17. Terrain feature of permafrost regions: GROUND ICE.
24. Staples competitor: OFFICE DEPOT.
35. Took the risk: CHANCED IT.
49. "Star Wars" ruling body: JEDI COUNCIL.
And the reveal:
58. Casino plays ... and events that occur as you work your way down through the four sets of circles: DICE ROLLS.
Melissa here. Note that ROLLS indicates a circular anagram, where the word DICE is gradually rotated around the grid: DICE / ICED / CEDI / EDIC. C.C. had to revise her initial grid to satisfy this ROLLing requirement. Impressive. Felt like a Wednesday+ level to me, with a few thorny spots. The circles help to visualize the ROLL, but are not necessary to solve.
Across:
1. Like Joe Cocker's voice: RASPY.
6. Light-rail stop: Abbr.: STA.
9. Assists in arson, say: ABETS.
14. Waldorf salad ingredient: APPLE.
15. Waldorf salad ingredient: NUT. Clecho.
16. Inhumane: CRUEL.
19. Harry who led Wrigley crowds in "Take Me Out to the Ball Game": CARAY. Why Harry Caray was simply the best. (Baseball clues - tell-tale sign of a C.C. puzzle.)
20. Mint containers: TINS.
21. Patriots' gp.: AFC. More
22. "Trading Spaces" topic: DECOR. The show on TLC. First thought of the 1983 movie Trading Places, with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy.
23. Units measured in BTUs: ACS. Here is a BTU calculator that will estimate the number of BTUs required to heat or cool a home.
27. Skilled in: GOOD AT.
29. It usually has four strings: UKE. There are other four-stringed instruments, but none have only three letters. UKE is a shortened word for ukulele.
30. Madrid mama bear: OSA. Spanish, feminine. Masculine is OSO.
31. Jogging pace: TROT.
32. Really ticked off: SORE.
34. Builder's guideline: SPEC.
38. Some turkeys: TOMS.
41. Saturated __: FATS.
42. Apply crudely: DAUB.
45. DuVernay who created TV's "Queen Sugar": AVA. For some reason I thought her name was Ana. Nope. Didn't realize how many films she has made.
46. "Time for my walk!": ARF.
47. Pinch, as a pooch: DOGNAP. Tricky. Pinch is informal for steal.
53. Lynx coat: FUR.
54. Flat fees: RENTS. Great clue.
55. Barrel wood: OAK.
56. Asian desert: GOBI.
57. Colleague of Gorsuch: ALITO. The only other U.S. Supreme Court Justice with a five-letter last name is Kagan.
60. Less furnished: BARER.
61. It's tapped into a tray: ASH. My first thought was ice, but that's tapped out of a tray.
62. Long range: ANDES. Mountains, not time.
63. Practices in a ring: SPARS.
64. Spelling event: BEE.
65. Out of order?: MESSY.
Down:
1. Disheveled: RAGTAG. Fun word.
2. Yellow-orange fruit: APRICOT.
3. One paying for a plug: SPONSOR.
4. Positive sign: PLUS.
5. Ginza tender: YEN. Official currency of Japan. Ginza is in Tokyo - looks like New York City.
6. Sound of sadness: SNIFF. Aw.
7. Stanley of "The Lovely Bones": TUCCI. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the film - based on the book by Alice Sebold. He said it was horrible playing such a dark role, and will never do it again.
8. Cleaned one's plate: ATE.
9. Knuckle under: ACCEDE. Two c's. Needed perp help here.
10. Support for an injured knee: BRACE.
11. Ace of Base genre: EUROPOP. Did not know this term. Wikipedia.
12. Prickly hybrid: TEA ROSE. Could have been anything.
13. Cunning: SLY.
18. Inane: DAFT.
22. Faked in the rink: DEKED. Don't remember seeing past tense of this word before.
24. Inauguration Day pledge: OATH.
25. Makes well: CURES.
26. Middle of a winning trio: TAC. Tic tac toe.
28. Dropbox files, casually: DOCS.
32. Complete fiasco: SNAFU.
33. Leaf-peeping mo.: OCT. This clue made me think of Spring, instead of Fall.
34. John Deere logo animal: STAG.
36. High hairstyles: AFROS. Sneaky. Not updOS.
37. Fan club focus: IDOL.
38. __ Mahal: TAJ.
39. Venn diagram feature: OVERLAP.
40. European archipelago known for its wine: MADEIRA.
43. Gradually becomes clear: UNFOLDS.
44. Showy trinkets: BAUBLES.
46. Stage crew: ACTORS.
47. Bank management aid?: DIKE. Another sneaky clue. The question mark indicates the misdirection, but it still took me a while to grok.
48. Overly proper: PRISSY. Or this PRISSY.
50. Prefix with act and cede: INTER.
51. Invisible urban pollution: NOISE.
52. Hidden trove: CACHE.
56. Out of sight: GONE. Was thinking the slang term, not literally.
57. Core muscles: ABS.
58. Blot gently: DAB. And now we know the difference between DAUB (carelessly) and DAB (gently) - before I thought they were the same.
59. Big name in trucks: RAM.
