Wednesday, July 20, 2022, Dan Caprera

Theme: YAS QUEEN!

17. Religious figure known as the "Queen of Heaven": VIRGIN MARY.

24. Novelist known as the "Queen of Crime": AGATHA CHRISTIE

31. Military division known as the "Queen of Battle": INFANTRY.

46. Field of study known as the "Queen of the Sciences": THEOLOGY.

52. Singer known as the "Queen of Jazz": ELLA FITZGERALD.

64. City known as the "Queen of the West": CINCINNATI. Queen of the West also refers to a 1995-built replica steamboat, on the Columbia River near Hood River, Oregon.

Melissa here. Six QUEEN theme answers in this one, and no unifier. I was over-thinking, expecting the theme to be something more than just QUEEN - but there doesn't appear to be anything else that connects them all. This appears to be Dan Caprera's LA Times debut - congratulations Dan, and welcome to the Corner.

Across:

1. Paul of guitar fame: LES. In 2009, Paul was named one of the top ten electric guitarists of all time by Time magazine. Two years later he was named the eighteenth greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. How To Choose a Les Paul.

4. Old manuscript artisan: SCRIBE.

10. Doesn't sit on: USES. Tricky.

14. Shuttlecock's path: ARC. QAs about the trajectory of a shuttlecock’s flight path.

15. BabyGap buy: ONESIE.

16. Order: RANK.

19. Fashion journalist García: NINA. editor-in-chief of Elle, and a judge on the Bravo/Lifetime reality television program Project Runway since its first season.

20. Trick: SCAM.

21. Small matter: ATOM.

23. Gorp morsel: NUT. a term for trail mix often used by hikers in North America, is typically said to be an acronym for "good ol' raisins and peanuts", although the mix may contain M&M's and other nuts.

29. Battery size: AAA.

30. River to the English Channel: SEINE.

36. Frontera condiment: SALSA. Frontera translates to border in English. Frontera Grill is  Rick Bayless's restaurant in Chicago, and also the name of a 2014 movie starring Ed Harris.

39. New Mexico art community: TAOS.

40. Gushes: SPEWS.

43. Mosque prayer leader: IMAM.

44. Quick messages: TEXTS.

48. Smiles: GRINS.

51. Tax-deferred nest egg, briefly: IRA.

58. Murmur: COO.

59. Pacific Islands staple: TARO.

60. Spiffy: NEAT.

62. The "L" of YOLO: LIVE. You Only Live Once.

68. Neighborhood: AREA.

69. Dream up: IDEATE. Believe it or not, ideate is a very old word. It came into English in the 1600s, mostly as a term used in discussing Plato's philosophy.

70. Charge: FEE.

71. Skills evaluation: TEST.

72. Built a tree house?: NESTED. Great clue.

73. Fabric store meas.: YDS.

Down:

1. WCs: LAVS.

2. Gospel singer Campbell: ERICA.

3. Skinny sort: SCRAG. "An unattractively thin person or animal."

4. "__ hear": SO I.

5. "Fareed Zakaria GPS" network: CNN. Analysis and interviews, Sundays at 10am & 1pm ET.

6. Sleep acronym: REM. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a stage of sleep associated with dreaming and memory consolidation. It accounts for approximately 20–25% of an adult’s sleep cycle and over 50% of an infant’s. A lack of REM sleep may have adverse implications for physical and mental health.

7. Oscar of 2021's "Dune": ISAAC. Rawr.

8. Some overnight deliveries?: BIRTHS. Cute.

9. Fictional donkey: EEYORE. Winnie the Pooh. The rabbit is Rabbit. The owl is Owl. But Eeyore, the donkey, takes his name from a phonetic spelling of the sound a donkey makes.

10. Samovar: URN. Often of brass, with a spigot near its base, widely used in Russia to boil water for tea.

11. Patron of sailors: SAINT ELMO. And abdonimal pain. Serious!

12. Blasé feeling: ENNUI. Meh.

13. Stingray kin: SKATE. Skate fish vs. stingray.

18. Early show since 1975, briefly: GMA. Good Morning America on ABC.

22. Nintendo Switch avatars: MIIS. Any gamers here? A Mii (/miː/ MEE) is a customizable avatar used on several Nintendo video game consoles and mobile apps. Miis were first introduced on the Wii console (clever, "We" and "Me") in 2006 and later appeared on the 3DS, Wii U, the Switch, and various apps for smart devices.

25. Do something to hide?: TAN. Favorite clue today.

26. Metaphor for roles: HATS. As in, "She wears many hats."

27. Org. with driver safety courses: AARP. American Association of Retired Persons is a non-partisan interest group for people aged fifty and older. Founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus, a retired high school principal.

28. SpongeBob's pet Gary, for one: SNAIL.

31. Hairy Addams cousin: ITT. From the TV show The Munsters.

32. "Sorry, lassie": NAE. Scots Gaelic, or Scottish, for no.

33. Plants with purple bell-shaped flowers: FOXGLOVES. The scientific name, digitalis, means "finger". Has medicinal uses but is also very toxic to humans and other animals, and consumption can even lead to death.

34. Latin stars: ASTRA.

35. Though: YET.

37. Droop: SAG.

38. "Jeopardy!" champion Schneider: AMY. Winning 40 consecutive games on the quiz show Jeopardy! from November 2021 to January 2022, she holds the second-longest win streak in the program's history, behind only Ken Jennings, who hosted the show as she competed.

41. Early Democrat's adversary: WHIG. An American political party formed in the 1830s to oppose President Andrew Jackson and the Democrats. Whigs stood for protective tariffs, national banking, and federal aid for internal improvements.

42. SERE. Dry or withered (especially of vegetation).

45. Sort (through): SIFT.

47. Stick in the water?: OAR.

49. B complex vitamin: NIACIN.

50. Long step: STRIDE.

52. Big fanfare: ECLAT. The word derives from French, where it can mean "splinter" (the French idiom voler en éclats means "to fly into pieces") as well as "burst" (un éclat de rire means "a burst of laughter"), among other things.

53. France's longest river: LOIRE.

54. Districts: ZONES.

55. Journalist Curry: ANN.

56. Like salad greens: LEAFY.

57. So last year: DATED.

61. Gets even?: TIES. Nice clue.

63. Sup: EAT.

65. Roomba rider, in some viral videos: CAT.

66. Brooklyn suffix: ITE.

67. Nancy Drew's beau Nickerson: NED.