Theme:
17. *Royal passing rubber checks? : KITING KING
25. *English Einstein? : BRITAIN BRAIN
47. *Pack animal carrying a Mexican treat? : BURRITO BURRO
62. *Gdansk gentleman? : POLITE POLE
62. *Gdansk gentleman? : POLITE POLE
40. "That'll be enough of that subject" ... and a hint to solving the answers to starred clues : DROP IT
Two-word phrases in which IT is dropped from the second word, to create a new word.
Melissa here. With lots of learning moments, this felt a tad above Tuesday level to me - relied heavily on perps. Got the theme with the first theme answer - which helped fill in the others pretty quickly. I remember using that "Drop It Like it's Hot" gif for the theme of a fairly recent blog post - but my (admittedly halfhearted) attempt to find it turned up nothing. Anyone else remember a recent "Drop It" theme?
Appears to be a debut for constructor Joe Kidd here at the corner. Pseudonym?
Across
Two-word phrases in which IT is dropped from the second word, to create a new word.
Melissa here. With lots of learning moments, this felt a tad above Tuesday level to me - relied heavily on perps. Got the theme with the first theme answer - which helped fill in the others pretty quickly. I remember using that "Drop It Like it's Hot" gif for the theme of a fairly recent blog post - but my (admittedly halfhearted) attempt to find it turned up nothing. Anyone else remember a recent "Drop It" theme?
Appears to be a debut for constructor Joe Kidd here at the corner. Pseudonym?
Across
1. Physicist Newton : ISAAC
6. Maker of TimeCutter riding mowers : TORO
10. Crimson Tide, to fans : BAMA
14. "Ask someone else" : NOT ME
15. Fail to enunciate : SLUR
16. "Don't have __!": "Calm down!" : A COW
19. Ding-__ : DONG
20. Mailing label phrase : SEND TO
21. Shopping to beat the band : ON A SPREE. "To beat the band" is an idiom meaning "to the greatest possible degree." Not something I hear often.
23. Sign of a Broadway hit : SRO. Standing Room Only.
24. International accord : ENTENTE. Is this Tuesday?
30. Feel sick : AIL
31. Suggestive sideways look : LEER
32. Ten sawbucks : C-NOTE
36. Just okay : SO-SO
38. Calculate again : RE-ADD
41. The "Y" of YSL : YVES
42. Lesley of "60 Minutes" : STAHL. She recently wrote a book about becoming a grandparent.
44. Blood fluids : SERA
44. Blood fluids : SERA
46. "All you can __": buffet sign : EAT
51. Shout of jubilation : WHOOPEE
54. Butter square : PAT
55. Stop fretting : REST EASY
57. Weather map line : ISOBAR. A line on a map connecting points having the same atmospheric pressure at a given time or on average over a given period.
61. "In the Valley of __": 2007 Tommy Lee Jones film : ELAH. 2007 Release.
65. Utility abbr. : ELEC
66. Worked (up) : RILED
67. Fly high : SOAR
68. __ Martin Cognac : REMY
69. Fills fully : SATES
Down
1. Signs, as a document : INKS
2. French silk : SOIE. Is this Tuesday?
3. Mailing label abbr. : ATTN
4. Surrounded by : AMIDST
5. Chicago's time zone : CENTRAL
6. "What a shame!" : TSK
7. Hodgepodge : OLIO
8. Miler or sprinter : RUNNER
9. Princess Leia's last name : ORGANA. I had no idea of this - is it common knowledge for most Star Wars fans?
10. Metaphorical coin that keeps turning up : BAD PENNY
11. Oak-to-be : ACORN
12. Painter Claude : MONET
13. "Well, gosh" : AW GEE
18. Stickier : GOOIER
22. Bic Clic __ pen : STIC
25. Low singing voice : BASS
26. More than a melee : RIOT
27. "Casablanca" heroine : ILSA
28. Word before maiden names : NEE
29. "The Godfather" enforcer Luca : BRASI
33. Finished : OVER
34. Saline sign of sadness : TEAR
35. Spanish "this" : ESTO
37. Pooh Bear's lament : OH, BOTHER
39. Police rank: Abbr. : DET
43. "Superstar" rapper __ Fiasco : LUPE. No idea.
43. "Superstar" rapper __ Fiasco : LUPE. No idea.
45. Ones inflicting humiliation : ABASERS
48. Farm machine : REAPER
49. Fix, as a shoe : RESOLE. Seems this should be simply "Fix a shoe." What else would be fixed by resoling?
50. Thomas More's perfect world : UTOPIA
51. Chirpy birds : WRENS
52. Sun: Pref. : HELIO. All I had to go on at first was the O, which did not help. Is this Tuesday?
53. Honshu port : OSAKA
56. Theoretical matter involved in the Big Bang : YLEM. From Wikipedia: "Ylem is a term that was used by George Gamow, his student Ralph Alpher, and their associates in the late 1940s for a hypothetical original substance or condensed state of matter, which became subatomic particles and elements as we understand them today." Hello! It's Tuesday!
58. Lightning streak : BOLT
59. On the quiet side, at sea : ALEE
60. Cincinnati team : REDS
63. Slippery, as a road : ICY
