS. Imported bier aus Deutchland.
21. Pot marker: IOU. Big Julie: "IOU one thousand --signed X." Nathan Detroit: "How is it you can write one thousand, but not your name?" Big Julie: "I was good in arithmetic, but I stunk in English."
24. Poison __: SUMAC. Three of a kind.
25. Hiker's route: TRAIL.
26. Best: OUTDO.
27. Heyerdahl craft: RA I. A papyrus craft that broke apart, but RA II made of Totora reeds survived his journey and proved that ancient mariners could have crossed the Atlantic using the Canary Current.
28. Corn product: SYRUP.
29. Budgetary waste: FAT. Oh how conceptions change over time starting with one flawed study by Ancel Keys... fat used to mean the "best or most rewarding" part.
30. Last Supper question: IS IT I. Mark 14:18-21 The passage about betrayal.
31. Maker of Coolpix cameras: NIKON.
32. "Peer Gynt Suite" composer: GRIEG. In the Hall of the Mountain King.
37. Boys and men: HES.
39. Lilly of pharmaceuticals: ELI.
40. Outline, as a plan: SET FORTH.
43. International thaw: DETENTE. Related to the catch on a crossbow you use to relax the string, or the detent catch used to regulate a clock's action.
45. Convenient greeting: E-CARD. When you don't care enough to send the very best.
48. Sch. basics: RRR. The three "R"s. Spelling must not have been emphasized.
49. Progressed in waves: SURGED.
50. Dragster's wheels: HOT ROD.
53. Indian noble: RAJA.
54. Paddy team: OXEN.
55. Viva __: VOCE. Literally "with living voice" but usually translated as "by word of mouth".
56. Cannes cash: EURO.
57. Tense time?: PAST.
58. Emilia's husband: IAGO. The villain who thought Othello was sleeping with his wife.
59. Lofgren of the E Street Band: NILS.
60. TV show about a high school choir: GLEE.
61. Rev.'s speech: SERmon
