Theme: Fortitude - Four different ways to spell 2. (From C.C.: Rich said: "I will publish this puzzle on a Tue. Hardly anyone will notice, but at least you and I will know. :-)"
20A. Powerful boxing combo : ONE-TWO PUNCH
36A. Caesar's last question : "ET TU, BRUTE?"
43A. "Could be worse" : "NOT TOO BAD"
56A. Not pie-in-the-sky : DOWN TO EARTH
Argyle here, reeling from the one-two punch of Marti and C.C. Let's just á go-go to the puzzle.
Across:
1. Little chocolate wrapped in foil : KISS
5. Squishy lump : GLOB
9. Cicada predators : WASPS. Very clear and precise site.
14. Woody's boy : ARLO. He's done well for himself. Arlo will not develop Huntington's disease because he did not inherit the gene from his father.
15. Iranian currency : RIAL
16. Full-price payer at the movies : ADULT
17. Santa's runway : ROOF
18. Org. concerned with working conditions : OSHA. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
19. Fluid transition : SEGUE
23. "I __ Rock" : AM A. This video is of the two boys and one guitar in a coffee house setting. Clip(2:58)
24. Schwarzenegger, formerly: Abbr. : GOV. (Governator)
25. Provided food for, as a wedding : CATERED
27. "60 Minutes" network : CBS. clecho 46A. 60 minutes : HOUR
30. Spiders' handiwork : WEBS. I thought it was Al Gore.
33. Makes faces at the camera : MUGS
34. Cookies mixed in some ice cream : OREOS. On Mars now.
40. "Norma Rae" director Martin : RITT. He also directed "Hud"(1963), with Paul Newman and "The Sound and the Fury"(1959) with Yul Brynner.
41. They mean nothing : ZEROs
42. "Zounds!" : "EGAD!"
45. Big name in arcade games : ATARI
47. High-tech hand-held gadgets : PDA's. (personal digital assistant)
49. Chinese calendar animal : RAT. This year, in fact. (Correction: 2012 is Year of the Dragon.)
50. Toscanini, e.g. : MAESTRO. (conductor)(born in the "Year of the Hare")
53. Your, of yore : THY
55. Sinus specialist: Abbr. : ENT. (ear, nose, and throat)(today)
62. Galore, in disco lingo : À GO-GO. Introduced in France.
64. Fat in the pantry : LARD. Probably safer to keep it in the freezer. Any first hand stories?
65. Folk tales : LORE
66. __ closet : LINEN
67. Oklahoma city : ENID. "Purple Martin Capital of Oklahoma"
68. Eagle Scout, typically : TEEN
69. Boss's terse note : "SEE ME". Might raise your blood pressure.
70. Lights-out tune : TAPS. Hope it's not what the boss' note was about.
71. Calls upon : ASKS
Down:
1. Corn syrup brand : KARO. Use to be in everyone's cupboard.
2. Multivitamin mineral : IRON
3. Wild plum : SLOE
4. One of two in Georgia? : SOFT G. Did she get you with this one? (From C.C.: This is Rich's clue.)
5. Fixed routine : GROOVE. Good to be in the groove, bad to be in a rut.
6. Talk like Daffy : LISP
7. Pearl Harbor locale : OAHU
8. Voice master Mel : BLANC
9. Laundry room fixture : WASHTUB. Multiple uses.
10. Citrusy refresher : ADE
11. Archies hit with the lyric, "You are my candy girl" : SUGAR, SUGAR. You won't get me to link it.
12. Large feather : PLUME
13. Suffix with farm or home : STEAD
21. Makes jaws drop : WOWS
22. "The Plague" author : CAMUS. Novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947
26. "Snowy" wader : EGRET
27. Toe woe : CORN
28. Gusto : BRIO. From Italian, of Celtic origin!
29. Establish a particular mood : SET THE TONE
31. Telly network, with "the" : BEEB. An informal name for BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)
32. Bra part : STRAP. Dennis comment?
35. Four Holy Roman emperors : OTTOs
37. Sondheim's Sweeney : TODD. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler.
38. Fictional plantation : TARA. (Gone with the Wind)
39. Prepare for publication : EDIT
41. Hero with a trademark "Z" : ZORRO. This bold renegade, Carves a "Z" with his blade.
44. Bested : OUT DONE
45. Tennis great Arthur : ASHE
48. Butting heads : AT ODDS
50. Three squares : MEALS
51. Actress Dickinson : ANGIE. Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970's TV crime series, Police Woman.
52. Baby hooter : OWLET
54. 1945 "Big Three" conference city : YALTA. A city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.
57. Mama's mama : NANA
58. "Dancing With the Stars" blunder : TRIP
59. Deer with three-pointed antlers : ROEs. A Eurasian species of deer, roe deer, called ROE for short, changing the adjective to a noun and adding an S for plural. We pluralize the same way; white-tailed deer can be referred to as whitetails.
60. Tough journey : TREK
61. Lady birds : HENS
63. Ruby, for one : GEM
Argyle
