Saturday, October 14, Kyler Dolan and Jennifer Marra

  Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan and Jennifer Marra

 Today, Kyle, a regular Saturday constructor and sometime collaborator from Chicago, teams up with Jennifer Marra to present us with a real challenge. I worked this one from the SE up to the NW and earned a nice "got 'er done!"

Jennifer lives in Connecticut with her husband following the defection of their grown children. She worked as an electrical engineer wrangling numbers and retired early to take on words. When she’s not writing fiction, she can be found constructing crosswords. Jennifer met Kyle through a Facebook puzzle site after stalking him through his numerous publications and this is here initial entry at the LA Times and says he is a great teacher and won’t let a puzzle leave the safety of his computer until it’s ready for the world.

Across:

1. Long-distance relationship?: STAR SYSTEM. This one took this amateur astronomer awhile but it simply refers to a star and all the heavenly bodies that orbit about it.

11. "bfn" alternative: TTYL - Bye For Now and Talk To You Later. There are hundreds of these.

15. Overwhelmed by mosquitoes: EATEN ALIVE - This swarm is in Arctic Alaska

16. "Easy now": WHOA.

17. Landmark whose address is 768 Fifth Avenue in New York City: PLAZA HOTEL 😳

18. Flooring trees: OAKS.

19. Character: TENOR - The TENOR of many political debates these days is very unpleasant

20. __ favor: POR - and 34. "Don't mention it," in Spanish: DE NADA. "POR favor, tráeme una bebida". "¡Gracias!" "DE NADA." (Please get me a drink. Thank you. You're welcome.)

21. Foundation options: TONES - Oh that foundation

22. MLB playoff round: NLCS - We followed our cousin and my former student Alec Bohm in the National League Championship Series last year. 

24. "Is that how you see it?": THINK SO. 

26. Saltimbocca herb: SAGE.

29. Made oneself scarce: HID.

31. "Ocean to Ocean" singer Tori: AMOS.

32. Equal: ARE 😀

33. Palme d'Or field: CINE - French for cinematography 

37. Chill: SIT BACK AND RELAX.

40. Desert of the Maghreb: SAHARA.

41. Gifts that may be made from pupu shells: LEIS.

42. Number of players needed to play Klondike: ONE - Hence the name Solitaire 

43. Monopoly token until 2013: IRON.

A vintage set

44. Paragraph opener: TAB.

45. Vintage Pontiacs: GTOS - I'll let Ronny And The Daytona tell you all about them!

46. Isn't really hot?: ACTS MAD 😀

49. Old autocrat: TSAR.

51. Some fundraisers: RACES.

52. Lithium-__ battery: ION.

54. "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" singer: SIMBA.

58. Whistleblower-protecting org.: OSHA.

59. Comprehensively defeated: TAKEN APART - Sports slang here:

61. Heated contest?: MEET - Some track MEETS have preliminary races called heats that determine the final contestants. 

62. Local number, at times: ANESTHESIA - 😀 This number rhymes with summer and numbs you for a medical procedure. My dentist uses a local and I just can't talk for a few hours afterward.

63. Makes sense, with "up": ADDS.

64. Practiced but did not compete: REDSHIRTED - A common procedure in college athletics. Here ya go.

Down:

1. National Teddy Bear Day mo.: SEPT - Okay

2. Narrative: TALE - Morgan Freeman does a great job doing the narration in this wonderful movie. 

3. __ end: AT AN - 100F days are AT AN end here. 

4. Go to commercial, say: REZONE 😀 You might not like it if land next to you gets REZONED from residential to commercial.

5. Jam: SNARL.

6. "Boo-__!": YAH.

7. Janitorial closet feature: SLOP SINK.

8. Big name in "handmade" vodka: TITO.

9. Navratilova rival: EVERT 

Martina          Crissy

10. Allen who was the first host of "This Week in Baseball": MEL.

11. Athletic advantage: TWO ON ONE 

12. "Some help you are": THANKS A LOT - You pretty much need the eye roll too!

13. Makes the team?: YOKES - 😀 Usually oxen 

14. Sudeikis role: LASSO.

21. Kitchen counters?: TIMERS 😀

23. American who may have a quinceañera: CHICANA - A CHICANA is an American woman or girl of Mexican descent 

25. Held a claim: HAD DIBS - Bonus points if you know the name of this movie and on what morbid thing they HAD DIBS. (*answer below)

26. Lip: SASS.

27. Cantata component: ARIA - Okay

28. Wed: GET HITCHED.

30. Delivered: DEALT 😀

33. Rebounds: CAROMS.

35. "Wildlife" writer/director: DANO.

36. Plot lines: AXES.

38. High chairs?: BAR SEATS.

39. Asset for some writing contests: NEATNESS.

45. Beef source: GRIPER - Biff appears to have a beef with Marty in Back To The Future 

46. Musk: AROMA.

47. Like some sausages: CASED.

48. Title woman in a "little ditty" of 1982: DIANE - Earworm alert

50. Beer with sushi, maybe: ASAHI.

53. Approved: OKED.

55. Halyard pole: MAST - The halyard is the rope used to raise the sail up the mast

56. Larson who plays Captain Marvel: BRIE - No cheese in a Saturday puzzle

57. Barely: A TAD.

59. 2022 Todd Field film about a conductor: TAR - Cate Blanchett plays a fictional, world renowned conductor named Lydia TÁR. Rotten Tomatoes review

60. Ultimate: NTH.

*The movie was Stand By Me and the boys HAD DIBS on the dead body of Ray Browers.