Wednesday, March 21 2018, Mark McClain

Theme: CHECKING IN- The first words can be CHECKED.

17. *Many a museum piece : OIL PAINTING. Oil Check.

36. *Choice spot at the opera : BOX SEAT. Checkbox.

11. *Family crest : COAT OF ARMS. Coat check.

27. *Ellington genre : SWING MUSIC. Check swing. (Baseball.)

56. Words to a server ... or a hint to the first words of the answers to starred clues : CHECK PLEASE.
 

Melissa here. I struggled more than I should have with this one, due to a handful of tricky clues and a few unknowns. The theme didn't help with solving much because sometimes CHECK preceded the first word of the answer, and sometimes it followed. Only short a Q and Z of a pangram.

Across        

1. Jordan's capital : AMMAN

6. Amounts to : COSTS

11. Cleveland hoopster : CAV

14. Tour leader : GUIDE

15. Popcorn brand whose logo resembles a movie marquee : ACT II

 
16. Corrida cheer : OLE

19. "MSNBC Live" co-anchor Velshi : ALI

20. Big Dipper's constellation : GREAT BEAR

 
21. Birth-related : NATAL

23. Couple of gags? : GEES. Wording of clue seems odd. Couple IN gags would make more sense.

24. Tied-on protectors : APRONS

25. Without : ABSENT

28. Not even close : WAY OFF

30. Vise features : JAWS

31. British nobles : EARLS

32. Roger Federer's org. : ATP. Association of Tennis Professionals (males). Female counterpart is WTA (Women's Tennis Association), founded by Billie Jean King in 1973.

35. French buddy : AMI. AMIE is the feminine form.

38. Pi follower : RHO

39. Stood for office : RAN

40. Powerful Japanese dog : AKITA. Much like yesterday's SHIBA INU.

41. Black bird or black cat, to some : OMEN

42. Go round and round : GYRATE

44. Messed (up) : LOUSED

46. Obtain : COME BY. Stumped me.

48. Is not misused? : AINT. Nice clue.

49. Very serious, as a water shortage : ACUTE. Medically speaking, ACUTE does not always mean serious, but indicates sudden or recent onset - as opposed to chronic, which is long-lasting.

50. Blunder : FALSE STEP

55. Humanities degs. : MASE. Master of Arts in Special Education. Not sure why this clue is plural. (Correction: the answer is MAS. Master of Arts. Thanks, everyone.)

58. "The Book of __": 2010 Denzel Washington film : ELI

59. Exorbitant interest : USURY

60. Ceremonial place : ALTAR. I like this clue 💕.

61. Fond du __, Wisconsin : LAC

62. Closed : ENDED

63. Braid : PLAIT

Down

1. Twittering : AGOG. In this internet age, twittering has a new meaning.

2. "Studies in the Sierra" writer John : MUIR. Originally appeared in 1874 and 1875 as a series of seven articles in the Overland Monthly, which were later (1915 to 1921) reprinted in the Sierra Club Bulletin. 

 
3. Fitbit unit : MILE. Not STEP.

4. Much of the Sunday paper : AD PAGES. Not ADVERTS.

5. Spruce (up) : NEATEN

6. Walking sticks : CANES

7. Penta- plus three : OCTA

8. Cup-a-Soup direction : STIR

9. Pewter component : TIN

10. Footpath aid : SIGNPOST 

12. Poe's middle name : ALLAN

13. Concealing accessories : VEILS

18. "Probably not" : I BET. Sneaky because it's sarcasm - normally "I bet" indicates total agreement.

22. "Wanna go out?" response : ARF

24. Protagonist of Auel's "Earth's Children" novels : AYLA

25. Somewhat open : AJAR

26. Auburn rival, familiarly : BAMA

28. Squander : WASTE

29. Surface product : AREA. For rectangles and squares - height x width = AREA. Area calculator.

31. Bright word in a dark theater : EXIT

33. You, back in the day : THEE

34. Koi habitat : POND

36. Kansas City cuisine : BARBECUE. Variation is BARBEQUE. That and a Z would make for a pangram.

37. Not bad : OKAY

41. Fly off the shelf faster than : OUTSELL

43. To date : YET

44. Struggle with sisters? : LISP. Great clue.

45. 400 meters, on many tracks : ONE LAP

46. It has one hump or two : CAMEL

47. Florida's __ National Forest : OCALA

48. Binder for some paints : ALKYD. New to me.

50. 2017 FX miniseries subtitled "Bette and Joan" : FEUD. Anyone watch this series?

51. Spacious lot : ACRE

52. Part of TTFN : TATA

53. Actor Morales : ESAI

54. Cheeky : PERT

57. QVC sister station : HSN. Home Shopping Network.