Wednesday, March 7, 2018, Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN

4. Sunday dinner side dish : ROASTED POTATOES

6. Driving : AT THE WHEEL

 
10. Summer Olympics event since 1996 : BEACH VOLLEYBALL

 
31. Gravy thickener : CORNSTARCH

61. Body part whose parts are aptly found at the bottom of this puzzle's four longest answers : FOOT

Melissa here. Not only are the theme answers all down, but also all except one are positioned at the very bottom of the grid. Nice.

Across:

1. Drone sound : WHIR. Not BUZZ.

5. Spicy dip : SALSA

10. French flag couleur : BLEU

14. Parade celebrity : HERO

15. Cotton swabs : Q-TIPS. Appropriately, right next to ...

16. Pair on a Disneyland hat : EARS

17. Verdi highlight : ARIA

18. It's prohibited on many highways : U-TURN

19. Vast landmass : ASIA

20. Musical Christmas staple : MESSIAH. Handel.

22. Culinary student's assent : YES CHEF

24. Native American symbol : TOTEM

 
26. Bit of cheer? : RAH

27. 22% of the U.S. Senate : WOMEN. Appropriately right next to ...

30. WWII female : WAC. Women's Army Corps was the women's branch of the United States Army.

32. Program breaks : TV ADS

36. Enthusiastic : AVID

37. "Good Lord!" : OH GOD. That's what he said.

39. Miscellany : OLIO

40. [Uh-oh!] : GULP

41. Big name in threshers : DEERE

42. In __ of: replacing : LIEU

43. City ENE of Reno : ELKO. Perped.

44. One of pop music's Papas : DENNY. Dennis Doherty was a founding member of the 1960s musical group The Mamas & the Papas.

 

45. Permits : LETS

46. Takes a load off : RESTS

48. Mil. officers : LTS. Lieutenants. 

49. High-IQ group : MENSA

50. Perilous hisser : ASP

52. In check : AT BAY

54. Succeeding like nobody's business : ON A TEAR. Wictionary definition: Engaged in a continuous, fast-paced procession of actions or events, especially with favorable results.

58. Like most kosher frankfurters : ALL BEEF

62. Water sport : POLO

63. Only inanimate zodiac sign : LIBRA

65. Iams alternative : ALPO

66. "Quite so" : TRUE

67. Historical period : EPOCH

68. Slimming procedure, briefly : LIPO

69. Shopping club : SAMS

70. Swearing-in rituals : OATHS

71. For fear that : LEST

Down:

1. "Careless Whisper" pop group : WHAM

2. "__ comes trouble!" : HERE

3. Eye part : IRIS

5. Weightlifting maneuver : SQUAT

7. "Elementary" co-star Lucy : LIU

8. Nimble : SPRY

9. Ed with seven Emmys : ASNER. The first actor to win an Emmy award in both comedy and drama genres for the same role (for the character Lou Grant in both The Mary Tyler Moore show and Lou Grant). List of awards and nominations received by Ed Asner.

11. Word with back or whip : LASH

12. Historic canal : ERIE

13. "Aim High ... Fly-Fight-Win" military org. : USAF

21. Non-neutral atom : ION

23. Took a load off : SAT

25. Purplish hue : MAGENTA

27. Ante, e.g. : WAGER. Ohhh ... I was thinking the prefix.

28. Small egg : OVULE

29. Takes full advantage of : MILK. EXPLOIT didn't fit.

33. From far away (perhaps very far) : ALIEN

34. See 51-Down : DIETS
and 51. With 34-Down, really retro eating programs : PALEO

35. "The March King" : SOUSA. John Philip Sousa composed 136 marches, including Semper Fidelis (1888), which became the official march of the U.S. Marine Corps. You may recognize The Liberty Bell as the theme song for Monty Python's Flying Circus. "And now for something completely different:"

37. Unexpected : ODD

38. Susan of "L.A. Law" : DEY

47. Ottawa-to-NYC dir. : SSE

49. Prefix with ware : MAL

53. Vague discomfort, with "the" : BLAHS

54. Makes a choice : OPTS

55. Romance writer Roberts : NORA

56. Grad : ALUM

57. Longtime "Live!" host : RIPA

59. Author Wiesel : ELIE. "We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph."

60. Omar of "Shooter" : EPPS. Never heard of this USA Network series.  It originated as a film in 2007, where the role of Bob Lee Swagger was played by Mark Wahlberg. That film is actually based on the book Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter, which is inspired by a real Vietnam sniper. More here.

64. Plant sci. : BOT. Short for botany.