Wednesday, June 15, 2022, Rebecca Goldstein

Theme: LOOSE ENDS

17. *Close contest: TIGHT GAME. TIGHT END / ENDGAME

25. *Good thing to go out on: HIGH NOTE. HIGH END / ENDNOTE

50. *Area with no cell service: DEAD ZONE. DEAD END / END ZONE

59. *Military academy on the Hudson: WEST POINT. WEST END / ENDPOINT

36. Get by ... or what the answers to the starred clues literally do: MAKE ENDS MEET.

Melissa here. How many ENDS can you cram in one puzzle? Can you see past the END of your nose? Would you go to the ENDS of the earth to finish this puzzle?  To the bitter END? Or did you get the short END of the stick?  Don't go off the deep END. There are at least ten more END idioms, but I'm going to spare you - so it's not the END of the world. Sorry. Let's get on with it ...

Across:

1. Anti-art art movement: DADA. Dada was an art movement formed during the First World War in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and folly of the war. The art, poetry and performance produced by dada artists is often satirical and nonsensical in nature.

5. Israeli diplomat Abba: EBAN. Foreign minister of Israel (1966–74) whose exceptional oratorical gifts in the service of Israel won him the widespread admiration of diplomats and increased support for his country from American Jewry. See here.

9. "Jack Ryan" actress Cornish: ABBIE. I don't know anything about this show ... but I found this: The character was never written out of the show, she just disappeared. There was not a single reference of her throughout Season 2, and the only clue given was Ryan (John Krasinski) sleeping with another woman early on in the season, and then later on saying he's single. Then there's this: Abbie Cornish will be returning for the fourth season of popular Amazon show "Jack Ryan." The spy thriller series, based on the character from several Tom Clancy novels, was recently renewed for a fourth season.

14. Massive: EPIC.

15. __ monster: GILA.

16. Dern of "Big Little Lies": LAURA. Love her.

19. Hub: CENTER.

20. Remote possibilities?: AAS. What? Does it mean remote learning? As in AA degree?

21. Boring gadgets: AWLS. Haha, good one. 

22. Knock on: RAP AT.

23. Peanut butter choice: CRUNCHY.

28. LPN's needle: HYPO. Hypodermic. "Relating to the region immediately beneath the skin."

29. Has had enough: IS DONE.

31. From the top: ANEW.

32. Tater morsel: TOT. Taco Time calls their tater tots "Mexi fries." Funny. There's nothing Mexican about tater tots.

34. Horned buglers: ELK. Well this stumped me for a bit as I saw "Horned burglers."

35. Urchin's stinger: SPINE. Yee-ouch! The attack of the sea urchin.

39. Many Dubai residents: ARABS.

41. Compete: VIE.

42. Slack-jawed state: AWE.

43. The Big Easy, for short: NOLA. New Orleans.

44. "One Day More" musical, to fans: LES MIZ.

46. Pool regimen: LAPS. In common usage, a “lap” means a completion of the course. In a pool, the “course” is the pool itself, from one end to the other. Therefore, a lap is one length. Some people think a “lap” is two lengths of the pool.

52. With no chill: TENSELY. Chill - relaxed or easygoing.

54. Feudal domains: FIEFS. The estate or domain of a feudal lord.

55. Reebok competitor: FILA.

56. Sprint: RUN.

57. Betwixt: AMIDST. In the space separating two people or things; in between.

61. 59-Across student: CADET.

62. __ Domini: ANNO. Latin for "in the year of the lord," refering specifically to the birth of Jesus Christ.

63. Genre featuring sitars: RAGA. A raga or raag is a melodic framework for improvisation akin to a melodic mode in Indian classical music.

64. Regions: AREAS.

65. Set at a sports bar: HDTV. High Definition Television is a television display technology that provides picture quality similar to 35 mm. movies with sound quality similar to that of today's compact disc.

66. Soccer star Morgan on the San Diego Wave: ALEX. CONCACAF Player of the Year in the years 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018. In 2019, Alex was awarded the Silver Boot after her team, the US Women's soccer team, won the 2019 World Cup. In addition, Alex has earned a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in 2012.

Down:

1. Take off: DETACH.

2. Beekeeper's setup: APIARY. A location where beehives of honey bees are kept. Apiaries come in many sizes and can be rural or urban depending on the honey production operation. Below is the largest apiary in NYC.

3. Unearths: DIGS UP.

4. Hamburger beef?: ACH. Ohhhhh. A German expression of annoyance.

5. Omelet specification: EGG WHITE.

6. Flat rolls named for a Polish city: BIALYS. A Yiddish word short for bialystoker kuchen, from the city of Białystok in Poland, is a traditional bread roll in Polish Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. Unlike a bagel, which is boiled before baking, a bialy is simply baked, and instead of a hole in the middle it has a depression. Before baking, the depression is filled with diced onion and other ingredients, sometimes including garlic, poppy seeds, or bread crumbs. Everything you need to know about the bialy (including a recipe).

7. Donations: ALMS. Something (such as money or food) given freely to relieve the poor.

8. "You wish, laddie!": NAE. Scottish form of no.

9. Hebrew letter before "beth": ALEPH.

10. Skins that can be marinated and fried to make vegan "bacon": BANANA PEELS. The best banana peel bacon.

11. "Zip your lip": BUTTON IT.

12. Wrath: IRE.

13. Unit of maize: EAR. Corn.

18. Tic-__-toe: TAC.

19. Shark diver's enclosure: CAGE. No thank you.

22. Roller derby spots: RINKS.

24. "That just might work!": NOT A BAD IDEA.

25. Poker variety: HOLD'EM. Texas hold 'em is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face up in three stages. The stages consist of a series of three cards, later an additional single card, and a final card.

26. Point value of "five" in Scrabble: TEN. The face value of Scrabble tiles.

27. Woolly mama: EWE.

30. Role for Lena on "Master of None": DENISE. Wikipedia.

33. Greenlights: OKS.

35. Make use of a Singer: SEW. Singer sewing machine (brand).

36. In bad faith, in legal jargon: MALAFIDE. Carried out in bad faith or with intent to deceive.

37. Makes level: EVENS.

38. Cry heard after stomping on a glass: MAZEL TOV. Jewish phrase used to express congratulations for a happy and significant occasion or event.

39. "What's more ... ": AND.

40. Sushi topper: ROE.

44. Industrial apartment style: LOFT. A loft apartment is a large, open space with very few (if any) interior walls. It's very similar to a studio apartment, as neither have a separate bedroom, but lofts tend to be much larger — 1,000-2,000 square feet, as opposed to a studio's average of 600 square feet.

45. "You're wrong about that": IT ISN'T. The Podcast That Explains Why We’re All Wrong.

47. Like drone footage: AERIAL.

48. Polar __: wintertime fundraiser: PLUNGE. A polar bear plunge is an event held during the winter where participants enter a body of water despite the low temperature. In the United States, polar bear plunges are usually held to raise money for a charitable organization. In Canada, polar bear swims are usually held on New Year's Day to celebrate the new year.

49. Linguistics subject: SYNTAX. The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

51. Grates, as citrus: ZESTS. Verb.

 
53. Drop off for a bit: NAP.

55. Ward (off): FEND.

57. 2010 health law, for short: ACA. Affordable Care Act.

58. Damage: MAR.

59. Sob syllable: WAH.

60. Rita featured on Iggy Azalea's "Black Widow": ORA.