Tuesday, April 18 2017, Jeffrey Wechler

Theme: Size Matters

17. Mom-and-pop stores : SMALL BUSINESSES
 

29. Alfalfa, Darla and friends, with "the" : LITTLE RASCALS
 

39. "God bless us, every one!" Dickens character : TINY TIM
 

47. Game with windmills, ramps and such : MINIATURE GOLF

62. Waterspout climber of song : ITSY BITSY SPIDER


Melissa here. This was probably the fastest Tuesday solve I can remember. I held back on a few guesses waiting for perps to be certain. Only one word I wasn't sure of - FILIAL, and one misspell. Theme was simple and obvious - and still a fun solve. The first two theme answers are plural and the rest are singular - but still a tight theme.

Across

1. Valuable stone : GEM
 

4. Hamilton and Burr, notably : FOES

 

8. Find incredibly funny : ROAR AT

 

14. Word for a Latin lover : AMO

 

15. Cookbook author Rombauer : IRMA
. Not ERMA.
 

16. Not certain : UNSURE



20. Vietnam's capital : HANOI

 

21. Part of MST: Abbr. : STD
. Waited for this one to fill in, since it could have been anything.
 

22. FDR's successor : HST

 

23. Serpent's tooth : FANG
. At first I misread this as Serpent's tongue - and wondered why there weren't enough letters for FORKED.
 

26. Irreverence : IMPIETY



33. Biblical verb ending : ETH
.
 

34. Quick hellos : HI'S

 

35. Curbs, with "in" : REINS
. This was my mispell, my fingers wanted to type REIGNS and the G got entered before I could stop them.
 

38. Blackjack half : ACE



42. Wedding notice word : NEE

 

43. What hares and mares do : RHYME
. Sneaky.
 

45. Long, long time : EON

 

46. La Brea __ Pits : TAR



52. Coiffures : HAIRDOS
. Those are both great words.

54. Move, in real estate lingo : RELO
. Relocate.
 

55. Part of MST : ESS
. Also sneaky (and clever), especially after 21A.
 

56. Tango maneuver : DIP

 

58. Higher than : ABOVE

 

67. California's San __: Hearst Castle locale : SIMEON

 

68. Filming locales : SETS

 

69. 401(k) kin : IRA

 

70. Six times cinq : TRENTE

 

71. VCR insert : TAPE

 

72. Gov. Cuomo's domain : NYS

 

Down
 

1. Deep cut : GASH

 

2. 2016 Best Actress Stone of "La La Land" : EMMA

 

3. Pained sound : MOAN

 

4. Like a child's love for a parent : FILIAL
. "Of or due from a son or daughter."
 

5. Heavenly sphere : ORB

 

6. Grounded bird : EMU

 

7. Fresh talk : SASS

 

8. Pioneering hip-hop trio from Queens : RUN DMC


9. Single : ONE

 

10. Beast of burden : ASS

 

11. Does without much thought : RUSHES INTO

 

12. "Give it __!" : A REST

 

13. Cantankerous : TESTY

 

18. Barn storage space : LOFT

 

19. "How sweet __!" : IT IS

 

24. Classic grape soda : NEHI

 

25. Smile that may be silly : GRIN

 

27. Eggplant __: Italian entrée, briefly : PARM

 

28. L'eau land? : ILE

 

29. Shakespearean king with three daughters : LEAR

 

30. Nagging desire : ITCH

 

31. College freshman's comment about why his parents call so often :  THEY MISS ME
. Aw.
 

32. Until now : AS YET

 

36. Patricia of "Hud" : NEAL


 

37. Medieval laborer : SERF

 

39. Take care of : TEND

 

40. Vacation option : TOUR

 

41. Memo heading : IN RE

 

44. Defunct Soviet space station : MIR

 

48. First-aid fluid : IODINE

 

49. "__ happens ... " : AS IT

 

50. Pass, as time : ELAPSE

 

51. Mongolian desert : GOBI


52. Bank holdup : HEIST

 

53. No longer sleeping : ASTIR

 

57. "Hey, get a load of this" : PSST

 

59. Chief Norse god : ODIN

 

60. Quite : VERY

 

61. Significant periods : ERAS

 

63. Kyoto cash : YEN

 

64. Droid : BOT

 

65. Positive vote : YEA

 

66. Gas additive brand : STP