Saturday, March 23, 2019, Kyle Dolan

Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan

Today we celebrate National Chip and Dip Day. Perhaps we should have celebrated this occasion on Super Bowl Sunday but anything this delicious can stand on its own merit,

Many of the dips I saw online had guacamole and I just haven't developed that taste for that. My plebeian tastes prefer the common combination at the end of this write-up.

Toady's constructor  is Dr. Kyle Dolan and it has been my pleasure to blog three previous puzzles he authored here at our word stand! 

As his title would indicate, Kyle's puzzles are full of innovation and fiendish cluing coupled wonderful stacked 9's in the NW and SE!

Across:

1. Source of moving fare: FOOD TRUCK - When we were in Portland, Oregon we were stunned by the many, many FOOD TRUCKS downtown for lunch

10. Each of its chapters is called a "sura": QURAN - This alternate spelling of KORAN eventually entered my consciousness and opened up QUEEN in  10. Artist with the 2016 album "Lemonade," to fans: QUEEN BEY. I filled the cells but had to Google to obtain this reference to BEYONCE

15. Georgian Bay is part of it: LAKE HURON.

16. Fifth sense?: UMAMI - The 5th sense of taste that has been in our puzzles several times lately

17. "Regardless ... ": AT ANY RATE.

18. Park with an "Innoventions" museum: EPCOT  - A EPCOT portmanteau familiar to me

19. Humanities subj.: PSY.

20. Small white toy: MALTESE - Aha, Kyle, you didn't fool me!

22. Time of expectation: EVE.

23. Old Route 66 city: TULSA - Kind of a big deal there

24. Solution: ANSWER.

26. Flag of Chicago quartet: STARS - Who knew?

THE CHICAGO CITY FLAG

29. Mainland Africa's smallest nation: GAMBIA - The bizarre history of Gambia's formation and shape

31. Decorated one: HERO 

32. Pot seen in a bar: BEER BELLY - Sometimes indelicately called a "pot gut"

35. Charges up: EXCITES - THAT'S their, uh, charge

37. Whitewater sight, perhaps: KAYAKER.

39. Sit out: TAKE A PASS.

41. Lock fixers: GELS - Locks of hair

42. Maker of Oikos Greek yogurt: DANNON - Granola on top makes it more palatable to me

43. Big Ten team since 2014, familiarly: TERPS -  The TERPS and the Huskers joined in the same year

44. Actually being: INESSE - Latin for Contain, Embody, Include 

46. Match.com results: DATES - My daughter met a lot of frogs there before her ideal man came along

49. Brief storage unit: MEG - See the accompanying table

50. "The Murder Room" author: P.D. JAMES - New author for me

52. Red choice: CAB - In the seventeenth century in southwestern France, an accidental breeding occurred between a red CABernet Franc grape plant and a white Sauvignon Blanc grape plant produced the most popular grape among American red wine drinkers: CABernet Sauvignon.

55. Up: AWAKE.

57. In agreement with the party: ON MESSAGE - Senators and Representatives, abandon your own opinions before you take your seat

59. Jackie's predecessor: MAMIE - Here they are with their spouses and the Prime Minister of Japan and his spouse in 1961

60. Posted: STATIONED - My dad was STATIONED in The Panama Canal Zone during WWII

61. Place: STEAD - During the Civil War, rich men could pay to have others go in their STEAD as a substitute 

62. Egg sources: HEN HOUSES 


Down:

1. Controversy: FLAP - Any activity these days seems to generate a political FLAP

2. Stable diet: OATS - Lunch for Trigger and Silver

3. "Agreed": OKAY.

4. Show watcher's room: DEN - Wow!

5. Gland essential to T cell maturation: THYMUS  - All you need to know

6. Pastoral: RURAL and 7. Range with one end in Kazakhstan: URALS - How do you people who say RULE instead of ROOR AL pronounce this mountain range that divides Europe from Asia? 😏

8. Weekend getaway: COTTAGE - Ah, the destination not the trip

9. Hopping joint?: KNEE - My grandchildren hopped up on my KNEE many times

11. One verifying a tag: UMP - Verified!

12. 20km Summer Olympian: RACE WALKER - One foot must always be in contact with the ground

13. "Don't make __!": A MOVE.

14. Fertilizer ingredient: NITER - NITER is KNO3 below

21. Ballroom dances: SAMBAS - MAMBO, TANGO, SAMBA

23. Three-horse carriages: TROIKAS - A TROIKA ride at Pavlovsk Palace Park in St. Petersburg, Russia

25. Preserved fodders: SILAGES - Testing  a SILAGE pit is a common practice in Nebraska

26. "__ Came in Through the Bathroom Window": Beatles: SHE - Paul wrote this song about a fan who broke into his house.  Wanna hear?

27. One might include an emoji: TEXT - I 💘 to TEXT 😊

28. Dance Dance Revolution, e.g.: ARCADE GAME - 14 seconds of it on Big Bang

30. Sacred chests: ARKS - Indiana Jones and Sallah find the ARK of the Covenant (the MacGuffin) in this fun movie

32. More than brushed back: BEANED - Hit a home run, stand at the plate and watch it leave the ball park? This could happen to you the next time you're up!

33. First NHL player with a 100-point season, familiarly: ESPO - Phil ESPOsito has been a starter on the cwd hockey team for years!

34. Site with many pans: YELP - A pan is a bad review. A YELP review of our favorite Omaha restaurant

36. State-of-the-art 1970s bike: TEN SPEED - A coveted possession at that time

38. __ feed: online news aggregator: RSS - Rich Site Summary - RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually.

40. Slowish tempo marking: ANDANTE - Griegg's famous passage from Peer Gynt played ANDANTE

43. One of Corleone's capos: TESSIO - Here Abe Vigoda playing Salvatore TESSIO asks for mercy after betraying the family in The Godfather

44. 10-Across preachers: IMAMS.

45. Unaccustomed to: NEW AT

47. Jordan's capital: AMMAN - 31/4 hr drive from Tel Aviv

48. Effectiveness: TEETH - Texting while driving violations will only be effective when TEETH are put into its enforcement 

51. Rib: JOSH.

52. Recycled items: CANS.

53. "Permit Me Voyage" poet: AGEE - A 1939 compilation of poetry by James Agee. I am much more familiar with Tommy AGEE of the '69 Amazin' Mets!

54. Flower holders: BEDS - Ours will hold forth soon, duly protected from the rabbits

56. Hyundai competitor: KIA - The 2019 Hyundai and KIA below. I don't know which is which. 😁

58. Paltry quantity: SOU - Je n'ai pas un SOU sur moi (I haven't got a penny on me)

Time for my low brow chip and dip while you comment:

Just a "Z" short of a Pangram

Friday, March 22, 2019, Peter Koetters

Theme: Look Ma, No ADS!  The letters AD are missing from the ends of each theme answer. (Edited later: AD is moved up at the end of each Across theme entries.)

 

17-Across. Embattled World War II city: STALINGR(AD).  The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the major battles between Russian forces and Nazi Germany.  The city, which is located in the confluence of the  Tsaritsa and Volga rivers, was originally called Tsaritsyn.  In 1925, the name was changed to Stalingrad in 1925 in honor of Joseph Stalin.  Nikita Khrushchev had the name changed to Volograd in 1961.  Just in case it's too subtle, the suffix GRAD means means City in Russian. AD moves up in 8D. Limited-access internet area: DARK WEB.  Everything you wanted to know about the DARK WEB

19-Across. Absolutely bonkers: STARK RAVING M(AD).

Apparently, STARK RAVING MAD was also the name of a short-lived sit-com on NBC. AD moves up to 16. It holds water: DAM.  Can you identify the dam in the background?

36-Across. Capital ESE of Kabul: ISLAMAB(AD).  The capital of Pakistan.  The capital city is located East-SouthEast of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Ad moves up to 27. Pat: DAB.  Here's a DAB of butter on a stack of pancakes.

38-Across. College student: UNDERGR(AD).  The difference in your social life when you transition from being an Undergrad vs. Graduate Student. AD moves up to 32. Tongue-in-cheek award eponym: DARWIN.  Unfortunately, often times the recipient of the Darwin Award ends up dead.

48-Across. Nation of Islam leader who was a mentor to Malcolm X: ELIJAH MUHAMM(AD).  Elijah Muhammad (né Elijah Robert Poole; Oct. 7, 1897 ~ Feb. 25, 1975), was the son of a sharecropper and Baptist lay minister before developing the Nation of Islam, which is an African-American religious and political movement. AD moves up to 44. Stifled: DAMPED.

55-Across. Online annoyances needed to complete five puzzle answers: POP-UP ADS.

Across:

1. Foretold: PRESAGED.

9. Biblical spy: CALEB.  As I am sure you all remember from your Biblical history, after Moses and the Israelites wandered through the desert for 40 years, they came upon the land of Canaan.  Moses sent out 12 men on a reconnaissance trip into Canaan and report back about its cities and inhabitants. Caleb was one of the spies Moses enlisted for this mission.  Ten of the spies feared entering the land, but Caleb and Joshua thought otherwise.  You can find out more about this mission in the Book of Numbers.  Spoiler Alert:  The land was deemed safe enough at the time for entry.

14. California resort island: CATALINA.  Fun things to do on Catalina Island.

15. Let up: ABATED.

18. Lady of Las Palmas: SEÑORA.  Today's Spanish lesson.

21. Source of a mole poblano ingredient: CACAO.  History of Mole Poblano.  The bitter-sweetness of the CACAO counteracts the spiciness of the peppers.   You can get some Mole made with ants at Xochi in Houston, Texas.

24. "Now, where __?": WAS I.  I was having a senior moment, there!

25. Spans often presidentially named: ERAs.

26. '60s Hagman co-star: EDEN.  Think of I Dream of Jeannie.  Barbara Eden (née Barbara Jean Morehead; b. Aug. 23, 1931) and Larry Hagmen (né Larry Martin Hagman; Sept. 21, 1931 ~ Nov. 23, 2012) starred in the television show.

28. Turn: GO BAD.  How long has that milk been in the refrigerator?  It has GOne BAD!

33. Rapper __ Wayne: LIL.  His given name is Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (b. Sept. 27, 1982).  I am not familiar with his work, but he seems to have a lot of ink.

34. Marble piece: SLAB.

35. Czech currency: KORUNA.  Here are some Czech coins.

39. Partner of Marcus: NEIMAN.  The high-end department store  Or, as we used to call the store ~ Needless Markup.  The store was originally founded by Herbert Marcus (Sept. 6, 1878 ~ Dec. 1950) and his sister, Carrie Marcus Neiman (May 3, 1883 ~ Mar. 5, 1953) in Dallas, Texas in 1907.

I associate the store with Stanley Marcus (né Harold Stanley Marcus; Apr. 20, 1905 ~ Jan. 22, 2002), who was the son of founder Herbert Marcus.

40. Zeno's home: ELEA.  Zeno of ELEA was a pre-Socratic philosopher.  He lived around 495 ~ 430 BCE.  A little before my time.

41. Just out: NEW.

42. Log: ENTER.

43. Deal preceder: ANTE.  Not as a business deal, but the dealing of cards in a poker game.

44. Place to nosh on a knish: DELI.  Yum!

45. Musician Rundgren: TODD.  For years, Liv Tyler (b. July 1, 1977), thought Todd Rundgren (né  Todd Harry Rundgren; b. June 22, 1958) was her father.  Her mother, Bebe Buel (b. July 14, 1953), was living with him at the time, but had a brief affair with Steven Tyler (b. Mar. 26, 1948) of Aerosmith fame.

Todd Rundgren is probably best know for his song, Hello, It's Me.

47. Braves slugger: AARON.  As in Hammerin' Hank Aaron (né Henry Lewis Aaron; b. Feb. 5, 1934).

54. Edible oil: CANOLA.

59. More disturbing, as details: GORIER.  Some of the recipients of the 32-Down Awards meet with very Gory endings.

60. Licorice-flavored brew: ANISE TEA.  Anise tea is actual an herbal tea that is thought to soothe an upset stomach.  How to Make Anise Tea.

61. Because: SINCE.

62. Demoted to the minors: SENT DOWN.  Think baseball.  A player who doesn't do well in the major leagues may be Sent Down to the minor league team.

Down:

1. Many Chrome runners: PCs.  As in Personal Computers.

2. Muppet Rizzo, e.g.: RAT.

Not to be confused with Ratso Rizzo.

3. Greek vowel: ETA.  Not the usual Estimated Time of Arrival we see in the puzzles.

4. Burrito seller's array: SALSAs.  Yum!

5. Ginsburg associate: ALITO.  Fooled me.  I was going for Elena Kagan (b. Apr. 28, 1960).  Ruth Bader Ginsburg (née Joan Ruth Bader; b. Mar. 15, 1933), Samuel ALITO (né Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr.; b. Apr. 1, 1950) and Elena Kagan are all Associate Justices of the United States Supreme Court.

6. Actress Gershon: GINA.  As in Gina Gershon (b. June 10, 1962)

7. Many an RPI grad: ENGR.  Hi, Spitzboov!

9. Honduran homes: CASAS.  More of today's Spanish lesson.

10. He played Fish on "Barney Miller": ABE VIGODA.  Abe Vigoda (né Abraham Charles Vigoda; Feb. 24, 1921 ~ Jan. 26, 2016) was a constant victim of death hoaxes beginning in 1982 when People magazine erroneously reported his death.  He lived another 34 years after this fake news.

11. Legal scholar Guinier: LANI.  Lani Guinier (b. Apr. 19, 1950) was nominated to be the United States Attorney General in 1993.  Unfortunately for her, some of her writings were deemed too controversial, hence her nomination was withdrawn.  She specializes in Civil Rights and is now a law professor at Harvard.

12. "The most private of private schools": Hugh Laurie: ETON.  Prince William (b. June 21, 1982) and Eddie Redmayne (b. Jan. 6, 1982) were classmates at Eton.

13. Marine threat: BERG.  As in an Iceberg.

20. Bled: RAN.  Adding a cup of vinegar or a half cup of salt to the rinse cycle will help hold colors from bleeding in the wash.

21. 2010s Caesars Palace regular, familiarly: CÉLINE.  As in Céline Dion (née Céline Marie Claudette Dion; b. Mar. 30, 1968).

22. Out of the sack: ARISEN.

23. "Heads or tails": CALL IT!

26. Vigorous spirit: ELAN.

29. Claim discovery, perhaps: ORE.

30. Phone in crime shows: BURNER.  Lots of burner phones were used on The Wire.

31. San __, Texas: ANGELO.  I am not familiar with this city in Texas, but here are some fun things to do in San Angelo.

34. Wisenheimer: SMART ALEC.

35. Proposal support?: KNEE.

37. __ Zion Church: AME.  As in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

38. Last: Abbr.: ULT.  As in the Ultimate.

40. Turn into: END UP AS.

43. Naval brass: Abbr.: ADM.  Grace Murray Hooper (Dec. 9, 1906 ~ Jan. 1, 1992) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy.  She was a computer scientist and was involved in the development of COBOL.

46. Orchard Field, today: O'HARE.  The main airport in Chicago was renamed O'Hare in honor of Eddie"Butch" O'Hare (né Edward Henry O'Hare; Mar. 13, 1914 ~ Nov. 26, 1943) who was a naval aviator in the United States Navy.  He was shot down in the pacific theater during World War II.  The name of the airport was changed from Orchard Field to O'Hare International Airport in 1949.

47. Not to be missed: A MUST.  The musical Hamilton is a MUST SEE.  I saw the show last weekend.  It was fabulous!

48. Cardio readout: ECG.  As in an ElectroCardioGraph, sometimes abbreviated as EKG.  

49. Indochinese Peninsula nation: LAOS.

50. Cross letters: INRI.  A crossword staple.  From the Latin phrase: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum.   As we learned from last week's entry in a puzzle, different theologies have slightly different interpretations on how this phrase should be translated.  So, let's just leave this alone.

51. Become part of: JOIN.

52. Refine: HONE.

53. Could hear __ drop: A PIN.

56. Volume One words, perhaps: A TO.  Youch!  This was an evilly tricky clue.  Think of the letters on the spine of an encyclopedia (do they even exist anymore?).  Volume One would contain articles beginning with A to perhaps B.  Or, maybe the first volume of the OED would have these words on its spine.

57. Morning coat?: DEW.

58. Title of respect, in Tokyo: SAN.  Today's Japanese lesson.

Hahtoolah here.  As Lemonade noted last week, he'll be sharing the Friday blog spot.  So, you got me today.  Hope you had as much fun with this puzzle as I did.  Fear not, however, Lemonade will be back (just like Arnold!).   In the meantime,  I will sometimes be sitting in for him on some Fridays.

QOD:  The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution.  ~  Stephen Sondheim (né Stephen Joshua Sondheim; b. Mar. 22, 1930)

Notes from C.C.: 

1) As Hahtoolah said earlier, she'll sharing the Friday blogging duty with Lemonade from now on.  Lemonade's workload has increased substantially the past few weeks. He does not have extra time for write-up. Each post often takes our team at least 3 hours. Thank you, Lemonade and Susan!
 

2) Happy Birthday to dear Pat (PK on our blog), who turns 78 today. Sorry, CrossEyedDave, I stole your cake again. PK was a newspaper reporter before, hence her always keen observations.

Thursday, March 21 2019 Ed Sessa

Theme: 'K, Abe! A promise to the president, or, in this puzzle, a "bake" scramble.

17A. *Hazards for herpetologists: SNAKE BITES. My first learning moment of the day - herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles.

26A. *Square-shaped ice cream treat: KLONDIKE BAR. Never tried one. Am I missing out?

44A. *Novel narrated by a horse: BLACK BEAUTY. I picked up an old copy of this book in a pub in England at Christmas. I'm not sure I'd have remembered if the horse was the narrator if I hadn't skimmed a few pages.

11D. *Pry: POKE ABOUT. I wanted POKE AROUND, but not enough room.

31A. *Doggie bag item: STEAK BONE Food! If you wonder what to do with steak bones, try melting a stick of butter or two and slow cooking (or sous vide) with the bones for a couple of hours, then strain it into a jar and refrigerate it. Use it to toss vegetables in, spread it on toast, toss pasta in it, eat it out of the jar with a spoon, the options are endless.

59A. Breadcrumb coating brand ... or, as two words, what is found in the answers to starred clues: SHAKE 'N BAKE. or "Shaken Bake". Doesn't it strike you as odd that there's an apostrophe to indicate the first missing letter, but not the second?

Nice puzzle from Ed. The reveal helped me complete STEAK BONE, I was at a loss to see what could follow "STEAK". I liked the theme entries going both across and down, and the interlocking of the two down entries with two of the across ones.

As always with Ed, some challenging cluing and some nice stuff in the fill. Let's take a tour:

Across:

1. Mosque leaders: IMAMS

6. Teddy-bearlike Star Wars figure: EWOK. Wicket W. Warrick for example.

10. What many icons open: APPS

14. Prime production: MOVIE. Amazon Prime, I'm guessing. I'd be more inclined to clue it "Prime product", as "production" implies that Amazon was the producer. (In my (humble) opinion.)

15. Vase-making dynasty: MING. Try not to drop it, these things don't come cheap:

16. Legal plea, briefly: NOLO. Nolo contendere, "I do not wish to contend", or "no contest".

19. Ring calls: TKOS. Technical Knock-Out called by the referee of a boxing match. The guy getting pummeled could always plead "nolo contendere" through his mouthguard.

20. Falco of "The Sopranos": EDIE

21. Designer Schiaparelli: ELSA. Thank you, crosses.

22. Classic mother-and-son statue: PIETA. This came up last week, I believe.

23. Didn't emulate Washington?: TOLD A LIE

25. Programming language with a coffee icon: JAVA

30. North-of-the-border gas: ESSO. They have the brand in the UK too. They had a brand of paraffin called "Esso Blue" and when the Police were recording the outro of "Message in a Bottle" they replaced one of the repeated"sending out an SOS" with "sending out an Esso Blue". It was remastered at some point because you can't hear that now.

33. Not sharp: DIM

34. What the fourth little piggy had: NONE

35. Erode: EAT INTO

38. Bettor expectations: PAYOUTS

40. Brought up: BRED

41. Shuttlecock's path: ARC. Fun game, badminton. I used to play against a fiercely-competitive Pakistani lady in London, she'd wipe the floor with me at squash, but we were more evenly-matched on the badminton court, mainly because she hadn't played before!

43. Dols. and cts.: AMTS.

48. Spelled-out strikeouts: KAYS. Baseball's "K". Henry Chadwick "the father of baseball scoring" used "S" to denote sacrifice, and chose "K" for a striKeout. Some scorers mark a regular K for a swinging strikeout, and a backwards K for a batter caught looking.

49. Best Buy buys: FM RADIOS. Why do I think of these things as outdated? I listen to the one in my car all the time.

54. Sacked out: IN BED

56. Great Plains tribe: OTOE

57. Eurasia's __ Mountains: URAL

58. Groups of two: DUOS

61. Poet St. Vincent Millay: EDNA

My candle burns at both ends; 

It will not last the night; 

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—

It gives a lovely light

"Figs from Thistles: First Fig"

62. Funny Fey: TINA

63. Meant to be: FATED

64. Road sign animal: DEER

65. Fragrant arrangement: POSY. Carried by ladies in times past to ward off the pungent "aromas" of urban living.

66. Property claims: LIENS

Down:

1. "That's enough, thanks": I'M SET

2. Columbus' world: MONDO. Christopher's Italian world.

3. Be of use to: AVAIL

4. Ready to be recorded: MIKED

5. Use one's eyes: SEE

6. Estevez of "The Breakfast Club": EMILIO

7. Breaking point: WIT'S END

8. Service status: ONE-A. Fit to serve in the armed forces.

9. Metric wts.: KG'S Kilograms. "Two and a quarter pounds of jam weighs about a kilogram".

10. Treatment for 17-Across: ANTIVENOM. I had ANTIVENIN first. There are rattlesnakes in the hills around here where I hike. Always good to know where the nearest urgent care location is if the worst comes to the worst. Dogs are more likely to come a cropper than humans though.

12. Novelist's starting point: PLOT

13. Slugger Sammy: SOSA

18. Tolling place: BELL. Is a bell a place?

22. Karachi's country: Abbr.: PAK.

24. "Locked Up" rapper: AKON. I'm not sure I'd describe him as a rapper - he collaborates with rappers on his singles, but his vocal parts are more mainstream than hip-hop.

25. Iwo __: JIMA

27. Drop down: DIP

28. Lines in the sand, perhaps: ANTS. Odd one this - ants marching in line, in the desert or on the beach.

29. Hi-__ image: RES

30. First name in tea: EARL. I love Earl Grey, my favorite tea. Generally understood to be named for the second Earl Grey, Charles, who was Prime Minister in the 1830's and received a gift of the bergamot-flavored blend.

32. Host of the 1950s' "Your Show of Shows": SID CAESAR. Thank you, crosses. Before my time (and geography).

35. Drop off: EBB

36. Keep-on connection: TABS

37. Cal. neighbor: ORE. 

39. Sisterhood name in a 2002 film: YAYA. "Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood".

42. Mideast tunics: CAFTANS

45. "The Spanish Tragedy" dramatist: KYD. Alternative title "Hieronimo is mad againe". Here's Mr. Kyd:

46. "I guess it's fine": UM, OKAY

47. Genealogy chart: TREE

50. Largest UAE city: DUBAI

51. Fuming: IRATE

52. Like some casks: OAKEN. I hesitated over this, STEEL being a viable alternative.

53. Downhill runners: SLEDS

54. Fingered: ID'ED. Identified a suspect.

55. Art class subject: NUDE

56. Birthplace of seven presidents: OHIO

59. Oil additive brand: STP. They make gasoline additives too. If you get Marathon gas in your area, it's got STP additives in it to compete with Chevron's "Techron" brand.

60. Org. with Vikings: NFL. The Minnesota Vikings, as local lady C.C. will attest.

And here's the suitably-highlighted grid, and that's this edition of the blog "baked".

Steve.

Wednesday, March 20 2019, Mark McClain

Theme: Homonyms.

Each theme answer contains a word or syllable, each with a different spelling, pronounced the same: "PEEK." The above image is of Pikachu - a species of Pokémon. His cheeks store electricity.

18. Breed also known as a Lion Dog: PEKINGESE. Tricky spelling. From akc.com: "A compact toy companion of regal bearing and a distinctive rolling gait, is one of several breeds created for the ruling classes of ancient China."

26. Angry display: FIT OF PIQUE.

49. When the volume is the highest: PEAK SEASON.

62. Survey surreptitiously: TAKE A PEEK.

Melissa here. There were some clever and sneaky clues in this one. Theme was easy to spot as soon as two theme answers were filled in.
 

Across:

1. About, in dates: CIRCA.

6. Words With Friends and such: APPS. I bet there are lots of cornerites who play that one. I prefer Draw Something. As much as I enjoy crosswords, Scrabble is too slow for me. It is quite popular in prison visiting rooms, as is dominoes.

10. They form a "cage": RIBS. Nice.

14. Bee-related: APIAN. Hee.

15. Cry while pointing a finger: LOOK. The "cry" tripped me up.

16. Rebecca's firstborn: ESAU.

17. General opening?: SOFT G. I still get tricked by this.

20. High regard: ESTEEM.

22. Nasty types: MEANIES.

23. Warm feeling: GLOW.

25. Gridiron official: REF. I wasn't aware that Gridiron Football was the term for American football.

31. Skill useful in delicate situations: TACT.

35. Big name in gaming: ATARI.

36. Like the Javanese calendar: LUNAR. Java is an island of Indonesia. Something tells me there may be a regular who has some pictures to share. See it at the bottom left? Things to see in Java.

38. Swear: VOW. I do.

39. Catholic univ. in San Antonio: MARYS.

40. Facebook titter: LOL.

41. Kagan on the bench: ELENA.

43. Symphonic rock gp.: ELO.

44. Port-au-Prince locale: HAITI.

46. "Otello" composer: VERDI.

47. Towns on some maps: DOTS.

51. Guffaw syllable: HAR.

53. Prominent fox features: EARS.

54. Alters to fit: TAILORS.

58. Souvenir with a slogan: T-SHIRT. Vote for Pedro.

64. Sanction: ALLOW.

65. Graph line: AXIS.

66. Westin competitor: OMNI. Hotels.

67. Rope often coiled: LASSO. Not noose.

68. Beer order: PINT.

69. Pop: SODA.

70. Moves rhythmically: SWAYS.

Down:

1. Detective's job: CASE.

2. Nasdaq debuts: IPOS.

3. Breach: RIFT.

4. Hurricane strength term: CATEGORY.

5. Colorful reef denizen: ANGEL FISH. So many different kinds.

6. The Eiger, for one: ALP. Impressive. Famous for cheese-making.

7. Work often recited: POEM.

8. Sack holding a pig, in an old idiom: POKE.

9. Winter sports mecca: SKI AREA.

10. Pass along, with dubious etiquette: RE-GIFT.

11. "It's clear now!": I SEE.

12. Barbershop member: BASS.

13. "X" author Grafton: SUE.

19. Austin-to-Dallas dir.: NNE.

21. Do some floor work: MOP. My mind went to dancing.

24. Singer Nelson: WILLIE.

26. Well-known: FAMED.

27. Writer Calvino: ITALO.

28. Seer's deck: TAROT.

29. Prescribed goal: QUOTA.

30. "A tradition __ any other": trademarked catchphrase for The Masters: UNLIKE.

32. Declares: AVERS.

33. Housing choice: CONDO.

34. Huck Finn creator: TWAIN.

37. Setbacks: REVERSALS.

42. Pet control ordinance: LEASH LAW.

45. Fitting: APROPOS.

48. Least forward: SHIEST. Superlative of shy. Have never seen that spelling. Collins dictionary says it is British spelling.

50. Didn't play: SAT.

52. In the manner of: ALA.

54. Bus alternative: TAXI.

55. Similar (to): AKIN.

56. San __: Riviera resort: REMO. Wikipedia has it as one word.

57. Transmit: SEND.

59. Ingrid's "Casablanca" role: ILSA.

60. Optimistic: ROSY.

61. There are five in ten: TWOS.

62. Word with dance or root: TAP.

63. Sedona, for one: KIA. Car model, not city.

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy 81st birthday to Commander Al (Spitzboov), who has generously helped me with many problems over the years. Al served in the Navy Reserve for over 20 years and continues to be involved in various navy activities. Because of Spitzboov, Boomer and I have the best flag in the neighborhood. 

Argyle and Spitzboov

(August 23, 2014, Washington County Fair)

3) Happy 83rd Birthday to John28man! So happy that all your medical problems are under control and you continue to enjoy an active life, John!