Theme: Magician's Trick - Pulling a coin out of thin air.
1A. Nickel or dime : COIN and 65A. After 1-Across, pregame football ritual, and what's literally found in this puzzle's circles : TOSS
16. "You almost had it" : "CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR"
24. "Mork & Mindy" or "Mike & Molly" : SITUATION COMEDY
42. Event where many dress as Stormtroopers or Klingons : SCI-FI CONVENTION
57. What polar opposites have : NOTHING IN COMMON
Argyle here. The lack of circles shouldn't have barred you from getting this Monday mega-theme filled gem. Four grid spanners! Nice fill. Great way to start the week.
Across:
5. Zenith : ACME
9. Toboggan, e.g. : SLED
13. Fairy tale villain : OGRE and 2D. Look at wolfishly : OGLE. If ogled by an ogre, RUN.
14. Visitor from space : ALIEN
15. Soft drink nut : KOLA
19. 2016 Hall of Fame inductee __ Griffey Jr. : KEN. For those that didn't get enough baseball Sunday.
20. Weighty books : TOMES
21. Curved fastener : U-BOLT
22. Flabbergast : STUN
23. UPC-like product ID : SKU. (stock keeping unit)
32. Beef cut : LOIN
33. Reason for a cold sweat : FEAR
34. GI chow : MRE. (Meal, Ready-to-Eat)
35. Writing fluids : INKS
36. Parking __ : METER
38. Gaucho's weapon : BOLA
39. Dental suffix with Water : PIK. WATERPIK is a brand of water flosser. I'm not thrilled with PIK clued as a dental suffix.
40. Slim racetrack margin : NOSE. N.Y. Daily News picture of yesterday's Daytona 500 finish.
41. Slightly open : AJAR
47. Question : ASK
48. Grandson of Eve : ENOS
49. Malice : SPITE
52. Sans serif font : ARIAL. not ARIAL
54. Hawaiian tuna : AHI
60. Tiny pasta used in soup : ORZO
61. Washington's __ Sound : PUGET. The near-by San Juan Islands.
62. "Agreed!" : "AMEN!"
63. Smile ear to ear : BEAM
64. Enjoy a novel : READ
Down:
1. Tilt to the side, as one's head : COCK
3. Small laundry room appliance : IRON
4. Nintendo's Super __ : NES. (Nintendo Entertainment System)
5. Homecoming attendees : ALUMNI
6. Refer to in a footnote : CITE
7. Clothing store department : MENS
8. Music producer Brian : ENO
9. Slopes fanatic : SKI BUM
10. Letterhead emblem : LOGO
11. Israeli airline : EL AL
12. Missile in a pub game : DART
14. Regarding : ABOUT
17. Singer James : ETTA. Just a taste; a little sip...of Etta James.
18. "My Fair Lady" director George : CUKOR
22. The "Star Wars" planet Tatooine orbits two of them : SUNS
23. Lasting mark : SCAR
24. Mishaps : SLIPS
25. Greek column style : IONIC
26. Kipling mongoose Rikki-__-Tavi : TIKKI. A short story in The Jungle Book.
27. Many times : OFTEN
28. Bridal bio word : NÉE
29. Texting icon : EMOJI
30. 1964 Tony Randall title role : DR. LAO
31. Thirst (for) : YEARN
36. Lampoon : MOCK
37. Spanish "that" : ESO
38. Array on a dugout rack : BATS
40. Japanese-American : NISEI
43. Get to the bottom of : FATHOM. The meaning "take soundings" is from c.1600; its figurative sense of "get to the bottom of, understand" is 1620s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
44. Marked with streaks, as cheese : VEINED
45. Put into law : ENACT
46. __ contendere: court plea : NOLO. "I do not wish to contend"
49. Stuffed shirt : SNOB
50. Peruse, with "over" : PORE
51. Chichén __: Mayan ruins : ITZA
52. Fever and chills : AGUE
53. Capital of Latvia : RIGA
54. Bullets and such : AMMO
55. Soil-shaping tools : HOEs
56. Wayside lodgings : INNs
58. "Talk of the Nation" airer : NPR. (National Public Radio)
59. Yoga class need : MAT
Argyle
Note from C.C.:
Ray Hedrick (Rainman) and I made today's Wall Street Journal crossword. You can
click here to print out the PDF file. Congratulations on your debut,
Ray. Thanks for the theme, the inspiration and fun.