3D. Conductor's job? : TRAIN CHECK. Rain check.
5D. Recycling, composting, etc.? : TRASH DECISIONS. Rash decisions.
15D. Livestock feed approximation? : TROUGH ESTIMATE. Rough estimate.
30D. Tongue-in-cheek presidential tribute? : TRUMP ROAST. Rump roast.
C.C. here. I did not see a draft post from Steve, so I'm just going to put a short skeletal write-up. Hope he's OK. He never missed a write-up before, no matter how busy he was. So I'm a bit concerned.
The theme entries are placed in Down slots for visual effects. T is consistently added to the R-starting phrase for extra layer.
This must be Robert & Marlea Ellis's LAT debut. I did not find their name under our blog Labels. Congratulation!
Across:
1. Animated film set partly in Insectopia : ANTZ
5. By way of, to Burns : THRO
9. Try : STAB
13. Like many trees in winter : BARE. Certainly in our yard. Winter here. High is 27F today.
14. Respond : REACT
16. Approximately 2.2 lbs. : KILO
17. West Point, e.g.: Abbr. : ACAD
18. "Are you calling me __?" : A LIAR
19. Currier's partner : IVES
20. Moment-of-truth words : THIS IS IT. Sparkly fill.
22. Fight : OPPOSE
24. Geological period : EON
25. Track-and-field events : SHOT PUTS. This word is pluralble, D-Otto?
27. Bugs often caught : COLDS
29. DOJ chiefs : AGs
30. Cough syrup amt. : TSP
33. Jessica Simpson's pop-singing sister : ASHLEE
35. Extreme degree : NTH
36. Cookie with a limited-edition Swedish Fish variety : OREO. Constructors and Rich work hard to come up with new clues for OREO.
37. Went over the limit : SPED
38. Hidden supply : CACHE
40. Club charges : DUES
41. Some twitches : TICS
42. Nigerian native : IBO. Wiki seems to prefer Igbo.
43. Not covering much : SKIMPY
45. Calligraphy supply : INK. To answer your question, Jayce, in Chinese dictionaries, you can find a word both by pinyin and the character components if you don't know how the word is pronounced. As for google, here is an easy way. Just type in pinyin, Chinese characters will show up. Then you can copy and paste it to Google Translate.
46. Corvallis sch. : OSU. Oregon State.
47. Like either main face of El Capitan : STEEP. Got via crosses.
48. Slightly embellished truth : WHITE LIE. Nice entry as well.
50. Decay : ROT
53. Energetic worker : DYNAMO
56. Part of a proverbial secretive trio : LAMPPOST
58. Jet engine sound : ROAR
59. "The Wonder Years" mom : NORMA
61. Old El Paso product : TACO. We also have 2. Dipping chip : NACHO. Food! By the way, Anon-T, my favorite soy sauce brand is Lee Kum Kee.
63. Move quickly : SCOOT
64. Quickly, in memos : ASAP
65. Alice's workplace : MEL'S
66. New Year's Day word : SYNE
67. Orch. section : STRS. OK, strings.
Down:
1. Taper off : ABATE
4. Last letters in Canada : ZEDs
6. Greek sun god : HELIOS
7. "Nick of Time" singer : RAITT
8. Andean tuber : OCA. Still have not tried them.
10. Couch potato's device : TIVO
11. Brown bar orders : ALES
12. Highly respected speakers maker : BOSE
21. Cruise stop : ISLE
23. NBA stats : PTS
26. It may be beaten : PATH. So spoiled by Springbrook this summer.
28. Bygone automaker : OLDS
31. Barely flow : SEEP
32. Bouquet : POSY
33. Italian wine city : ASTI
34. Public relations distortion : SPIN
35. Mil. category : NCO. Also 60. Army training ctr. : OCS
36. "Garfield" dog : ODIE
39. Touch on : ABUT
44. Board and lodging : KEEP
46. Electrical unit : OHM
47. Hit hard, as the brakes : SLAM ON
48. Yells "Fore!" at : WARNS. I was once hit hard on my left arm. Terrifying.
49. Junior Jetson : ELROY
51. First name in bologna : OSCAR
53. Eighth of a fluid ounce : DRAM
54. Oxen coupler : YOKE
55. Carpentry fastener : NAIL
57. Sch. support groups : PTAs
C.C.
