Theme: ALL HEART 💛💜🧡💙💚
19. *Particularly memorable event: ONE FOR THE AGES.
32. *Party topper: PAPER HAT.
43. *1990 theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, e.g.: ART HEIST.
53. Attitude shift, and the shift found in five letters in the answer to each starred clue: CHANGE OF HEART.
Melissa here. Each theme answer contains an anagram of HEART.
Across:
1. Lots of bucks: DEER. DEER is both singular and plural. Some are for other animals - fish, moose, sheep, swine, buffalo. Here are 101 Words That are Both Plural and Singular.
5. Bird's crop: CRAW. "Craw" is an obsolete term for
"crop," and this is still seen in the saying "it sticks in my craw,"
meaning "I can't [metaphorically] swallow it," that is, a situation
is unacceptable, or at any rate annoying. Wikipedia: A crop is a thin-walled expanded portion of the alimentary tract used for the storage of food prior to digestion. This anatomical structure is found in a wide variety of animals. It has been found in birds, and in invertebrate animals including gastropods, earthworms, leeches, and insects.
9. Small amounts: DABS. Remember this?
13. Folklore brute: OGRE. A hideous giant represented in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings. Ogres have appeared in many works, including Tom Thumb; Hansel and Gretel, where the witch is a type of ogre because she intends to eat the children; and Little Red Riding Hood, where the wolf resembles an ogre.
14. Fissile rock: SHALE. Easily split.
15. Some cold drafts: ALES.
16. "This week has gone on long enough!" letters: TGIF. Thank God/Goodness It's Friday.
17. Estate home: MANOR. A large country house with lands
18. Jedi Master voiced by Frank Oz: YODA. "Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
23. Reindeer reins holder: SANTA.
24. Beats, as an incumbent: UNSEATS.
28. Stand: STOMACH. Ohh, verb. To bear without overt reaction or resentment : put up with.
34. Lighthearted: MERRY.
35. One-named "Chandelier" singer: SIA.
36. Moles, maybe: SPIES. In espionage jargon, a mole (also called a "penetration agent," "deep cover agent," "illegal" or "sleeper agent") is a long-term spy (espionage agent) who is recruited before having access to secret intelligence, subsequently managing to get into the target organization. However, it is popularly used to mean any long-term clandestine spy or informant within an organization (government or private).
39. English cuppa: TEA.
40. Send packing: EVICT. Nice clue.
46. Sinews: TENDONS. A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. Ligaments connect bone to bone.
49. Most miserly: MEANEST.
50. Barbecue briquettes: COALS.
52. Pipe plastic: PVC. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is one type of thermoplastic polymer that is currently penetrating many aspects of life through its wide use, and has become a universal polymer.
58. Disdainful chorus: BOOS. I have a cat named Boo, after the character in To Kill A Mockingbird, played by a very young Robert Duvall. Scout utters the words "Hey, Boo," a child's gesture of understanding kindness that leads To Kill a Mockingbird to its unforgettable conclusion.
59. Fiction or nonfiction: GENRE.
60. Prom attire: GOWN.
62. Besides: ELSE.
63. Fiji alternative: EVIAN. Bottled water brands.
64. Menu heading often next to File: EDIT. On your computer.
65. Ink spots?: TATS. Nice. Remember this group?
66. Leader with a .edu address: DEAN. Academia.
67. "A Suitable Boy" novelist Vikram: SETH. Also a a BBC television drama miniseries.
Down:
1. Small point: DOT.
2. French Toaster Sticks brand: EGGO.
3. "Blue Bloods" daughter played by Bridget Moynahan: ERIN.
4. Judo official: REFEREE. An unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.
5. Arctic trout: CHAR. What’s The Difference Between Trout And Char?
6. Diatribes: RANTS.
7. Warm welcomes: ALOHAS. Aloha actually comes from two Hawaiian words: Alo – which means the front of a person, the part of our bodies that we share and take in people. And Ha, which is our breath. When we are in each other's presence with the front of our bodies, we are exchanging the breath of life. That's aloha.
8. "If you __ you, then we'd all be a bit less we": wisdom from Piglet: WEREN'T.
9. Afternoon sports event: DAY GAME.
10. Household succulent: ALOE.
11. Garden areas: BEDS. It's almost time!
12. Fed. benefits provider: SSA. Social Security Administration.
14. Irons (out): SMOOTHS.
20. Phobia: FEAR.
21. Bit with neutrinos: ATOM. I am not going to pretend I have any idea what this means.
24. Beat, as a favored incumbent: UPSET.
25. Unsophisticated: NAIVE.
26. Much of Iberia: SPAIN. The Iberian peninsula is located in the West of Europe where modern-day Spain and Portugal are.
27. Plant juice: SAP.
29. Kevin McHale's "Glee" role: ARTIE. Kevin McHale, who plays all singing, all dancing, wheelchair using geek Artie Abrams, is not disabled himself.
30. Peppery salad green: CRESS. A fast-growing, edible herb.
31. Omni rival: HYATT. Hotel resorts.
33. Spanish aunt: TIA.
37. Sound of hesitation: ERM. I see this in books, but don't think I've ever actually heard someone make that sound.
38. Colbert of late-night: STEPHEN. I recently saw this clip of Colbert telling this charming story of how he met his wife Edie. Look how rapt the band is.
41. Jewel boxes: CD CASES.
42. Multiple-cel creature?: TOON. Animation. A cell is a transparent sheet of celluloid or similar film material, which can be drawn on and used in the production of cartoons.
44. Give birth to: HAVE.
45. Confines, as a pet bird: ENCAGES.
47. Kept bothering: NAGGED.
48. LP cover: SLEEVE.
51. Justice Sotomayor: SONIA.
53. Cuba libre mixer: COLA. Rum and Coke, or the Cuba libre, is a highball cocktail consisting of cola, rum, and in many recipes lime juice on ice.
54. Large number: HOST.
55. Hall of Fame quarterback Tarkenton: FRAN.
56. Needled: RODE. Tricky clue. Needled is to annoy someone, especially by repeated criticism: His mother was always needling him about getting a job. To ride is to harass persistently.
57. Silly goose: TWIT.
58. "After Happily Ever After" cable channel: BET. Did not know about this show. Hosted by Bow Wow, seven former couples live under the same roof as one person plays matchmaker for their ex and tries to find the perfect new person to date.
61. To the __ degree: NTH.
