Theme: GRAVITY, MAGNETISM and FRICTION, or MASS x ACCELERATION. The 2nd word of common two-word phrases combines with the word FORCE to indicate a body of people organized for a particular activity. I FORCED those physics related ideas on you, but will not apologize.
17 A. *Project with many obstacles : UPHILL TASK. Something difficult to accomplish. I suppose the referent here is Sisyphus. You might need some helpers to accomplish that thing - hence a TASK FORCE, an ad hoc group devoted to completing a specific assignment.
22 A. *E! talk show focused on celebrity outfits : FASHION POLICE. Clothing critics, and a TV show based on their commentary about the dress modes of celebrities. It's amazing how much time some people have on their hands. Police FORCES are units of government charged with the prevention or detection of crime and the maintenance of public order.
47 A. *Britannica, e.g. : REFERENCE WORK. A book or other repository of useful information. Many years ago I contributed a chapter on automotive plastics and elastomers to such a book. The WORK FORCE refers to people engaged in or available as labor within some geographic unit, industry, or business.
And the unifier -- 55 A. Team up ... or, literally, what the last words of the answers to starred clues can do : JOIN FORCES. As indicated in 17 A, to get together for some purpose. The target words JOIN with FORCE to fulfill the theme concept.
UPDATE --
As was pointed out in comments, I missed the vertical theme entries. Mea culpa. Lo siento.
21 D. *1997 movie partly set on a plane called the Jailbird : CONAIR. This gives us the AIR FORCE, a branch of the military with lots of air planes
30. *High-speed skiing event, familiarly : SUPER G. Giving us G FORCE - the FORCE equivalent to a multiple of the natural force of gravitation due to high linear or angular acceleration.
Hi, Gang, JazzBumpa here, getting together with you to make our way through today's puzzle. Let's have at it.
Across
1. One of seven in "Jabberwocky" : STANZA. A nonsense poem include in Lewis Carroll's action-adventure novel Though The Looking Glass. You can read all 7 quatrains here.
7. Shabbat celebrant : JEW. Shabbat is the biblical day of rest, and the source of the English word sabbath. Rosh Hashana, the JEWish New Year celebration was from Sunday through Tuesday this week, so l'shana tova to all.
10. "Baby __": 2008 Fey/Poehler comedy : MAMA. A conflict comedy involving an adoptive mother and the surrogate mother she hires. That's more than I know about it.
14. Like some classroom aids : VISUAL.
15. Angst-filled rock genre : EMO. Quasi-punkish emotion-laden pop music.
16. Disembarked : ALIT. To descend, land or dismount, in past tense form.
19. Wheels for a star : LIMO.
20. __ Grey tea : EARL. My fav!
21. Vacation abode : CABIN. If you can't afford a resort or luxury hotel.
26. Longest reigning Brit. monarch : ELIZabeth II. born in 1926, and still goin'.
28. Neighbor of Venezuela : GUYANA. A small, English-speaking country on the north coast of South America, nestled among Venezuela, Surinam, Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean, but culturally connected to the Caribbean Islands.
29. Discriminatory, as in hiring : SEXIST. One of several possible discrimination types. This one is gender based.
32. Pet adoption org. : SPCA. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
33. Deg. for a suit : MBA. Masters of Business Administration. I have one, but never qualified as a suit.
36. Annexation : SEIZURE. Taking something by FORCE.
38. Put on a pedestal : DEIFIED.
40. Morsel : ORT. Specifically, one left over from a meal.
41. Printed scorecard numbers : PARS. PAR indicates the expected number of strokes a first class player would require to complete a particular golf hole or course.
43. Went (on) monotonously : DRONED. Spoke at length in a boring manner.
44. Monotony : TEDIUM. Possibly the result of the previous.
46. Gp. with mail trucks : USPS. United States Postal Service. Several of my relatives worked there.
52. Cutting : AXING. In my 7 decades of existence on this planet, I have never heard anyone use the word AX as a verb.
53. Leaderless : TIED. This is tricky. With the score TIED, neither competing team is in the lead.
54. Strengthen : GIRD. This is not quite right. To gird is to encircle, or secure with a belt or a sash. You can kind of see where the error comes from.
61. Giggly Muppet : ELMO.
62. To and __ : FRO. Back and forth.
63. Poker challenge : I RAISE. This increases the size of an existing bet in any round. Other players must match the total bet or fold.
64. Academic leader in NBC's "Community" : DEAN. A sit-com with an ensemble cast based on life and experiences in a fictional small junior college town in Colorado.
65. Author Kesey : KEN. [1935-2001] Counter-culture figure, experimental drug user and author of the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
66. Kind of tax : ESTATE. A tax levied on inheritances totaling more than $5.45 million in value.
Down
1. "Law & Order: __" : Special Victims Unit. Never watched it
22. Handy "Mr." : FIXIT. Home improvement and DIY maven. I do not qualify.
60. Get : SEE. Understand. Do you see it?
Well, that ends this little get together. I had my nits, but overall - not bad.
Cool regards!
JzB
Down
1. "Law & Order: __" : Special Victims Unit. Never watched it
2. It often comes to those who wait : TIP. For the restaurant wait staff. Nice misdirection.
3. Volcanic fallout : ASH. Solid residue from an eruption, Cf Pompeii.
4. Rapa __: Easter Island : NUI. This name refers to the island itself, the Polynesian inhabitants of the island, and the language that they speak.
5. Popular mall jewelry store : ZALES. U. S. jewelry retailer started in 1924 in Wichita Falls, Texas.
6. Mosque-goer's deity : ALLAH. Same God, different language.
7. Like Cain, of Abel : JEALOUS. The adjectival form of a destructive emotion relating to desire about someone else's position, possessions, or relationships.
8. Leading characters in "Mork & Mindy"? : EMS. Characters, as in the repeated alphabet letter beginning the two subject words. I am deeply annoyed by this type of self-referential clue.
9. Stir-fry pan : WOK. Shallow round bottomed cook ware item.
10. __ Yousafzai, sharer of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize : MALALA. Pakistani activist for female education.
11. Cover story : ALIBI. A claim that you were not at a crime scene when the event took place
12. Copycat : MIMIC. One who lacks originality in thought and action.
13. Make things right : ATONE. Make amends. But will it erase hard feelings?
18. Course where tangents are relevant : TRIG. No indication that trigonometry should be abbreviated? This is not the sort of tangent off upon which one may go rambling, but rather the mathematic function that is equal to the ratio of the lengths of the sides opposite and adjacent to an angle in a right triangle.
21. *1997 movie partly set on a plane called the Jailbird : CONAIR.
If you're into that sort of a thing
22. Handy "Mr." : FIXIT. Home improvement and DIY maven. I do not qualify.
23. "Master of None" star __ Ansari : AZIZ. He also created and writes this Netflix series, the G-Man tells me.
24. "Law & Order" gp. : NYPD. New York Police Department, in custody of a chlecho.
25. Couldn't sit still, say : PACED. Walked nervously in some relatively small space.
26. Exxon, once : ESSO. Mega corporation and petroleum products retail outlet.
27. Lustful look : LEER. I prefer to Ogle.
30. *High-speed skiing event, familiarly : SUPER G. Set on a down hill course with widely set gates, with more turns than the down hill event, and greater speed than the giant slalom.
31. Discipline : TRADE. The only sense I can make of this is that one definition of "discipline" is "a branch of knowledge," and a trade is a job category requiring skills and training, so there is that kind of a connection. Still seems like a stretch. Do you think of plumbing as a discipline?
33. Capital of Belarus : MINSK. This city has existed for over 1000 years and now has a population over 2 million. Belarus is located east of Poland and south of Lithuania and Latvia.
34. Honk : BEEP. Blow your own horn.
35. Tacks on : ADDS.
37. Green land? : ERIN. The Emerald Isle, The Auld Sod, etc.
39. Bridge table quorum : FOUR. A four-handed card game.
42. Vacuum effect : SUCTION.
44. Ligament kin : TENDON. Both are types of connective tissue. Ligaments connect bones or cartilages, or hold joints together. Tendons connect muscle tissue to bones.
45. Lo __: noodle dish : MEIN. Mein refers to noodles made from wheat flour. Maybe someone who knows more about it should elaborate.
47. Threw a fit : RAGED. Anger
48. Forced absence : EXILE. An order to go away and stay away, banishment, as punishment for some offense.
49. Terra __ : FIRMA. Sold ground, good old Mother Earth.
50. Cellphone self-pic of a group, slangily : WEFIE. Evidently the collective equivalent of a selfie. Who knew? But here is an example.
51. Smells : ODORS. Aromas. All suggest different nuances of meaning.
55. N.Y. airport since 1963 : JFK. The eponym was president during the 60's and assassinated while in office.
56. Miner's matter : ORE. Pay dirt. Can you dig it?
57. Chinese zodiac animal : RAT. By this reckoning, my Lovely Wife is a RAT and I am a dog. Arf!
58. "The World Factbook" org. : CIA. Central Intelligence Agency, where the word "Intelligence" refers to gathered information, not intellectual capability.
59. Inexact fig. : ESTimate. An approximation that should be better than a guess.
Well, that ends this little get together. I had my nits, but overall - not bad.
Cool regards!
JzB
