Themeless Saturday by Rich Norris
Rich is back again with a puzzle that kept me going for way too long. MOLIERE and TOVAH were my last two entries among the slew of names. 
Some of Rich's cluing was cruel and unusual! Okay, I got 'em but laughed when I saw how they fit for my hard-earned "got 'er done".
1. Attractive bar, say: INSPOT - NYC's INSPOT of the 70's. Yeah, I went with magnet first.
7. New parent, maybe: STEP DAD - Mike was a new parent to half the bunch
14. Big star: POP IDOL.
16. French Tony equivalent: MOLIERE - MOLIERE is considered to be France's Shakespeare and 36. Cover name: ALIAS - Moliere was born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, but changed it to his one-word pseudonym.
17. Significant tennis term: OPEN ERA - It started in 1968 when pros were allowed into The Grand Slam events.
18. Reveals: EVINCES - It was good enough for Thomas Jefferson.
20. Cub Scout leader: AKELA - Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement, chose the wolf AKELA from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book to be its leader.
23. Sword holder: SHEATH - More info
24. Brit's clothespin: PEG - This is also what some people call a golf tee
25. Letters for a seaside vacation: SPF - Sun Protection Factor
28. Hieroglyphic figures: ASPS.
29. "Lost" antagonist: ETHAN.
31. Carmichael who composed "Heart and Soul": HOAGY - Like others, I learned the right hand only version of HOAGY's classic tune
33. "Jingle Bells" preposition: OER - ... OER the fields we go...
35. Display area: SHELF.
37. Computer add-on?: ESE.
38. Go a-wassailing: CAROL - There is hot cider (wassail) being consumed and CAROLLING going on below
39. Honorary Oscar recipient in 1955: GARBO - The reclusive actress never came to accept it
40. Old young king: TUT 😀 - Howard Carter's discovery of TUT's tomb was financed by Lord Carnarvon, the actual occupant of Downton Abbey (Highclere Castle) in 1922 .
42. Unpolished: CRASS.
43. Play thing: PROP - For the very few peeps who do not recognize this famous PROP from the movie of the same name, the answer is at the bottom of the write-up. *
45. Overnight development: DEW - 😀 We early golfers are sometimes called DEW sweepers.
46. Mil. defense letters: ABM - Anti Ballistic Missle system
47. Place for many a last-minute purchase, casually: C-STORE - Or so many others...
51. Lyon's river: RHONE - Originates in the Swiss Alps and empties into the Mediterranean
52. Composer/conductor Lukas: FOSS - Everything you want to know
56. Pope who was a patron of Michelangelo and Copernicus: PAUL III - Pope Julius II forced Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo did The Last Judgement for PAUL III in the same room.
58. "Nice one!": YOU ROCK.
60. Triage pro: ER NURSE.
61. Strike goal, perhaps: MORE PAY.
62. Sandal features: T-STRAPS.
63. Fails to act: SITS BY - If you were among the many millions who watched the finale of Seinfeld, you know they went to jail for failing to act to help a man getting robbed.
Down:
1. Certain market launches, for short: IPOS - Initial Public Offering of stock
2. "Try again": NOPE.
3. Brief detail: SPEC.
4. __ glass: PINT.
6. Five-book scrolls: TORAHS.
7. Troutlike fish: SMELT.
 |
| Rainbow SMELT |
8. Actress Feldshuh: TOVAH - I never knew her name but remember her playing a "tough as nails" defense lawyer Danielle Melnick in Law And Order
9. One "ManningCast" host: ELI - Peyton and ELI Manning bookend Will Ferell
10. "Trouble" Grammy winner: PINK.
11. Figured out: DECIPHERED - Alan Turing and his colleagues did some of the most important DECIPHERING in human history in Hut 8 during WWII.
12. Lead-in to a secret: ARE WE ALONE. 😀
13. Problem that may be confused with operator error: DESIGN FLAW - Uh, there is this one issue with your new Pinto
15. One of several artists nicknamed for where they lived: LAKE POET - More
21. Approaches carefully: EASES UP TO.
23. Indisputable decisions: SAY SO'S - I am married to the person who has the SAY SO around here
25. Big pile on the floor: SHAG CARPET - 😀 A necessary accessory for big pile SHAG CARPET in the 70's.
26. Club members who break the ice with splashy entrances?: POLAR BEARS - Yikes! Not a club I am anxious to join.
27. Negotiation objective: FAIR AMOUNT - Ask for too much and hope to get somewhere in the middle
29. Get away: ESCAPE.
30. Seagoing adverb: THAR - Adverbs can tell where, like this version of there.
32. Natters: GABS.
34. Snail mail, e.g.: RETRONYM.
44. Cereal promoted by the Creme Team: OREO O'S.
47. Burning result?: CRISP - I'm at an 8 or 9
48. Backs (away): SHIES.
50. Arc on a score: SLUR.
52. Violin's lack: FRET 😀
53. Slip indicator: OOPS.
54. Sign of healing: SCAB - Tina Fey got a SCAR on her chin when she was 5 years old
55. Finlandia rival: SKYY.
57. Yo La Tengo guitarist Kaplan: IRA - I Have It in English. A definite Saturday IRA in this onslaught of name from Rich or Patti. This IRA was number 12 on this list of famous IRA's
59. The Rams of the Atlantic 10, briefly: URI - A good guess for an Atlantic Coast School
From l to r, that is Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Mary Astor and Sidney Greenstreet perusing the Maltese Falcon.
