Saturday, November 5, 2022, Evan Mulvihill, Adam Simpson

  Saturday Themeless by Evan Mulvihill and Adam Simpson

Across:

1. Tree whose leaves are ground and dried to make filé powder: SASSAFRAS - So that is what Hank Williams was singing about.

10. Set cymbals: HI-HAT.

15. Wind pitched in G: ALTO FLUTE - Here with a curved or straight head

16. Meditative posture: ASANA.

17. Part of a mane event?: LION TAMER - 😋

18. Fine cuts: SLITS.

19. Puff pen: E-CIG.

20. Many a Dickens child: WAIF - Here are some WAIFS in a production of A Christmas Carol

21. Going rates: FARES and 45. Part of a fleet: CAB.

22. Triple __: SEC - An orange-flavored liqueur 

23. "Seasons of Love" musical: RENT - or... Musical based on Puccini's La Boheme 

24. Low noise: RUMBLE.

25. Big name in country music: JUDD - Mom Naomi died on April 30 of this year

26. Japanese title of respect: SAN.

27. Web portal co.: AOL.

28. PC nexus: LAN - Local Area Network does not require the internet.

29. Insurrection: COUP.

31. Nice range: ALPS - Nice doesn't fool crossword vets. 

Nice, France

32. Game room fixture: PING PONG TABLE - BILLIARD fit first after I saw TABLE

35. Victoria, for one: LAKE.

36. Maker of MYDAL bunk beds: IKEA.

37. Judy Woodruff's longtime network: PBS.

38. Verb attachment: OSE - VERBOSE or here's 78 of them

39. Springfield bartender Szyslak: MOE - This Halloween you could have gone as MOE, Homer Simpson's bartender.

40. Perlman of "The Mindy Project": RHEA - Yeah, I know, she'll always be Carla from Cheers

42. Recipe words: STIR IN.

44. Kerfuffles: ADOS.

48. Stuffed shells: TACOS.

49. "This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey From Refugee to Congresswoman" writer: OMAR.

50. Multiparty merger statement?: WE DO.

51. Cut down to size: ABASE.

52. Like some series finales: MIDSEASON - New for me:

What’s a MIDSEASON Finale? 

First, a midseason finale is the last episode of a traditional, weekly-airing television season before it goes on hiatus for a month or more. It may be called a winter finale or even a fall finale, but they all mean the same thing: Your show won’t be back on the air for a while. 

54. Harder to come by: RARER.

55. Handy bookmark for a note-taker: INDEX CARD.

56. Head lock: TRESS - 😋

57. Bear markets?: TOY STORES - 😋

Down:

1. Corporate department: SALES.

2. Chef and farm-to-table pioneer Waters: ALICE.

3. Not easily moved: STOIC.

4. Dance partner?: SONG - Of all the wonderful Mary Tyler Moore scenes, this is one of my very favorites

5. Forward's opposite: AFT - The AFT of the Titanic rose high into the air before sinking

6. Far from perfect: FLAWED.

7. Cuba libre: RUM AND COKE.

8. Had an epic fail: ATE IT - I bought a Beta Max camera and player

9. Feudal laborer: SERF.

10. Lives it up: HAS FUN.

11. Belief of more than 2 billion people: ISLAM.

12. Downside of some self-cleaning: HAIRBALLS - No problem here because Lily gets brushed very frequently

13. Dik-dik or gerenuk: ANTELOPE - A dik -dik      A gerenuk

14. Cornstalk toppers: TASSELS - I made big money hiring hundreds of kids every summer for 23 years to DETASSEL corn to make hybrid seeds. Why it is done.

23. Step up: RUNG - Quickly! 

24. Moonstruck: RAPT.

25. Homicide detective Rizzoli of "Rizzoli & Isles": JANE - The character and her portrayer 

26. Caramel lollipop in a yellow-and-red wrapper: SUGAR DADDY - Memories of my misspent yute 

28. "Whatevs": LIKE I CARE - When did "I could care less" equate to "I couldn't care less"?

30. Number of World Series wins for the Nationals: ONE - World Champions in 2019. Worst record in MLB in 2022.

31. Quartet with the 2021 album "Voyage": ABBA - Forty years after their last concert, ABBA got together again, had themselves digitized, filmed a new concert with 160 cameras, incredible lighting and sound that made for an unbelievable concert! Harbinger of more to come?

32. Where elbows might be on the table?: PASTA BAR.

33. Subatomic particle: PION - Good luck!

34. Parrots: APES - APE/APING/APER are cwd standards for imitating.

35. Skill rarely practiced now: LOST ART -????

39. Tightwads: MISERS.

41. Mounts: HORSES.

43. Blush wines: ROSÉS.

44. __ acid: AMINO.

45. Animal expert Millan: CESAR - Many of his dog training skills work in the classroom!

46. Truly cherish: ADORE.

47. Portfolio option: BONDS.

49. Forget about: OMIT.

50. Baylor University site: WACO.

53. No. after a no.: EXT - How 'bout some Excel code to handle phone extensions