20. Forgettable band with a memorable song: ONE HIT WONDER.
32. "Pipe down!": KEEP QUIET.
45. Spot for spare change: COIN PURSE.
58. Element of irony, and what can be found in each set of circled letters?: TWISTED HUMOR.
Let's put the grid up here so we can see the circles.
The circled letters can be unscrambled to make a word relating to HUMOR: WIT, QUIP, and PUN.
Across:
1. Unexpected obstacle: SNAG.
5. "Pronto!" letters: ASAP.
9. Suffers after a Pure Barre class, say: ACHES. A strenuous, low-impact workout based on dance, Pilates, yoga and low-impact rehabilitation exercises.
14. __ Top ice cream: HALO. Less cream and sugar than regular ice cream. I've never tried it. If you haven't either, you might want to read this first: A Dietitian’s Review of Halo Top: Nutrition, Ingredients, and Best Flavors.
15. Four Corners state: UTAH. The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico.
16. "If only!": I HOPE.
17. "Will do!": ON IT.
18. Emperor after Claudius: NERO. Anyone actually know this from memory?
19. __ touch: MAGIC.
23. Jazz pianist McCoy: TYNER. Did not know his name. He worked with The John Coltrane Quartet. He left Coltrane's group in 1965, becoming uneasy with the increasingly atonal and noisy direction of the saxophonist's music. “He had two drummers at that time,” Mr. Tyner said in 1976, “and I couldn't hear what I was doing.”
24. Unnecessary: NEEDLESS.
28. Pie crust fat: LARD.
31. Ace a presentation: NAIL IT.
37. Lingerie selection: TEDDY. "Teddy Bears" and "Teddies" - the Surprisingly Literal Etymology of "Teddies" Lingerie.
38. Musical ability: EAR. Are you TONE DEAF or MUSICALLY GIFTED? (A FUN test for non-musicians)
39. Old PC platform: MS DOS.
41. Snaky fish: EEL.
42. Shopping cart fillers: ITEMS.
48. Cook's Illustrated offering: RECIPE. From my last blog, I know we have at least a few fans of America's Test Kitchen here. Cook's Illustrated is an American cooking magazine published every two months by the America's Test Kitchen company.
50. Lake bird with a wild laugh: LOON. Loons always make me think of the movie On Golden Pond.
51. Sotheby's auctions, e.g.: ART SALES.
54. Fragrance: SCENT.
61. Like 18-Across: ROMAN.
64. Goalie's success: SAVE. According to Golf Digest, this is this is the greatest save in hockey history.
65. Per-hour amount: RATE.
66. Not sleeping: AWAKE.
67. Diva's big moment: ARIA. Opera.
68. Simpson daughter voiced by Yeardley Smith: LISA. Did not know her name.
69. Came to a close: ENDED.
70. Shout: YELL. Anyone remember Rita Moreno's opening YELL from The Electric Company?
71. Opening for a hotel key card: SLOT.
Down:
1. "Ask me anything!": SHOOT.
2. Mary Poppins, for one: NANNY.
3. Out of this world?: ALIEN. Nice clue.
4. Went to a tutoring session, say: GOT HELP.
5. Many a godmother: AUNT.
6. Fret (over): STEW. Couldn't squeeze worry into 4 letters.
7. Judge who hit 62 home runs in 2022: AARON. Those of us who don't follow baseball wouldn't know this one. Plays for the NY Yankees. He is 6 feet 7 inches tall!
8. Galaxy, for one: PHONE. Sneaky.
9. Set one's sights on: AIMED AT.
10. "All the Birds in the Sky" Nebula winner __ Jane Anders: CHARLIE. Science Fiction is not my genre and I've not heard of this.
11. Monopolize: HOG.
12. Prefix with dermis: EPI. Meaning: upon or above.
13. Triple __: orange-flavored liqueur: SEC. Meaning, "triple distilled," triple sec is made from the dried peels of bitter and sweet oranges. 'Sec' is French for dry so 'triple sec' literally means 'triple dry.'
21. Baghdad's country: IRAQ.
22. Room that may have a sectional sofa: DEN. Sectionals have gotten very popular in the last 5 years or so.
25. Respected leader: ELDER.
26. Cucumber salad, coconut rice, etc.: SIDES.
27. Panache: STYLE.
29. Bacardi liquor: RUM. Again with the booze!
30. Blu-ray buy: DISC. Blu-ray is the advanced version of DVDs. It is named "Blu-ray" because blue laser is used to read the disc, which enables to store the information at greater density compared to red-laser used in DVD. Seems like the trend is towards streaming services, and maybe both will phase out like VHS cassettes.
32. Knightley of "Bend It Like Beckham": KEIRA.
33. "Peter, Peter, pumpkin __ ... ": EATER. Children's nursery rhyme.
34. Build: ERECT.
35. Old name of Tokyo: EDO.
36. Work hard: TOIL.
40. __-cone: SNO. I feel pretty certain that SNO-CONE is a brand name, but google finds both SNOW CONE and SNO CONE with no obvious distinction. All I could find was this article, about sno-balls vs sno-cones. Now I'm more confused than ever. From the article: "Editor’s Note: In my 35 years on this planet I’ve never once eaten anything called a sno-ball. Nor have I ever eaten a sno-cone served in an actual cone." But what about this sno-ball?
43. Error: MISTAKE.
44. Brought about, as a movement: SPAWNED.
46. Like a red-carpet event: POSH.
47. Opens, as a fern frond: UNCURLS.
49. Former quarterback Manning: ELI. NY Giants quarterback for 16 seasons, retired from NFL in 2019.
52. Writing contest entry, maybe: ESSAY.
53. Long look: STARE.
55. "Reply all" medium: EMAIL.
56. "Untrue!": NOT SO. Is too!
57. October 31 option: TREAT. Halloween - trick or treat?
59. Malicious: EVIL.
60. Hand out cards: DEAL.
61. "Insecure" star Issa: RAE.
62. Woolf's "A Room of One's __": OWN.
63. Fit to be tied: MAD.
