Saturday, November 2, 2019, Kyle Dolan

Themeless Saturday by Kyle Dolan


This is the seventh Saturday themeless puzzle constructed by Dr. Dolan that I have had the pleasure of blogging. It was a real challenge but eventually became  a smooth solve.

Last month Kyle was in Rapid City, S.D. for a tech conference and witnessed Britain's precision flying team, The Red Arrows, pass overhead. Kyle was quoted as saying,  “The flypast of Mt. Rushmore was the piece de resistance of the Red Arrows appearances at numerous American landmarks,” said Kyle Dolan, Head of Science & Innovation at the British Consulate-General in Chicago. “The Red Arrows’ visit celebrated the close links between the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, particularly our economic, defense, and science and technology relationships.”

In my communication with Kyle, he told me that the U.K. mini-theme I saw [Dickens, Macbeth, ADELE, BRIT, TWEE, Long TON, The Crown" star Foy: CLAIRE, Loch NESS,TAM and BEELZEBUB (John Milton] was not his intent and it happened by either by accident or by Rich's editing hand. He further told me that though he works at the British Consulate he was born in Boston but has lived in Chicago for quite a while now. Here you can peruse Kyle's impressive resumé

Now let's do a flyby of Kyle's puzzle 

Across:

1. Farm call: BAA. 

4. Picnic game: BOCCE - BOCCE in its current form dates back to at least Rome in 264 A.D.  where soldiers played it during the Punic Wars

9. Informed as a courtesy, perhaps: CC'ED - The physical Carbon Copy part of this is now mostly a remnant of another time and technology

13. Tote: LUG.

14. Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers," originally: SERIAL - A first edition of Dickens' Posthumous Papers Of The Pickwick Club can be had for $2,500

15. QB-turned-commentator Tony: ROMO.

16. "... __ the set of sun": "Macbeth": ERE - I imagine Wyatt Earp told the bad guys to "git outta town before sunset" and not "Depart ERE the set of the Sun" 

17. Picks up: LEARNS - A good solver LEARNS a lot in doing these puzzles

18. Bonobos, e.g.: APES - They are a very close relative to humans

19. Have no weaknesses: DO IT ALL - Great baseball players are said to be a "five-tool player" - Able to hit for average, hit with power, field, throw and run

21. U.S. border river: NIAGARA.

23. Fake: ERSATZ - "Captain ERSATZ" is a phrase denoting a blatant copy that uses a slightly different name and/or image

24. Web streaming service: FEED  https://striv.tv/channel/arlington/ is a streaming site that streams many events of the small school where I sub

25. A mechanic usually keeps one handy: RAG.

26. Innocent: LAMB.

27. Its 1948 inaugural flight began in Geneva: EL AL - A fascinating story

29. "Skyfall" singer: ADELE.

31. "The Vanishing Hitchhiker" subject: URBAN LEGEND - Here 'ya go

34. Misty tropical ecosystem: CLOUD FOREST - Monteverde CLOUD FOREST in Costa Rica

35. Edge: BEAT BY A NOSE.

36. Catcher in the World Series' only perfect game: BERRA - Yogi caught Don Larsen's gem in 1956

37. U.S. : Grammy :: U.K. : __: BRIT.

38. Daughter of Uranus: RHEA -If you must know

42. Uranus, e.g.: ORB - A mythical and a now a real Uranus 

43. Excessively precious, to a Brit: TWEE - We had treacle yesterday from Dr. Ed Sessa

45. Six-time NBA All-Star Kyrie: IRVING - Kyrie won a World Championship with LeBron James at Cleveland but got tired of being the second banana Now they are friends again but on different teams

47. Indignant lead-in: SEE HERE.

49. __ fair: SCIENCE - I can't count how many I've judged

50. Movie plantation: TARA - It's a 26 min drive down I-75 from Atlanta to the newly refurbished Stately Oaks Mansion which was used for TARA in Gone With The Wind

51. In addition: AT THAT - She became a teacher and was a good one AT THAT

53. It may be short or long: TON - If you must know

54. Egg cell: OVUM.

55. "The Crown" star Foy: CLAIRE - A very enjoyable Netflix series

Claire                             Elizabeth II

56. Stick in: ADD.

57. Urquhart Castle's loch: NESS - My neighbor just got back from two weeks in Scotland and while she was in Inverness next to Loch NESS, she was assured there was no monster but she did see this shop. She brought me a golf divot tool from St. Andrews and thankfully not a 52. Part of Highlands regalia: TAM.

58. Neat: KEMPT - Sheveled? 

59. It may be iced: TEA.


Down:

1. Alexis of "The Handmaid's Tale": BLEDEL - Her IMDB

2. Creator of a colorful atmosphere: AURORA - While fishing at 55N latitude, the AURORA Borealis (Northern Lights) we saw were spectacular

3. What unconscious bias training may deal with: AGEISM - Most young clerks look right through those of us, uh, more seasoned customers

4. "Paradise Lost" fallen angel: BEELZEBUB - I finally remembered how it was spelled

5. __ surgeon: ORAL.

6. Columbus in NYC, e.g.: CIR(cle)

7. Cylindrical pasta: CANNELLONI - Spinach and ricotta in CANNELLONI pasta

8. Dinsmore of kid lit: ELSIE - Here is a group of 22 Martha Finley Dodd's ELSIE Dinsmore books for sale online

9. Climbing challenge: CRAG.

10. Share rearing duties: CO-PARENT 

11. Colombia is this gem's largest producer: EMERALD - The EMERALD in Romancing The Stone, set in Columbia, was called El Corazon (The Heart)

12. Amount in a shot: DOSAGE - I doubt if medical people use a shot glass to measure DOSAGE

14. Bed board: SLAT.

20. Like spreadsheets: TABULAR - I used Excel spreadsheets and had TABS at the bottom to access a sheet for each class

22. Saws: ADAGES.

24. Majestic greeting: FANFARE.

28. Natural enemy of aphids: LADY BEETLE - We call them ladybugs and here's one eating the aforementioned aphid

30. Merit: DESERVE.

32. Have angular velocity: ROTATE - Skaters tuck in their arms to increase angular velocity

33. Some Ernst works: EROTIC ART - Google at will

34. Multi-headed dog that guards Hades, in Greek myth: CERBERUS - Nice doggy, nice doggy...

35. Deprive (of): BEREAVE - Too many of my friends have become BEREAVED lately

36. Commonwealth Avenue city: BOSTON - If you lived at the Windsor Place Condominium on Commonwealth Avenue, you'd only have a four-minute drive to Fenway Park

39. Refer to subtly: HINT AT - You might as well just go ahead and ask for the money!

40. Disguise, in a way: ENCODE - He helped decipher ENCODED Japanese messages before Midway

41. Chair's document: AGENDA - The one who presides over that AGENDA can be called a Chairman, Chairwoman or simply the Chair. 

44. Ruin partner: WRACK - Origin of the phrase

46. Bat mitzvah, e.g.: RITE.

48. Carved dishes: HAMS - Spiral sliced HAMS replaces much of the carving 

49. Hold holder: SHIP - How did Carl Denham get King Kong into the hold of the SHIP S.S. Venture in 1933?

How about some comments about the good doctor's efforts today? I invited him to drop by and see what his our good citizens here had to say and I hope he does.

Friday, November 1, 2019, Ed Sessa

White rabbit, white rabbit, and enjoy (?) Dia de les muertos

Title: It is ok DO, you didn't miss it, there is no theme today.

I heard a whisper we would have some repeat of the Friday mini-theme puzzle and my first puzzle back in the country appears to be such. Still being a bit jet-lagged, I do not remember the author of the first themeless Friday here, but I believe it was this year. While today's effort from Dr. Ed includes various pop culture references, the specific MAD MAGAZINE double-bill is key today.

30. One on many covers since 1954: ALFRED E NEUMAN. His complete (?) HISTORY. Paired with 17D. 30-Across catchphrase: WHAT ME WORRY?  Thus creating a mini-theme for this Friday themeless.

Without the constraint of a theme, there is much sparkly fill packed into this puzzle, highlighted by the introduction of grid spanner  THE NEWLYWED GAME paired with the classic TEENAGE WEREWOLF. The grid is then fattened up with ANOTHER, LAGASSE, SAPHEAD, SPEEDER, SPRUCED, TREACLE, AVON LADY, NAP TIMES (also a LAT debut word), OPEN AREA and PRETRIAL.
Let me know what you think of this addition to our rota.

Across:

1. Kia sedan: OPTIMA. The last car I owned and drove was an Optima and I enjoyed it very much.

7. Nincompoop: SAPHEAD. This is a TERM I have never heard. Of course, since it has only been around since 1691...

14. Made dapper, with "up": SPRUCED. Speaking of sap, its history likely has little to do with the TREE.

15. Syrupy stuff: TREACLE. A CSO to Steve and all our UK readers, this LINK makes it all make sense.

16. 1957 title role for Michael Landon: TEENAGE WEREWOLF. The original trailer...

18. Lays to rest: INTERS.

19. Recipient of unearned income, perhaps: HEIR.

20. Teammate of Babe: LOU. Ruth: Gehrig.

21. Lash with a bullwhip: LARUE.

22. Like jawbreakers: HARD. Well duh!

23. Mountain __: soft drinks: DEWS. A gratuitous way to get the S in.

24. "Wheel" deal: TRIP. Wheel of Fortune.

25. November honorees: VETS. Coming soon to a calendar near you.

26. Range rovers?: POSSE. Very fun clue; followed by...

27. Sub mission site: SEA. Don't ignore the space.

28. Law __: FIRM. Why are there no law pillow tops?

29. Mekong River native: LAO. This river is the 12th longest river in the world and the 7th longest in Asia. It flows through six countries: China, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We visited the Golden Triangle last year. The Mekong is on the right.

35. Showed the way: LED.

36. Cry: WAIL.

37. Some govt. hospitals: VAS. Veteran's Administrations.

39. Eponymous musical revue of 1978: EUBIE.  Eubie BLAKE was a born musician who continues to learn and entertain.

42. Downsides: CONS.

43. 1995 comet spotter Thomas: BOPP. He, along with another amateur astronomer, Alan Hale, spotted the now named Hale-Bopp Comet.

44. In a tussle: AT IT.

45. 10-year-old adventurer who was 7 when she debuted in 2000: DORA. Her movie appeared in a puzzle here recently.

46. Group taking power by force: JUNTA.

47. Sink: SAG.

48. Othello, for one: MOOR.

49. Lacking color: PALLID.

50. Show that has appeared in various versions for six decades: THE NEWLYWED GAME.

53. "Pork fat rules!" chef: LAGASSE. Early Emeril. +

54. Smokey's target: SPEEDER. Remember?

55. One way alternative?: ANOTHER. Or?

56. Square-burgers server: WENDY'S. The third mega-successful fast-food chain was founded by a high school dropout who began life as an adopted child. HISTORY. Dave moved to South Florida and became an important figure in children's education and the rights of the adopted. He also was a genuine and friendly man.

Down:

1. Place to go fly a kite: OPEN AREA. If you believe Charlie Brown, it doesn't matter. There will be a kite eating tree waiting for you.

2. Like some hearings: PRE-TRIAL. In litigation almost every hearing is either pre or post-trial.

3. Cause of purring?: TUNE-UP. Not a furry friend but the practice of adjusting the automobile engine. MODERN MECHANICS.

4. Words of sympathy: I CARE.

5. Parts of gigs: MEGS.

6. Lemon finish: ADE. Talk about your straight to the point CSO; thank you, Dr. Ed.

7. Follows directions?: STEERS. Nice misdirection about the joy of driving.

8. Ban competitor: ARRID. Under-arm deodarants.

9. One in a jury box: PEER. From the British common law, and now a debated concept. Who are your peers?

10. Equivocate: HAW. Hmm, no hem?

11. They give lessons in French: ECOLES. Just the French word for school.

12. Permits: ALLOWS.

13. Neutralize: DEFUSE. We need more people who will be successful in defusing all the conflicts in the world.

14. Uplifting things: STILTS. A very nice visual of one of two poles each with a strap for the foot used to elevate the wearer above the ground in walking.

22. Trail mix?: HERD. More nice misdirection; not a snack.

23. Marvel doctor: DOOM. Did anyone dress up as Victor von Doom for Halloween this year?

25. Competed: VIED. Middle English, short for envien, from Anglo-French envier to invite, call on, challenge, from Latin invitare to invite

26. Simon with songs: PAUL.

28. __ ride: FREE.

29. Waikiki neckwear: LEIS.

31. Move like a hummingbird: FLIT.

32. Pan pooch: NANA. Did anyone dress up as Peter Pan this year?

33. Peripatetic bell ringer: AVON LADY. Did anyone dress up as the Avon Lady?

34. Breaks for sitters: NAP TIMES.

38. "The Blacklist" star: SPADER. He is a wonderful actor who has matured as he has aged. I still watch, even after all the reveals.

39. Calif. barrio region: EAST LA. In this country, it is the Spanish-speaking quarter of a town or city, especially one with a high poverty level.

40. Jazz fan?: UTAHAN. Basketball.

41. Problem in an ensemble: BIG EGO. Lebron James?

42. Tailgating sight: COOLER.

43. Stuck out: BULGED.

45. Seek out water: DOWSE. There is still time to learn this ancient practice. LINK.

46. Actor/rapper Smith: JADEN. Son of Will and Jada.

48. Dovetail: MESH.

49. First name in smelly romantics: PEPE. M. LePew.

51. __ Geo: cable channel: NAT. Or a World Series champ.

52. Denver-to-Vegas dir.: WSW. Don't tell my son the way.

I am back from Thailand, still discombobulated but happy to have Dr. Ed ease me back into puzzle blogging. Have a wonderful November working toward Veteran's Day and then Thanksgiving and sneaking up on my 5th anniversary. Thank you, TTP for your double duty and all who read the Corner. Lemonade out.

Thursday, October 31st 2019 David Alfred Bywaters

Theme: Tricky Treats - Five punny theme entries in keeping with tonight's scare-fest:

18A. Halloween feeling in a warren?: RABBIT FEARS. Rabbit ears. I thought these antennae had gone the way of the dodo, but recently people who are jettisoning cable TV are using digital antennae to pick up the local free-to-air stations.

24A. Halloween feeling near a water supply?: WELL DREAD. Well-read loses its hyphen for the theme entry.

39A. Halloween feeling in the office?: CLERICAL TERRORS. Clerks make clerical errors. Fire-and-brimstone-preaching priests are clerical terrors with their Sunday sermons.

54A. Halloween feeling in the yard?: LAWN SCARE. The lawns around here are scary, my neighborhood goes all-in at Hallowe'en. They're generally pretty cared-for too, so that's a two-fer for me today.

62A. Halloween feeling in the loo?: FLUSH FRIGHT. Flush right, otherwise known as right-justified, in typographic alignment terms (in case you were wondering as I was!)

Fright-night theme from David today, and he didn't scare us too badly with terrible puns (an occupational hazard as a crossword constructor!) I thought this was fun, once I tumbled to the theme it was entertaining finding the others. A quick solve for me for a Thursday, and not a lot to make me POUT. Let's find and go seek ....

Across:

1. Spot for a salt scrub: SPA ... where you will doubtless be exposed to the aroma of ...

4. Aromatic evergreen: BALSAM

10. Wind with nearly a three-octave range: OBOE. I know pretty much nothing about orchestral woodwind instruments, but it's the only four-letter one, so not a tough fill no matter how you clue it. Its cousin is the English Horn, which isn't English, and isn't a horn. Makes sense, right?

14. Fresh from the oven: HOT

15. Collection of hives: APIARY. A honey farm, if you will.

16. Sullen look: POUT

17. Track: RUT

20. Buffalo lake: ERIE

22. Like the vb. "go": IRR. Irregular. It seems like most verbs in the English language are irregular.

23. Belly laugh syllable: HAR. I don't think I belly laugh. I chuckle mostly, and I have cried laughing which mostly involves snorting when you can draw breath. I'm not sure how you spell a chuckle or a snort-laugh.

27. Valleys: DALES

31. "Take Care" Grammy winner: DRAKE.  A very melodic rapper is Drake. Here's the "Take Care" video, featuring Rihanna, from 2012. 300 million+ views on YouTube.

32. "We've waited long enough": IT'S TIME

34. Bebe's "Frasier" role: LILITH. Speaking of Grammy winners, what happened to the Lilith Fair?

38. Overlook: OMIT

44. Enjoy privileged status: RATE

45. Poise: APLOMB

46. It may get the ball rolling: INCLINE. Or the car, which is a lot less fun.

48. Trio in "To be, or not to be": IAMBS. This "Hamlet" snippet is an example of iambic trimeter, three iambs forming the line.

53. "Borstal Boy" author Brendan: BEHAN. This might be a little obscure for some; A youth member of the IRA, Behan was jailed at 16 after being arrested in possession of explosives while on a solo mission to bomb Liverpool docks. The "Borstals" were part of the system of youth detention centers in the UK. I re-read the book a few months ago after many years. The Borstal experience described seemed almost quaint compared to today.

58. Angel dust, initially: PCP. The street name for the hallucinogen phencyclidine. How do I know this? The movie "Trading Places" with Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy. Honestly, officer.

60. "You wish, laddie!": NAE!

61. Put out: EMIT

67. Summer hrs. in Denver: MDT. There's a slow-burning move to abolish Daylight Savings time here in California. Prop Seven passed in 2018 to begin the process to allow law-makers to progress the initiative.

68. Stood: ROSE

69. Paparazzo's gear: CAMERA

70. Mature: AGE. The verb form.

71. Lumberjacks' tools: AXES. Ox, Oxen. Ax (or axe!) Axes. How the heck anyone learns English as a foreign language is beyond me.

72. Gave it more gas: SPED UP

73. Finch family creator: LEE. To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper.

Down:

1. Astute: SHREWD

2. Bartender, often: POURER

3. Fifth-century conqueror: ATTILA

4. Soap unit: BAR

5. Two (of): A PAIR

6. Cuba __: LIBRE. Rum, cola and a squeeze of lime. "Free Cuba" was the slogan of the Cuban independence movement in the Spanish-American war.

7. Brand of hummus and guacamole: SABRA. There's about a billion different flavors of hummus now. When I make it, I stick to the basics - garbanzo beans (dried, not canned), garlic, lemon juice and tahini, a pinch of cumin; I serve it drizzled with some olive oil and a sprinkling of ras el hanout, a Moroccan spice blend. I love hummus, when I make it it nets out at about 3 lbs a batch. Here's some that I made on Sunday. The green dab is zhoug, a middle-eastern blend of cilantro, chili and spices.

OK, let's get back to the crossword!

8. Actor Millen of "Orphan Black": ARI. Thank you, crosses.

9. Folk story: MYTH

10. Wheeler-dealer: OPERATOR

11. Feathery neckwear: BOA

12. CSNY's "__ House": OUR. Cute song written by Graham Nash while he was living with Joni Mitchell and later recorded by the band.

13. Many "Guardians of the Galaxy" characters: E.T.'S. I have to confess I have no idea how to punctuate plurals of acronyms which include periods. That's my best shot above.

19. Latest things: FADS

21. Rockies bugler: ELK. I didn't know that elk bugled, a learning moment for me today. The elk mating call is termed a "bugle". Who knew? Not me.

25. Sandwich source: DELI

26. "Same here": DITTO

28. Vehicle with a partition: LIMO

29. Mideast potentate: EMIR

30. Slowly sinks from the sky: SETS. When I visited Malawi in Africa, which is very close to the equator, the sun seemed to set in about five minutes flat.

33. Those folks: THEM

35. Confident words: I CAN

36. Suit part sometimes grabbed: LAPEL. I think you have to grab them both at the same time, right?

37. Unhealthy: ILL

39. Nursery piece: CRIB

40. Narrow way: LANE. We visited the famous lane in Liverpool a couple of years ago. Every road in England is narrow, even the new ones. Driving is a heck of a lot of fun when you have to choose between sideswiping the oncoming tour bus or scraping the wall (or the pedestrians!)

41. Engrave: ETCH

42. Backslides: RELAPSES

43. Hitting stat: RBI'S. Runs Batted In, now a word in itself, not necessarily an abbreviation.

47. Advance slowly: INCH

49. Big club: ACE. Handy when playing 51D.

50. Koala, for example: MAMMAL

51. Game based on whist: BRIDGE

52. Living room piece: SETTEE. Originally, the settee, couch and sofa where quite distinct items of furniture, but nowadays they've all come to mean the same thing. It used to be an indication of social class back in the UK (less so today) which word you used.

55. Japanese art genre: ANIME

56. Carried on: WAGED

57. Big name in Indian politics: NEHRU. The first Prime Minister of India following independence from the British in 1947.

59. Some GIs: PFC'S

62. Monk's address: FRA. "Fra" is sometimes thought to be an abbreviation - it's not - it's derived from the Italian for "brother". The monk and painter of the early renaissance, Fra Angelico, translates as "the angelic brother". Like any Italian renaissance artist worth his salt, he painted on the walls of the Vatican. It must have been difficult to find elbow room in there.

63. Cured salmon: LOX

64. Employ: USE

65. 31-Across genre: RAP

66. Covert information source: TAP. With fewer and fewer landlines, the wire tap is going virtual, eavesdropping on cellphone conversations and hacking into IP networks.

And with that, I'm tapping out! Stay safe this Hallowe'en, and be careful if you're driving after dusk, the kids don't stop to think when they run across the road to the next "Trick or Treat" target house.

Steve

Wednesday, October 30, 2019, Morton J. Mendelson

Theme: THE OUTER LIMITS

15 (rows) x 16 (columns) to accommodate the 16-letter theme answer STUCK ONE'S NECK OUT.

21. Risked it big-time: LIVED ON THE EDGE.

37. Risked it big-time: STUCK ONE'S NECK OUT.

55. Risked it big-time: WENT OUT ON A LIMB.

Across:

1. Gets misty, with "up": FOGS.

5. Salon treatment, briefly: PEDI. Never gets old.

9. Benjamins: C SPOTS. $100 dollar bills. The "C" refers to the Roman numeral for 100.

15. Curly coif: AFRO.

16. Popular river name from the Welsh for "river": AVON. Learning moment, I did not know the origin.

17. They're exchanged in Hawaii: ALOHAS.

18. Nonstick cookware product: T-FAL. This brand name is a portmanteau of the words TEFlon and ALuminium. I use cast iron cookware almost exclusively. Once it's seasoned there is no issue with sticking.

19. Religious season: LENT. Religious season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. It is a traditional time for fasting or giving something up or abstinence.

20. "Don't take the blame": DENY IT.

24. Cooler filler: ICE.

25. Chinese zodiac critter: RAT. 2019 is a year of the Pig, starting from February 5th 2019 and ending on January 24th 2020. 2020 will be a year of the Rat. 2018 was a year of the Dog.

26. Approximate nos.: ESTS.

27. MN and NM: STS. States - Minnesota and New Mexico.

30. Puts (in) tentatively: PENCILS. Who solves on paper? Pencil or pen?

32. Bad-mouth: DIS.

33. Word before bug or ant: FIRE.

34. Prov. bordering four Great Lakes: ONT. Ontario is bordered to the south by Great Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie & Ontario. 

35. Hairpiece: RUG.

36. Hazardous gas: RADON.

42. Parrots geese: HONKS. Had a hard time deciphering this clue.

43. Fill up on: EAT.

44. Nero's 91: XCI.

45. Exclusive: ONLY.

46. Part of UNLV: LAS. University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

47. Wore: SPORTED.

51. BB-shaped veggie: PEA. Or pea-shaped ammo.

52. Coll. Board exams: SATS.

53. "I'm sorry, Dave" film computer: HAL. In the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL is a sentient computer that controls the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft and interacts with the ship's astronaut crew.

54. "__ you serious?": ARE.

59. Compensate for: OFFSET.

61. Short hoppers?: ROOS. Short for kangaROO.

62. Hall of Fame pitcher Randy "The Big __" Johnson: UNIT. From Wikipedia: During batting practice in 1988, the 6'10" Johnson, then with the Montreal Expos, collided head-first with outfielder Tim Raines, prompting his teammate to exclaim, "You're a big unit!" The nickname stuck.

63. Hairpiece: TOUPEE.

64. Pennsylvania county: ERIE.

65. 5 for B or 6 for C: AT. NO. Atomic Number is the number of protons found in the nucleus of every atom of that element. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element. It is identical to the charge number of the nucleus.

66. Coffee and wine: COLORS. Sneaky.

67. Lairs: DENS.

68. One logging on: USER.

Down:

1. Fistfight souvenir: FAT LIP. Haha. Same amount of letters as SHINER, but perps prevented that.

2. __ hours: OFFICE.

3. Second Commandment adjective: GRAVEN. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image ..."

4. Footprint maker: SOLE.

5. Silicon Valley city: PALO ALTO.

6. Pentathlon's five: EVENTS. Fencing, freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, and a final combined event of pistol shooting and cross country running.

7. "That's a no-no!": DON'T.

8. Where losers of a race may be left: IN THE DUST.

9. West Point students: CADETS.

10. Gravity-powered vehicles: SLEDS. Wondering if we're going to have snow here in my neck of the woods this year, it's regularly below freezing overnight now.

11. Classic video game: PONG.

12. Reaffirming rebuttal: OH YES I DO.

13. __ chi: TAI.

14. Boomer that no longer booms: SST. Not our Boomer.

22. Screwdrivers, e.g.: DRINKS. Clever misdirection.

23. Give approval online, in a way: E-SIGN.

28. Slacks, briefly: TROU. If you say so.

29. Email status: SENT.

31. Far from self-effacing: COCKY.

33. Mystic on a bed of nails: FAKIR. A Sufi Muslim ascetic who has taken vows of poverty and worship, renouncing all relations and possessions. 

35. Comforted: REASSURED.

36. Soda since 1905: RC COLA.

37. Explore OfferUp: SHOP.

38. Hue: TONE.

39. Prohibited: UNLAWFUL.

40. "Awesome!": NEATO.

41. Wide-open spaces: EXPANSES.

46. Coffeehouse orders: LATTES.

47. Sure winner: SHOO IN. This expression purportedly comes from the practice of corrupt jockeys holding their horses back and shooing a preselected winner across the finish line to guarantee that it will win. A “shoo-in” is now an easy winner, with no connotation of dishonesty. “Shoe-in” is a common misspelling.

48. Contaminates: TAINTS.

49. White-coated weasel: ERMINE.

50. One with bills to pay: DEBTOR.

52. Look of disdain: SNEER.

56. Hockey's Phil, to fans: ESPO. Philip Anthony Esposito OC is a Canadian broadcaster, and former professional ice hockey executive, coach and player.

57. Sped: TORE.

58. Waikiki bash: LUAU.

59. Needing no Rx: OTC. Over The counter.

60. Egg __ yung: FOO. An asian omelet-like dish, usually served with gravy.