17. *Not so great: BELOW PAR.
23. *Roe delicacy: BELUGA CAVIAR. In 2005, the United States made it illegal to import beluga caviar and beluga sturgeon into the country, because of the animal's endangered status. However, caviar from beluga hybrid species are still for sale in the country.
38. *Laboratory vessel: BELL JAR. Also a book by Sylvia Plath. Animated book summary. The protagonist Esther Greenwood describes her depression as a feeling of being trapped under a bell jar, struggling for breath.
51. *Currency in San Ignacio: BELIZE DOLLAR. Wikipedia: The official value is pegged at BZ$2 = US$1.
61. Tight embraces, and what the answers to the starred clues literally have?: BEAR HUGS. The BE and AR are 'hugging' the letters in between.
Melissa here. I like how the theme answer BELL JAR is positioned right in the middle of the grid. Also interesting is that each theme phrase (except for the reveal answer) begins with BEL. The only other BE*AR words I can come up with are BEACHWEAR and BEGGAR. No L's.
Across:
1. __ signs: VITAL. Measurements of the body's most basic functions. The four main vital signs routinely monitored by medical professionals and health care providers are: Body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, blood pressure.
6. Feminine pronoun: SHE.
9. World Cup chant: USA.
12. With money at stake: ON A BET.
14. Guinness of "Doctor Zhivago": ALEC. Guinness played Lieutenant General Yevgraf Zhivago.
15. Task on a suburban summer to-do list: MOW.
16. Woke: CAME TO. Woke vs. Awoke: You can replace "awoke" with "woke." The reason is that they are the past participles of the verbs "awake" and "wake," which have identical meanings.
19. Singer DiFranco: ANI.
20. Put away: STORED.
22. Road trip game: I SPY.
26. Blog entry: POST.
27. Surround: ENVELOP. Like a BEAR HUG.
31. Drag show accessories: BOAS.
34. Q's neighbor: TAB. On a keyboard.
36. Fixes a crossword, say: EDITS.
37. Oblique neighbors: ABS. Abdominal muscles.
41. "__ but a scratch": TIS. In the wonderfully hilarious British cult classic film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur once defeated a guard on his quest for the Holy Grail. In the famous scene, the guard refuses to let Arthur pass and thus the battle begins. Arthur gravely wounds the guard, who continuously claims, “Tis but a scratch.
42. Part of a bath set gift basket: LOOFA.
44. Sea-__ airport: TAC. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
45. Rat's home: NEST.
46. "I'm going before you!": ME FIRST. No, no ... contigo abajo. (A little Spanish humor.)
49. Prepare, as potatoes: MASH.
56. London's __ Park: HYDE. History of Events in Hyde Park. There is also a Hyde Park in Chicago, Hyde Park Village in Florida, the Town of Hyde Park in NY, and a neighborhood in Boston.
59. "Gimme a minute": ONE SEC.
60. Abbreviation with a suggested price: OBO. Or best offer.
63. Beatles hairstyle: MOP TOP. In the early '60s, the Fab Four were wearing mop-top haircuts, a longish style with bangs that resembles a certain household tool. Rock legend has it that the revolutionary Brits were inspired by two young German photographers sporting mop tops who befriended them in Hamburg in 1960. The look was a dramatic departure from the very short, conservative cuts of the 1950s, and it was soon mimicked on both sides of the Atlantic. By the late '60s, the band had abandoned the style in favor of locks that were even longer.
65. Formula 1 need: CAR. F1 is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
66. Rhyme Syndicate founder: ICE-T. Rhyme Syndicate was an American hip hop collective of artists formed to unite East and West Coast rappers, DJs and record producers.
67. "Hey, bro": YO DUDE.
68. Coffee receptacle: URN.
69. Advanced deg.: PhD. Doctor of Philosophy, is a high-level degree earned after a period of three or more years of graduate-level study, culminating in the creation, submission, presentation and defense of a research dissertation.
70. Uses a surgical beam: LASES.
Down:
1. Lesson that may involve a thesaurus, for short: VOCAB.
2. Silly: INANE.
3. Language in Sri Lanka: TAMIL. Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia.
4. Pres. in a stovepipe hat: ABE.
5. "We're leaving now!": LET'S GO.
6. Oreo cookie packaging: SLEEVE.
7. Bottled up, as emotions: HELD IN.
8. Earth Day prefix: ECO. The prefix eco (often used with a hyphen) refers to ecology or to the environment: Because population is concentrated in urban settings, cities have large eco-footprints (ecological footprints). This product is eco-friendly (safe for the environment).
9. Work-from-home types: UMPS. Nice clue. Home base. Baseball.
10. Irish Spring, e.g.: SOAP.
11. Slightly off: AWRY.
13. Cookbook phrase: TO TASTE.
14. Pokémon species that evolves into Kadabra and Alakazam: ABRA. Kadabra evolves from Abra after accumulating enough experience, and evolves into Alakazam only when traded from one copy of a Pokémon game to another. The original Pokémon is a role-playing game based around building a small team of monsters to battle other monsters in a quest to become the best.
18. Full of energy: WIRED.
21. Eight-related: OCTAL.
24. Company with brown trucks: UPS.
25. State boldly: AVER.
28. Diet branding word: LITE.
29. "Try a Little Tenderness" singer Redding: OTIS.
30. Hushed summons: PSST.
31. Lip Smacker product: BALM.
32. Clarinet kin: OBOE. Oboe vs. Clarinet.
33. Starting from: AS OF.
35. Club alternative: BLT. Sandwich. A signature feature of a club sandwich is using three pieces of bread – with one slice used as a separator in the middle. It is an American classic, often served in delis, country clubs and other restaurants. It is often cut into quarters or halves and held together by cocktail sticks.
38. Unadorned: BARE.
39. Lily of "Downton Abbey": JAMES.
40. Starfleet school: ACADEMY. In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet Academy is where recruits to Starfleet's officer corps are trained.
43. Bran benefit: FIBER.
45. Org. for Oilers: NHL. Hockey.
47. Abandon good posture: SLOUCH.
48. Lightly shaded: TINGED.
50. "Awesome!": SO COOL.
52. Citrus bits: ZEST. The outermost layer of the peel known as the flavedo. This layer contains loads of natural oils that are full or flavor and not as acidic as the tart juice.
53. Sacred flower: LOTUS.
54. Quarters: ABODE.
55. Lures (in): ROPES.
56. Morehouse, for one: Abbr.: HBCU. “any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary of Education.”
57. 12 months: YEAR.
58. "Fiddlesticks": DARN. Couldn't help but think of this ...
64. "Get a room!" elicitor, for short: PDA. Public Display of Affection.
