Sunday November 24, 2019 Gail Grabowski

Theme: "Accentuating the Negative" - UN is attached to front of each common phrase.

23A Like frayed laces on hockey skates?: UNFIT TO BE TIED. Fit to be tied.

 

39A. Dig up buried Burma-Shave relics?: UNEARTH SIGNS. Earth signs.

57A. Brief period of apathy?: UNMOVING DAY. Moving day.

82A. Committee leader who's a bit on edge?: UNEASY CHAIR. Easy chair.

97A. Orthodontist's concerns: UNSOUND BITES. Sounds bites.

119A. Pets that help with luggage after a trip?: UNPACK ANIMALS. Pack animals.

16D. Rattle football linemen?: UNNERVE CENTERS. Nerve center.

52D. Do a "Wheel of Fortune" job?: UNCOVER LETTERS. Cover letters.

There's no any extra layer to further tie the theme together, in case you wonder.

Lots of words can have an UN prefix, so this set may seem to be loose to some. But I think Gail was just trying a full new set of UN* gimmick.

The grid is classical Gail. Both the design and the fill. There's an art behind her simplicity. Hard work too, of course.

Across:

1. "Proud Mary" pop gp.: CCR. Creedence Clearwater Revival.

4. "Glad that's over!": WHEW.

8. Vineyard measure: ACRE. JimmyB brought me this special bottle of wine from his vineyard years ago. I've been saving it.

12. Contaminate: POLLUTE.

19. Grammy winner Corinne Bailey __: RAE.

20. Lille lover's word: AIME.

21. Coward in drama: NOEL. Noel Coward.

22. More eco-conscious: GREENER.

26. Forward motion: ADVANCE.

27. Stretches on the job: STINTS. Nice clue.

28. Waferlike: SLENDER.

30. Brontë governess: EYRE.

31. Road trip expenses: TOLLS.

32. Area 51 creatures, it's said: ETS.

33. Tail end: REAR.

35. Málaga mlle.: SRTA. Alliteration.

38. Flight school hurdle: SOLO.

44. Roomba, briefly: VAC. Our vacuum is pretty heavy, but it gives me a regular workout. 

45. Contrail makeup: VAPOR.

47. Defense org.?: ABA. Court defense.

48. Wet suit material: NEOPRENE. I think our mouse pad is made of this stuff also.

50. Elm Street surname: KRUEGER.

53. Advice to a sinner: ATONE.

55. Junkyard fillers: WRECKS.

56. Seemingly forever: EON.

61. Iowa Straw Poll city, once: AMES. Wiki says the polls is now called "Iowa State Fair Straw Poll".

62. Do as Vassar did in 1969: GO CO-ED.

64. NOYB part: NONE.

65. Text addition?: ILE. Textile.

66. Feminine side: YIN. Cucumber is Yin. Ginger is Yang.

67. "Say no more": STOP.

68. Deceptive operation: STING. Police sting.

70. It has all five black keys in its scale: D FLAT.

72. Grab with a toothpick: STAB.

75. Vital opening?: VEE. Vital.

77. Verizon subsidiary: AOL.

78. Song often sung in Italian: ARIA.

79. Flip, in a way: RESELL. I told you about our old neighbor. He won $100,000 lottery prize. Gambled them all away. Lost his home also. Some real estate guy fixed his house and flipped for a quick profit.

81. German gent: HERR.

85. Biodegrade: ROT.

86. Frustrate: DERAIL.

88. Really go for: ADORE.

89. "The Ten Commandments" role: RAMESES.

91. Team culled from other teams: ALL-STARS. Rod Carew was a 18-time All-Star. Most for a Twin. Boomer bowled with Carew once.

94. URL ending: EDU.

95. Marner of fiction: SILAS.

96. Jeans go-with: TEE.

100. Contest on horseback: TILT.

104. Queen's offspring: ANTS.

106. Some square dancers: GALS. Hi there Kathy!

107. Title after vows, perhaps: MRS.

108. Passover feast: SEDER.

109. Ten Benjamins: THOU.

111. Erode: EAT AWAY.

115. Rinky-dink: CHEESY.

116. Morgan of "The Bucket List": FREEMAN. Tarnished reputation now. 

121. Challenge for a flight attendant: AIR RAGE. Still remember the first time you took a plane?

122. Work (out): SUSS.

123. Sistine Chapel mural setting: EDEN.

124. Release, with "out": LET.

125. "Ain't gonna happen!": NO SIREE.

126. Straddling: ATOP.

127. Learning method: ROTE.

128. Part of GPS: Abbr.: SYS.

Down:

1. Some prefer them thin: CRUSTS. The first pizza I had is Hawaiian Pizza at Pizza Hut in Guangzhou. So I always associate pizza with thick crust and pineapples.

2. Braggart's comeback: CAN TOO.

3. Pharmacy order: REFILL. Tiny clue/answer dupe with the great 13. Limited offer come-on: ORDER NOW.

4. Guitar amp units: WATTS.

5. Singles, say: HITS.

6. Moody music genre: EMO.

7. "Blue-Backed Spelling Book" author: WEBSTER.

8. Join the game, in a way: ANTE.

9. Small decision-maker: COIN.

10. 2018 Masters champ Patrick: REED. Also 12. Vardon Trophy org.: PGA. And 37. Links rarities: ACES. Gail is a golfer.

11. Trees with berries: ELDERS.

14. Assess: LEVY.

15. King and a Norman: LEARS.

17. TV's Jim Rockford, for one: TEC. Detective.

18. Cockney adverb: ERE.

24. Under Cupid's spell: IN LOVE.

25. "Frozen" snow queen: ELSA.

29. Pull back, with "in": REIN.

32. Huge, to a poet: ENORM.

34. Eligibility factor: AGE. Right now, the retirement age in China is 60 for men. 55 for female civil servants and 50 for female workers.

36. Suffers a sudden decline: TANKS.

39. Overturns: UPENDS.

40. What stars may represent: RATING.

41. Doggie bag treat: T BONE.

42. Chill (with): HANG.

43. __ paint: SPRAY.

46. Flu symptom: AGUE.

49. Negligent: REMISS.

50. They're often tapped: KEGS.

51. Underlying cause: ROOT.

53. "Anne of Green Gables" setting: AVONLEA. Forgot. We had this before.

54. Imposing building: EDIFICE.

58. Often-minced veggie: ONION. Isn't this pretty?

59. Quran deity: ALLAH.

60. Word of support: YEA.

63. Met works: OPERAS.

69. Frat letter: TAU.

70. Pre-BBQ treatment: DRY RUB.

71. Difficult times: TRIALS. So grateful to your support all these years, esp last year.

73. Alternative medicine plant: ALOE.

74. Initial orders?: BLTS. Initially.

76. "Un Ballo in Maschera" aria: ERI TU.

78. Equally eccentric: AS ODD.

80. Funny Bombeck: ERMA.

81. Paris abductee: HELEN. Of Troy.

83. Arabian Peninsula port: ADEN.

84. Energetic risk-taking type, so it's said: ARIES. We have two on our blog: Abejo and Irish Miss.

86. Spreadsheet filler: DATA.

87. Sign __: LANGUAGE.

90. Regard: ESTEEM.

92. 2010 World Cup host: Abbr.: RSA. Republic of South Africa.

93. One and only: SOLE.

95. Sgt. played by John Wayne in "Sands of Iwo Jima": STRYKER. Learning moment for me.

98. Patriotic chant: USA USA.

99. Apple since 1998: IMAC.

101. Lofty standards: IDEALS.

102. Stahl of "60 Minutes": LESLEY.

103. Hush-hush meetings: TRYSTS.

105. "The Rapture of Canaan" novelist Reynolds: SHERI. Haltoolah might have read this book.

108. Excel: SHINE.

110. Sharif of "Che!": OMAR.

112. Flanged fastener: T NUT.

113. Lhasa __: APSO. Meaning "bearded" in Tibetan.

114. Bee-eater's prey: WASP.

115. Tech news site: CNET.

116. __ base: FAN.

117. Brazil map word: RIO.

118. Name change indicator: NEE.

120. Flap: ADO.

C.C.

Congratulations on your wife's first art show, Picard!

Saturday, November 23, 2019, Kevin Christian and Brad Wilber

Themeless Saturday by Kevin Christian and Brad Wilber

Today we have a worthy Saturday challenge from two veterans of the crossword wars - Kevin Christian and Brad Wilber.

Kevin Christian interview with C.C.

Brad Wilber interview with C.C.

The SW corner was a real struggle for me with TRIGRAM, MAZIER and RAGAS in one area but I just had to

1. "Dust yourself off and hang tough!": COWBOY UP  and get through it. Good advice to all puzzle solvers!

Let's see what else these two masters have concocted:

Across:

9. Ford muscle cars, familiarly: STANGS - Hmmm... Do I really need the 700+ HP in this street-legal 2019 MUSTANG?

15. Reluctant acquiescence: OKAY SURE - "Look, we can get by with a Ford Probe"

16. Walk-off hit situation, perhaps: TWO OUT - A walk-off occurs when the home team ends the game by taking the lead in the bottom of the last inning irrespective of the number of OUTS at the time

17. Note-taking aid: LEGAL PAD.

18. Country by the River Shribble: NARNIA - It's on the northern border of this literary country

19. "Hands off!" in an ad slogan: L'EGGO - A natural tie-in

20. "Hamburger Hill" setting, briefly: NAM.

22. Clue room: STUDY - "Professor Plum in the STUDY with a revolver?"

23. For __: not gratis: A FEE - I swear my lawyer would want a FEE to tell me the time of day

24. Had to miss school, perhaps: AILED - After many kids were missing school thursday, my school canceled for Friday

26. All over: ANEW - We Husker fans have been waiting for 20 years to start ANEW

27. Rare color: RED - I'm a medium kind of guy and would gladly send it back if the meat is brown all the way through

28. Bismarck's realm: PRUSSIA 

30. Sworn statement: I DO.

31. Fit: TRIM.

32. Having memorized the script, in theater lingo: OFF BOOK - Brando could not go OFF BOOK as he did not memorize his lines. Here you see Robert Duvall holding the lines for Marlon in The Godfather

34. "Funky Monkeys" musical: THE WIZ - The Funky Monkeys in the original Broadway production of THE WIZ. 

37. Pipe edge: FLANGE - Six FLANGES bolted together

38. Was unmanageable: RAN AMOK - Black Friday norm

40. Schnitzel meat: VEAL.

41. "__ seen better": I'VE.

42. Ready: ON ALERT.

44. __ pocket: HIP - Al Capone had many police officials and politicians in his HIP pocket

47. Start of something: GERM and 24. Brand that sells Arnold Palmers: ARIZONA - "Hey, somebody put lemonade in my iced tea! Wait a minute..."

49. More than fishy: AMISS.

50. Traje de __: Seville swimsuit: BANO - Spanish to English translation - bathing suit, swimming suit, bathing shorts, swim suit, swimming costume... including a 61. Small suit maker: SPEEDO 

51. Indian improvisations: RAGAS - Here ya go

53. __-country: music genre: ALT - Somewhere between Hank Williams and Brittney Spears

54. Boston and Chicago, but not San Francisco: BANDS.

55. Negative feeling: ANIMUS - Speaking of politics...


57. Triumphant GIF phrase: KILLIN' IT - She seems to think she's all that and a bag 'o chips

59. More intricate: MAZIER - One of my COWBOY UP moments

60. "Hate to run, but ... ": I GOTTA GO.

62. Suit seller: MEN'S SHOP.


Down:

1. Priesthood symbol: COLLAR.

2. Michael of "Caddyshack": O'KEEFE - Michael getting advice from Chevy Chase

3. Went back and forth: WAGGED - Dikembe Mutombo wagged his finger back and forth when he blocked a shot implying, "Don't try that against me!"

4. How a sommelier might sort wine: BY AGE.

5. Peace Prize city: OSLO.

6. "You betcha!": YUP.

7. Heaviest naturally occurring element: URANIUM.

8. They often get depressed: PEDALS - Ford's Model A had a lot of them

9. Stop on a line: Abbr.: STN - On 81 days/baseball season, the Addison St. STN on the Red Line in Chicago gets a lot of activity

10. "__ wondrous pitiful": "Othello": TWAS - The full quote

11. Vital supply line: AORTA.

12. Unorganized, in a way: NON-UNION - When Hormel's went NON-UNION in our town, wages dropped precipitously

13. Unticketed plane passenger: GUIDE DOG - This one got to visit the cockpit

14. Be sensitive to social injustice, in slang: STAY WOKE.

21. Middle: Pref.: MESO.

25. Holds another view: DIFFERS.

28. Top-drawer: PRIMO.

29. Key of Chopin's first Opus 25 étude: A-FLAT - Winter Wind!!

31. Flier for 71 years: TWA - More if you're interested

33. Acct. amount: BAL(ance)

34. Most phone button groupings: TRIGRAMS - Groups of three consecutive letters, numbers or symbols. I had to COWBOY UP HERE too but it makes sense

35. Drop off midday, say: HAVE A NAP 

36. Fill with life: ENERGIZE.

39. Hindu god of desire: KAMA - KAMA Sutra, hmmm...

40. Trace: VESTIGE - You know that tail bone that you have...

43. Notorious B.I.G. discovered her in 1994: L'IL KIM - I googled her lyrics and,  yes, she can be as profane and violent as the male rappers.

44. Storm on ESPN: HANNAH.

45. Purplish blue: INDIGO - Listening to Duke Ellington's Mood INDIGO will be a welcome addition to your day

46. After surg.: POST OP.

48. Bess, __, Jackie ...: MAMIE - One of these women had an unquestionably faithful husband

50. Pushes the buttons of: BAITS - Nobody did it better!

52. Started an action: SUED.

54. Layered lunches: BLTS - You had me at Bacon

56. Sign of being packed?: SRO - Standing Room Only tickets for the Washington Nationals World Series Games last month cost hundreds of dollars

58. Actor Chaney: LON - The man of a thousand faces

Now COWBOY UP and share your thoughts with us:

Friday, November 22, 2019, Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: Come right in - no queue here.

Jeffrey is back on schedule with me and delivers another of his letter substitution puzzles. The letter "W" replaces "QU" in a varied group of common phrases. To understand how his mind must work, you need to think of the sound of "QU." From the dictionary, "quick/kwik/." So he is just removing the "k."
As I solved it seemed he was going for another group where all of the switched letters preceded the same vowel, but that was not to be. Instead, he ramped up the difficulty by adding some very original fill and his usual witty cluing. His long non-theme fill shows three introductions, highlighted in BLUE and one second-appearance highlighted in GREEN. He packs all of this into a 70-word gem. AIR TANK,  ALGIERS, ALL TAKEN, APHELION, MAGNOLIA, TIRE CARE, TRAIN SET and TSUNAMIS are his sparklers.

16A. Colbert et al.?: WITS FOR THE NIGHT (15). JW, which comes first, the idea of QU to W or does a specific fill pop into your head?

29A. Part of a candlemaker's design process?: WICK DECISION  (11). I am glad he didn't clue this with a reference to this MOVIE. Definitely R-rated for violence.

34A. Outdoor wedding guests on a steamy day?: WILTING PARTY (11). When my son married they chose June in Florida for an outdoor wedding at the Miami Botanical Gardens. Oops.

51A. What a hiker might do after a nap on the trail?: WAKE IN ONE'S BOOTS (15). I always take mine off before sleeping in the forest.

Across:

1. New England's only National Park: ACADIA.  In Maine.

7. Eponymous explorer of Australia: TASMAN. I do not think ABEL TASMAN was much of a devil, just an explorer.

13. Pressure sensors attached to buoys are parts of their warning systems: TSUNAMIS. A learning moment.


15. Recorded, in a way: ON TAPE.

18. Useful thing: ASSET.

19. Additionally: TOO.

20. Coastal raptor: ERNE. Also known as the SEA EAGLE. They are a link to the Dinosaurs but not vegetarians.

21. Something to file: NAIL. Why do we file files but don't nail nails?

22. Frond source: PALM. There are a lot of old fronds of mine here.

23. With 53-Down, maxim: OLD. 53D. See 23-Across: SAW. A proverb or maxim, as in "Mom's always repeating the old saw, "Haste makes waste". This term uses saw in the sense of saying, and old in the sense of wise rather than old-fashioned.

25. Ob-__: GYN. A CSO to my dear departed mother who worked in that field for 50 or so years.

26. Jacket fabric: DENIM.

27. First name in a 2010s first family: MALIA. Means "Mary" in Hawaiian. Perfect for a Hawaiian born father.

31. Subarctic forest: TAIGA. Taiga, also called a boreal forest, biome (major life zone) of vegetation composed primarily of cone-bearing needle-leaved or scale-leaved evergreen trees, found in northern circumpolar forested regions characterized by long winters and moderate to high annual precipitation. Who knew?

33. Hawke of "Boyhood": ETHAN. Two weeks ago, it was ETHAN ALLEN.

38. "Over the Rainbow" composer: ARLEN. Somewhere was not in the title, and it was written specifically for the movie. Harold Arlen only wrote the music but this is a classic sung by so many. HISTORY. Judy Garland's version is embedded in the link.

39. Bowling venue: ALLEY. Another CSO to Boomer and TTP.

40. PD alert: APB. It has taken me a while to adjust to PD not meaning PUBLIC DEFENDER. With all the police procedurals on TV, I finally got it.

43. Understand: GET. Thee to a nunnery.

44. Oil equipment: RIGS.

45. "Because Freedom Can't Protect Itself" org.: ACLU. American Civil Liberties Union.

46. Meditation goal: CALM.

49. Keurig Dr Pepper brand: BAI. "Bai's mission is to share the powerful antioxidant goodness of coffee's superfruit and always move toward optimum, healthy living." I missed the $18,700,000,000.00 acquisition by Keurig in 2018. Their list of brands is very impressive and hard to avoid. LIST.

54. December decor: WREATH. It's beginning to smell a little like Christmas. The trees are already out for sale and it isn't even Thanksgiving.

55. Gift with tracks: TRAINSET. We took the family on a BRIGHTLINE train ride, and my 2-year-old grandson loved the ride. He now owns a beginner train set.

56. Absinthe herb: FENNEL. Traditional absinthe is made of anise, fennel, and wormwood (a plant), and various recipes add other herbs and flowers to the mix. Did you hallucinate when you tried it?

57. Chocolates, e.g.: SWEETS.

Down:

1. "You've heard this from me before ... ": AS I SAY. Over and over again.

2. Replaces a dancer: CUTS IN.

3. Adams with negatives: ANSEL. This PHOTOGRAPHER.

4. Bonkers: DAFT. Two old terms for mentally unwell.

5. "Here's a thought," briefly: IMO. In My Opinion.

6. Reef diver's need: AIR TANK. Most divers use scuba tanks filled with simple compressed air (filtered and dehumidified).

7. Sock part: TOE.

8. Prince Harry's aunt: ANNE. Elizabeth II's  children are Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex

9. Ado: STIR. About nothing?

10. Early Mississippi flag symbol: MAGNOLIA.

11. Farthest-from-the-sun orbital point: APHELION. The perihelion is the point on the orbit of a planet or comet that is closest to the sun. The point on the orbit farthest from the sun is the aphelion. The speed of a body in the solar system is greatest at the perihelion and least at the aphelion.

12. Monarch catcher: NET. Butterflies. Hey- double CSO to John Lampkin, who was the constructor that introduced APHELION to the crossword world as well as teaching us about butterflies.

13. Country music sound: TWANG.

14. Unexcitable: STOLID.

17. Marseille man: HOMME. French.

22. Pie-topping nut: PECAN. A perfect almost Thanksgiving fill.

24. Newscaster Rather: DAN.

26. Invitation to eat: DIG IN. More Thanksgiving.

27. Daydreaming Walter: MITTY. 1947

2013


28. Wan: ASHY. Pale, white.

29. Bic's __-Out: WITE. Oh, gee.

30. First known asteroid: CERES. Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system.

31. Car manual topic: TIRE CARE.

32. Like the seats in an SRO performance: ALL TAKEN. Somewhat tortured way to get there.

34. Funny one: WAG.

35. She never went to 50-Across ceremonies: GARBO. 50D. 1954 Honorary Award for 35-Down: OSCAR.

36. Flexible: PLIANT.

37. North African capital: ALGIERS.

40. Confront boldly: ACCOST. You need to careful these days.

41. China pieces: PLATES. Not Hong Kong and Mongolia.

42. Pop: BURST. My sons never call me burst.

45. Together: AS ONE.

47. Corned beef order: LEAN.

48. Tiny insect: MITE. All you did not want to know about these arachnids. Mites are not actually insects but belong to the related class Arachnida, which also includes spiders, scorpions, and ticks. The major morphological differences between mites and insects are found in the number of major body parts and the number of legs.
LINK.

50. "Hamilton" award: OBIE. Off-Broadway.

51. Scrabble-like app, briefly: WWF. Words With Friends.

52. Puckish org.?: NHL. Punishing pun dropped here.
Before we go, I must go back to my early life and remember this date in 1963 when the history of this country was changed forever. Not a perfect man but a memorable one. RIP.

Always a pleasure to be the caddy for our prolific Friday legend. I

hope you had as much fun as I did and thanks for your views and your words. We all exist only because of you who read. Happy 

THANKSGIVING!

Lemonade out!

Thursday, November 21st, 2019 Brian E. Paquin

Theme: Brian's Brains provide six theme entries today, across and down, in each case the second word is an anagram of the first:

20A. Upscale boutique: POSH SHOP. Here's one, Saks on Fifth Avenue in New York.

33A. Old money that looks new: CRISP SCRIP. Scrip was money issued as wages that could only be spent in the company store. Surprisingly, the practice still partially continues - WalMart in Mexico was sued for paying part of their employee's wages with WalMart vouchers, and Amazon makes some bonus payments in Swagbucks.

40A. Small craft on the deep sea: OCEAN CANOE. I'd call this the least obvious anagram of the six today.

51A. Quarrel of yore: PAST SPAT

11D. Fear of poisonous snakes: ADDER DREAD. I was reading just this morning about trypophobia, the fear of clusters of holes and cracks.If you are not a sufferer, Google "lotus seed pods" to see a common trigger. If you are a trytophobic, you'll know what I'm talking about and you won't want to go looking.

28D. Outstanding prize money: SUPER PURSE

Brian has had a number of themeless Saturday puzzles published here in the LA Times, so a themed puzzle seems to represent something of a diversion for him. I rumbled the theme very quickly, I'd already filled the top-left corner, and SUNHATS, so POSH was already there. The first puzzles I began solving were the cryptic ones in the UK papers which are full of anagrams, so I tend to see them very quickly.

Let's see what the fill looks like.

Across:

1. Many big reds: CABS. I prefer a cab blend, I'm never particularly smitten with a single-varietal wine. One of the most well-regarded Napa "cabs", Screaming Eagle, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Want a three-pack of the 2015 for the holidays? It'll set you back $10,000.

5. Namely: TO WIT

10. X-ray units: RADS

14. Honolulu happening: LUAU

15. Lacking significance: INANE

16. Music halls of old: ODEA

17. Directive on an env.: ATTN.

18. Play lightly, as a guitar: STRUM

19. Apt. part: BDRM.

22. Holden Caulfield's little sister: PHOEBE

24. Constellation near Scorpius: ARA. The more common (to me) naming of Scorpius is Scorpio, and that led me to believe that ARA was another word for Aries, another Zodiac constellation. It's not, it is "The Altar" in Latin.

25. Bookstore category: POETRY

26. Personal records: BESTS

29. Tire spec: PSI, properly Pound-force per Square Inch.

31. Divest (of): RID

32. Berkeley Breathed's cartoon penguin: OPUS.  Opus "retired" in 2008 and was one of my favorites in the Sunday funnies.

37. Bark: YIP

38. Handle: SEE TO. Handling a problem, seeing to it.

39. Purpose: END

43. Big fishhook: GAFF

44. Way to go: Abbr.: RTE.

45. He broke Lou's record for consecutive games played: CAL. The Oriole's shortstop Ripken Jr. broke Gehrig's record shortly after I moved here to the US. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about at the time; I know it sounds odd, but I'd never heard of him.

46. Accolades: KUDOS

47. Valedictorian's time to shine: SPEECH

49. Purpose: AIM

50. Liquids: FLUIDS

56. Work to get: EARN

57. In an aloof way: ICILY

59. Twice tri-: HEXA- As an old-school computer programmer, I used to be able to do hexadecimal (base 16) math in my head. Binary too. Then Hewlett-Packard threw octal into the mix and I got myself a calculator.

60. Exec's helper: ASST.

61. "Try someone else": NOT ME

62. Vienna-based oil gp.: O.P.E.C. Why Vienna? A lovely spot, but what's it got to do with exporting Petroleum?

63. "Luke Cage" actor Rossi: THEO. Thank you, crosses.

64. It helps raise dough: YEAST

65. Bridge position: EAST

Down:

1. Applaud: CLAP

2. Mercury or Saturn, but not Mars: AUTO

3. Cricket clubs: BATS

4. Summery headwear: SUNHATS

5. Campbell-Martin of TV's "Dr. Ken": TISHA

6. Aboard: ONTO

7. Lumber defect: WARP

8. Shiba __: Japanese dog: INU. The dogs can produce the "Shiba scream" when provoked or unhappy, or "a very similar sound" when very happy. Sounds confusing as heck.

9. Pace: TEMPO

10. Stiffly awkward: ROBOTIC

12. Churchill Downs event: DERBY

13. Unchanged: SAME

21. Some discount recipients: Abbr.: SRS. 

23. For madam: HERS

25. NBA great "__ Pete" Maravich: PISTOL. His college stats were mightily more impressive than his NBA record, good though it was.

26. Limerick lad: BOYO. The Irish use it as an affectionate term for a boy; the Welsh use it differently between adults, jocularly between friends, but it can be a pejorative if an older adult is addressed as "boyo". It's almost always derogatory if a non-Welsh person (especially an Englishman!) uses it to address a Welshman.

27. Herculean: EPIC

29. Say the Word: PREACH

30. School near Albany: SIENA

33. Trig function: Abbr.: CSC. Avoid the temptation to fill COS if you've only got the first "C" in place.

34. "The Raven" writer: POE

35. Facts and figures: INFO. "DATA" was an alternative, but one cross and the dilemma goes away.

36. Some emailed files: PDFS

41. Diminished slowly: ATE INTO

42. Shortage: NEED

43. Private eye: GUMSHOE

46. DIY purchase: KIT

47. Seriously reduce: SLASH

48. Forensic drama set in the Big Apple: CSI NY

49. To date: AS YET

50. Significant achievement: FEAT

51. Pocket bread: PITA

52. Donation to the poor: ALMS. Interesting noun, it's both the singular and plural form, and I've never seen it used with an article. You give "alms", you don't give "the alms".

53. Rap's Salt-N-__: PEPA

54. Hacking tools: AXES

55. Peacemaker's asset: TACT

58. Olympic runner Sebastian: COE. Now Lord Coe, Seb had a long-standing middle-distance battle with fellow Britons Steve Ovett and Steve Cram for supremacy in the 800m and 1500m events.

I think that's about it from me. If you're wondering what to bring for Thanksgiving, a case of the Screaming Eagle would go down very nicely, thank you.

Steve

Wednesday, November 20, 2019, Gary Larson

17. *Spot for a seaside stroll: BOARDWALK. Keyboard.

25. *Caller ID, maybe: RINGTONE. Keyring.

54. *Small computer: NOTEBOOK. Keynote.

66. *Center stage: LIMELIGHT. Key lime.

39. Hemingway's 1930s Florida home, and a hint to the answers to starred clues: KEY WEST.

Theme is self-explanatory, but tricky to get without the reveal - which was clever. The word KEY can be inserted to the left, or WEST, of each theme answer to form a new word or phrase. This felt more like a Thursday to me due to a few unknown and obscure words.

Across:

1. "Oh dear!": ALAS.

5. Instant: JIFF.

9. Harry's Hogwarts nemesis: DRACO. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.

14. Hay storage site: LOFT.

15. Puccini piece: ARIA.

16. Prepare for a bodybuilding competition: OIL UP. Bodybuilders use oil to accentuate their muscle definitions and the 'cuts' in their bodies when flexing under heavy stage lighting.

19. Tax audit docs.: RCPTS. Receipts.

20. Jag: SPREE.

21. Wisconsin city on Lake Winnebago: NEENAH. From Wikipedia: "Named by Governor James Duane Doty from the Hoocąk word for "water" or "running water." It was the site of a Ho-Chunk village in the late 18th century. It is Nįįňą in the Hoocąk language."

23. Actor Vigoda: ABE.

29. __ onion: BERMUDA.

33. Brigham Young's Utah settlement: DESERET. When the Mormons first came to the territory, they named the area The State of Deseret, a reference to the honeybee in The Book of Mormon. This was the official name of the colony from 1849 to 1850. The nickname, "The Deseret State," is in reference to Utah's original name. See here.

34. Corrida cheer: OLE. Corrida = bullfight. (Nice crossing with 30D, Corrida snorter.)

35. Prime-time time: NINE. The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period – for example (in the United States), from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. (Eastern and Central Time) or 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (Mountain and Pacific Time). In India and other Middle East countries, prime time consists of the programs that are aired on TV between 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. local time.

37. Hardly prudent: RASH.

38. Overseas business abbr.: LTD. The abbreviation "Ltd." stands for "limited," and a company carrying this abbreviation has the same limited liability feature as an LLC. Partners and owners in the company are protected from personal responsibility for debts and lawsuits.

43. UPS Store item: CTN. My best guess is that this is an abbreviation for carton, or container. Anyone?

44. Broadway barber: TODD. Sweeny Todd.

46. Leave rolling in the aisles: SLAY.

47. Summer sign: LEO. Astrological sign.

48. Sets right: ORIENTS.

52. Title role for Gary Cooper and Adam Sandler: MR. DEEDS. The original is a 1936 Frank Capra film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. The remake received poor reviews.

56. Tummy muscles: ABS.

57. Like most customers: PAYING.

59. Opinion pieces: OPEDS.

63. Charter: LEASE. As a verb, reserve (an aircraft, boat, or bus) for private use.

68. Respected figure: ELDER.

69. Document sent online: E-FAX. Interesting distinction, I guess you send an E-FAX from your computer, and a FAX from a fax machine.

70. Hungarian wine region: EGER. The 61D crossing makes this tough for people who don't follow baseball.

71. 7UP and Sprite: SODAS.

72. Comfy hangouts: DENS.

73. Extinct bird: DODO.

Down:

1. Clerical vestments: ALBS.

2. Stunt flier's stunt: LOOP.

3. Not nigh: AFAR.

4. Water under the bridge, maybe: STREAM. Nice.

5. Shoot the breeze: JAW.

6. OPEC member: IRAN.

7. Manicurist or secretary, at times: FILER.

8. Minor document?: FAKE ID. Great clue.

9. Hip-hop tops: DO-RAGS.

10. Seismologist with a scale: RICHTER. Charles Francis Richter; April 26, 1900 – September 30, 1985 was an American seismologist and physicist. Richter is most famous as the creator of the Richter magnitude scale, which, until the development of the moment magnitude scale in 1979, quantified the size of earthquakes.

11. European peak: ALP.

12. Shorten, as hair: CUT.

13. Covert doings: OPS. A shortened version of operations and considered a word by itself. Others in today's puzzle are ABS and OPEDS.

18. Prove false: DEBUNK.

22. 22.5 deg.: NNE.

24. Singer Brickell: EDIE. Married to Paul Simon since 1992.

26. Software giant: ORACLE.

27. Settled in: NESTED.

28. Group with a common culture: ETHNOS.

29. Crooner Michael: BOLTON.

30. Corrida snorter: EL TORO. (Nice crossing of 34D, Corrida cheer.)

31. Social website with "AMA" sessions: REDDIT. Ask Me Anything.

32. "__ takers?": ANY.

36. Grossed-out sounds: EWS.

40. Blight-stricken tree: ELM. Dutch elm disease, widespread fungoid killer of elms and certain other trees, first described in the Netherlands. Spread by bark beetles, the disease has decimated elm populations throughout much of Europe and North America.
The leaves on one or more branches of a stricken tree suddenly wilt, turn dull green to yellow or brown, curl, and may drop early.

 41. "Water for Elephants" novelist Gruen: SARA.

42. Bathroom brand: TY-D-BOL. Tricky if you're not familiar with the brand spelling.

45. Like some diving: DEEP SEA.

49. Cavs and Mavs: NBA-ERS.

50. Cracker Jack bonus: TOY. Collector's items.

51. Dirty: SOILED.

53. Saw: ESPIED.

55. Roast carver: KNIFE.

58. Guy with the FBI: G-MAN. Short for "government man" is an American slang term for agents of the United States Government. It is especially used as a term for an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

60. Waffle made without an iron: EGGO.

61. Batted but didn't field, in MLB lingo: DHED. From the MLB glossary - A designated hitter is a player who bats in place of the pitcher. The pitcher still handles his regular duties when his team is on defense, so the designated hitter does not play in the field.

62. Texas MLBer: STRO. Houston Astro.

63. Guitar great Paul: LES.

64. "Evil Woman" gp.: ELO.

65. Put in: ADD.

67. Strait's "All My __ Live in Texas": EXS. Unexpected spelling, but it's what all the lyrics show.