Saturday, September, 9, 2023 by David Karp

 Saturday Themeless David Karp

On his Christmas Day puzzle in 2021, David told us he was a relatively new constructor from Victoria, B.C.,  Canada who took up puzzle construction during the pandemic. David's "day job" is as a policy advisor for the provincial government. He was also a new dad to son Mattias. 

UPDATE: David has returned to work after taking a year off to be a stay-at-home dad. Mattias is now walking all over the place and has become very chatty!  

Across:

1. Luxuriates: BASKS.

6. Self starter?: ESS - A meta clue: Self

9. Going concerns?: FADS - I grew up with a slew of 'em with hula hoops being my fav. Do you see any you recognize in this collage?

13. World record?: ATLAS 😀

14. Express opp.: LOC.

15. Hop on board?: OLLIE 😀

16. Brazilian steakhouse fare: CHURRASCO - CHURRASCO is the Portuguese and Spanish name for grilled beef prominent in the cuisines of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.

18. Like the Spanish Steps: ROMAN - They originally descended to the Spanish embassy in Rome

19. "Hava Nagila" dance: HORA.

20. Some Gilded Age industrialists: RAIL BARONS.

22. Quinto role: SPOCK.

Leonard Nimoy    &     Zachary Quinto
as SPOCK

24. "Rectify" star Young: ADEN.

25. Once called: NEE - Abraham and Mary [NEE Todd] Lincoln

26. Southern Ocean food source: KRILL - KRILL, for this whale, "It's what's for dinner"

28. Elderly: AGED.

30. Almost never: ONCE IN A BLUE MOON - Derivation

                                             

36. Gearshift toppers: KNOBS.

37. Zendaya's "Euphoria" role: RUE.

38. Dorm style: SUITE.

39. "More soon": DETAILS TO FOLLOW.

42. Hebrides language: ERSE - Hebrides Islands and Scottish/Gaeilic (ERSE) language in blue

43. Super Bowl highlights?: TV ADS - Non-football fans like these

44. Tack on: ADD.

46. Designation represented by the Mars symbol: MALE.

48. Yogurt-based condiment: RAITA - From last Saturday:

35. Dahi-based condiment of Indian cuisine: RAITA - An Indian yogurt-based condiment

51. Fare named for their original sponsors: SOAP OPERAS.

54. Hidden gem: FIND.

56. Made to fit: SIZED - Send in your measurements, choose your fabric and finishes and they do the rest

57. One who earns money on the links: AFFILIATE.

59. Avoid: ELUDE.

60. Hollywood's st.: FLA - Oh, that Hollywood.

61. American Eagle lingerie line: AERIE.

62. Banks with style: TYRA 😀

63. Leb. neighbor: SYR.

64. Plot: TRACT.

Down:

1. Baroque bigwig with a big wig: BACH 😀

2. Friend of d'Artagnan: ATHOS - A familiar name in a familiar trio

3. Put away noisily: SLURP.

4. Place with rounds and rounds of applause: KARAOKE BAR - Have you ever?

5. Georgia, once: Abbr.: SSR - Oh, that Georgia

6. Queen who appears in "Olaf's Frozen Adventure": ELSA.

7. Electric mixer?: SOCIAL BUTTERFLY - 😀 I too have been known to flit from person to person

8. Admonish: SCOLD.

9. Plant with pétalos: FLOR.

10. Ingredient in a nutty vinaigrette: ALMOND OIL.

11. Designer von Fürstenberg: DIANE.

12. Perception: SENSE.

15. Crush, for one: ORANGE SODA - An elixir of my misspent youth

17. Alan of "The Kominsky Method": ARKIN

                          Michael Douglas   Alan ARKIN

21. Actor Bridges: BEAU.

23. State of emergency?: CRISIS MODE.

27. Metallica drummer Ulrich: LARS - I only know him from crosswords

29. Soy lecithin, notably: EMULSIFIER - An emulsifier is used to make oil and water mix when they otherwise would not, and it helps stabilize and keep the ingredients from separating later.

30. Sanctioned: OK'D.

31. Vancouver-to-Yellowknife dir.: NNE - Well, David does live in British Columbia...

32. Nice resort area: COTE D'AZUR - We crossword peeps see Nice as a city in southern France first. Here it is on the Coast of Azure (Blue Coast).

33. Pope of 903: LEO V - He was the Roman Pope for two months but was deposed, imprisoned and murdered.

34. Missouri River people: OTO - Nebraska has OTO(E) and Pawnee County in the SE part of the state

35. Fresh: NEW.

40. Jarring transition: LEAP.

41. Language that uses Persian calligraphy: FARSI.

44. Valuable resource: ASSET.

45. Valentine decor: DOILY.

47. Team that shares an arena with the Raptors: LEAFS - Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL and the Toronto Raptors of the NBA. Well, David does live in Canada...

49. Prom topper: TIARA - Brooke got one for homecoming two weeks ago in Arlington, NE. The laughter is because King Josh dropped the TIARA first.

50. Bit of tomfoolery: ANTIC.

52. Doughy Indian dessert flavored with: PEDA.

53. Way off: AFAR.

55. Bit of hot goss: DEET - A bit of hot goss(ip) will have at least one hot DEET(ail) 😚. This took some time but was fun when I got it. David said:  Yes, it looks like the editors kept my original clue for DEET, and your interpretation is correct! "Hot goss" is slang for juicy gossip and DEET is slang for "details" -- the slang usage of "goss" in the clue is intended to hint that the answer also contains slang. (Though now you've got me second-guessing the appropriateness of the clue -- I was just googling deet (in the non-mosquito-repellent context) and it looks like the plural "deets" is significantly more common than the singlar "deet").

58. Long. counterpart: LAT - I live at 41.6473° North LATitude, 96.6638° West Longitude