Wednesday, Sep 6th, 2023, Dan Margolis

 

 The GOOD, The BAD, and the UGLY, er, potato (19d.)~?

Today's puzzle theme clues are opposing statements with the same catch-phrase/idiom answer....two 15-letter spanners, and two awkward 14-letter spanners;  a reasonable challenge for a Wednesday-level puzzle, with only a few proper names to "42A." the solve.  Splynter here, filling in for melissa....

17. Good advice for an angry person / Bad advice for a novice dairy farmer:
DON'T HAVE A COW MAN

28. Good advice for a complainer / Bad advice for someone blowing out birthday candles:
SAVE YOUR BREATH

48. Good advice for a nervous public speaker / Bad advice for an impersonator:
JUST BE YOURSELF

63. Good advice for an impatient person / Bad advice for a Chippendales dancer:
KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON - I filled this in with "PANTS", but it didn't jibe with the DOWN clues

For the ladies; for the guys....

And, uh, Away We Go....

ACROSS:

1. Soccer star Lionel with seven Ballon d'Or awards: MESSI

The "Golden Ball"

6. Spreadsheet line: ROW

9. Hope __: CHEST

14. Water brand: EVIAN - There was a comedian who pointed out that this is "naïve" spelled backwards....

15. Poetic preposition: ERE

16. Name tag word: HELLO

urm, Vader~? Anakin~?

20. Shelley's "Ozymandias," e.g.: SONNET - I had SONN - - , so from there....

21. Rhythm-heavy genre: SKA - pondered RAP first

22. Mole: SPY

23. Fine __: ARTS

25. Historical times: ERAS - I don't have the link anymore, but I believe this is the single most used crossword fill;  see also 39D.

34. Wild beast also called a wildebeest: GNU - hey, that's "GNUS" to me....

35. "Pull up a chair": SIT

36. Fume: SEETHE

37. Blake who played Aunt Harriet on TV's "Batman": MADGE

Loved me the 60s Batman

40. Lower limb: LEG - oooh, a gimme~!

42. Go bad: SPOIL

43. Off topic: AFIELD - I am in the FIELD for the month of September - first on the west side of CT, and then back to Lynchburg, VA for pipe organ work

45. Repurposed tee, maybe: RAG

47. Directed: LED

52. Price-slashing event: SALE

53. Back muscles, for short: LATS - latissimus dorsi

54. Brief chances?: OPS - OPportunitieS

57. T'ai __ ch'uan: CHI - looked vague at first; more here

59. Newsstand stack: PAPERS

67. In vogue again: RETRO

68. Lunes or martes: DIA - Spanish for days Monday / Tuesday

69. Tucci's "Road to Perdition" role: NITTI - no clue; filled via perps

70. Far-out type?: ALIEN - and: 56. 70-Across-hunting org.: SETI - the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence - and a musical interlude from Blue Öyster Cult

Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser never makes any Top100 guitarists lists

71. Belief suffix: -ISM

72. Prepare, as an infusion: STEEP

DOWN:

1. Rx orders: MEDs

2. Cooking staple, initially: EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil; learned by doing crosswords

3. Ireland's __ Féin: SINN - SIEN, SEIN~? can never remember how to spell this

4. GPS technology, for short: SAT-NAV - the guys on Wheeler Dealers still call it as such

5. "We can share this hiding place!": "IN HERE~!"

6. Gun: REV

7. Miner concerns: ORES - cute; Miner/minor; see 34D.

8. More watered down: WEAKER

9. Comedian Margaret: CHO

10. Cut down: HEW - oddly followed by....

11. Colonnade trees: ELMS

12. High-five sound: SLAP

13. Broadway award: TONY

18. Legal dept. staffers: ATTYs

19. Potato nutrients, for short: CARBS - carbohydrates

"Ugly" Potatoes

24. Potting material: SOIL

26. Greek war god: ARES

27. Filter (through): SEEP

28. Complete fiasco: SNAFU - Situation Normal, All....

29. Some German imports: AUDIs

30. In __: unborn: UTERO

31. Island formation: ATOLL

32. "The Book __": Markus Zusak novel: THIEF - filled via perps

33. Grasped: HELD

34. Key with one sharp, briefly: G maj - "E min" would have worked, too, as I knew it's the same as G major from playing the guitar; A LOT of Metal music is in this key....I started taking piano lessons~!  My goal, which might take me decades, is to play Bach's Dorian Toccata - this piece - right now I can play the part of "page turner" @ 3:17

Washington National Cathedral organ, NE facade

38. Grasps: GETS 

39. Idris of "Cats": ELBA - seems to becoming a crossword staple as popular as "ERA"

41. Ancient France: GAUL - Hey~! My first chance to say this one is "Frawnche"

44. Car battery pioneer: DELCO - The Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. - the Wiki

46. Result of some plotting: GRAPH - I toyed with "CABAL", but it's the 'other' type of plotting, e.g. geometry and AutoCAD

49. Violinist Menuhin: YEHUDI - No clue; filled via perps and WAGs

50. Sullies: STAINS - Not THIS Sully - I am fascinated with the Smithsonian Channel's "Air Disasters", not because I am morbid, but for the intriguing investigations - and how a very small part can bring down an airliner.

51. Global fashion brand founded in San Francisco in 1968: ESPRIT - again, no clue

54. Gumbo vegetable: OKRA

55. Spa treatment: PEEL - Dah~!  I tried MANI first

58. Pupil's place: IRIS - I briefly considered "DESK"

60. Kitchen addition?: ETTE - KitchenETTE - I bought my new kitchen cabinets a year ago, but I need to upgrade my home electrical service to 200amps, and even tho I can do it myself, I am waiting on the electrician

61. Learning method: ROTE

62. Salon sound: SNIP

64. Not post-: PRE

65. "Round __ Virgin, Mother and Child ... ": YON - Silent Night

66. Actor Waterston: SAM - you know him best as John "Jack" McCoy, the Executive Assistant DA from Law & Order

Splynter