Vowels on Parade.
17-Across. Arrest: TAKE INTO CUSTODY.
33-Across. Kind of in jest, kind of not: HALF SERIOUSLY.
39-Across. Vintage Burger King slogan: HAVE IT YOUR WAY.
60-Across. Mixed drink recipe directive: SHAKE VIGOROUSLY.
and the unifier:
45-Down. Sextet featured in order in this puzzle's theme answers: A E I O U Y. I like the idea of Y being an honorary vowel.
Across:
1. Sunbather's goal: TAN.
4. Beach dwelling support: STILT. Many houses in Grand Isle, Louisiana are built up on stilts. Appropriate for today's puzzle since
Tropical Storm Claudette just swept through the area.
9. Move in the breeze: SWAY.
13. Somber notice: OBIT. This is not the kind of obituary you want.
15. "War and Peace" and "Gone with the Wind": SAGAS. Guess
which of one of these sagas I have read.
16. It has a same-named river on its southern border: OHIO.
20. Squirrel morsel: ACORN.
21. "__ you special!": AREN'T.
22. GM's Mary Barra, e.g.: CEO. Mary Barra (née Mary Teresa
Makes; b. Dec. 24, 1961) has been the Chief Executive Officer of General Motors since 2014.
23. Type of equation: LINEAR. Easy, right?
25. WWII conference site: YALTA. It is also known as the
Crimea Conference. The meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin took
place in February 1945 near the end of WWII.
27. "Soft embalmer of the still midnight": Keats: SLEEP. A
poem by John Keats (Oct. 31, 1795 ~ Feb. 23, 1821).
30. Bully: MEANIE. Was George Meany (Aug. 16, 1894 ~ Jan.
10, 1980) a Meanie?
35. Comic Margaret: CHO.
37. __ shop: golf course store: PRO.
38. Brown bar order: ALE.
46. Show one's face: EMERGE.
47. Dwelling that sounds like two letters: TEPEE. TP has
other meanings, too.
48. Ship deck guards: RAILS.
50. Nonliteral language features: IDIOMS.
54. "The __ of the moral universe ... bends toward justice": MLK
Jr.: ARC.
56. Parking employee: VALET.
59. Temple text: TORAH.
63. "This is for you": HERE.
64. PR pro's concern: IMAGE.
65. "Carpe diem" acronym: YOLO. You Only Live Once. // Not to be confused with 12-Down. Toy similar to a
spool: YO-YO. National Yo-Yo Day was Sunday, June 6, 2021.
66. Like a one-star sudoku: EASY. I would still find a one-star sudoku a
challenge.
67. May 8, 1945, briefly: V-E DAY. Also known as Victory in Europe Day.
68. Fed. research org.: NSF. Non-Sufficient Funds for some research projects funded through the National Science Foundation.
Down:
1. Utter: TOTAL. This clue and answer will rile some people
up. Think of: That is an Utter mess and That is a Total mess.
2. Beaded calculators: ABACI.
3. Coolpix digital camera maker: NIKON.
4. Fig. whose last four digits are often requested: SSN. As
in the ubiquitous Social Security Number.
5. "See ya!": TA-TA!
6. Horror film aide: IGOR.
7. Cagney's TV partner: LACEY. Cagney and Lacey was a television show that ran in the 1980s.
8. Word from the Japanese for "harbor wave": TSUNAMI. Also
the name of a sushi restaurant in southern Louisiana.
9. Inebriate: SOT.
10. "Your guess is as good as mine": WHO CAN SAY?
11. West Wing worker: AIDE. As in an Aide in the White
House's West Wing.
14. Mother with a Nobel Prize: TERESA. As in Mother Teresa
(née Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu; Aug. 26, 1910 ~ Sept. 5, 1997). She was
born in what is present-day Madeconia, but is best known for her work in
India. She was made a Saint in the Catholic Church in 2016 and is now
known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
18. Collectively: IN ALL.
19. Canonized fifth-cen. pope: ST. LEO. Pope Leo I, also
known as Leo the Great, was Pope from September 440 until his death in 461.
24. Game official: REF. As in a Referee.
26. Upsilon preceder: TAU. It's Greek to me.
28. Notice: ESPY.
29. 1995 Reform Party founder: PEROT. H. Ross Perot (né
Henry Ross Perot; June 27, 1930 ~ July 9, 2019) was a billionaire businessman
who ran as an independent presidential campaign in 1992 and a 3rd party
candidate in the 1996 presidential race.
31. Unwell: ILL.
32. Pupil's place: EYE.
33. Futuristic sci-fi vehicles: HOVER CARS.
34. Bounder: ROUÉ.
35. "Evita" narrator: CHE. Che Guevara (né Ernesto Guevara;
June 14, 1928 ~ Oct. 9, 1967) was a physician who turned Marxist
Revolutionary.
36. Easter entrée: HAM. Here is one theory of why Ham is eaten on Easter.
40. Memorable period: ERA.
41. "Enough already!": I GIVE!
42. City that merged with Jaffa in 1950: TEL AVIV. Jaffa is sometimes written as Yafo.
43. Troy, N.Y., campus: RPI. As in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Some in our crossword family are graduates of this institute
of higher learning.
44. Joined with: WED TO.
49. Gooey gunk: SLIME.
51. Welles of "War of the Worlds": ORSON. Orson Wells (né
George Orson Wells; May 6, 1915 ~ Oct. 10, 1985) was an American film
director, but also a radio host. In 1938, he narrated a radio adaption
of H.G Wells' novel The War of the Worlds about an alien
invasion. Many people believed that the Earth was being invaded by
extraterrestrials. Interesting to have two Wells (different spellings)
involved in this tale.
52. Shopping meccas: MALLS.
53. Just __: almost: SHY OF.
54. Tennis legend Arthur: ASHE. Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (July 10, 1943 ~ Feb. 6, 1993) makes frequent guest appearances in the
crossword puzzles.
55. Ostrich kin: RHEA. Everything you wanted to know
about Ostriches vs Rheas but didn't know to ask.
57. "Zounds!": EGAD.
58. Roman garb: TOGA.
61. Critical: KEY.
62. "Star Wars" heroine: REY. Rey Skywalker appeared in some of the more recent movies of the Star Wars Series.
Here's the Grid: