Saturday, April 11, 2020, Debbie Ellerin

Themeless Saturday by Debbie Ellerin

This fun puzzle is authored by our frequent Saturday constructor Debbie Ellerin. You may recall she is a retired computer programmer who lived in Boston for 30 years and now lives in Los Angeles. Her reply to me about this puzzle:

Hi Gary,

The weather has been nice here, but other than going for walks in my neighborhood, we are staying at home. 

My clue for APRIL was Month for pranksters. I wrote this puzzle in May of 2019, so it's been a while!  MINIMOON was one of my seed entries for the puzzle, inspired by my daughter and her husband who went on one after their wedding. Some entries I like are BOOTCAMP and ZIPLINES, as well as the area down south with TELENOVELA  and ENCHILADAS. I see that TANEHISI might be tough, but hope people will be up for the challenge.

I have heard interviews with Ta-Nehisi Coates, and I'm in a book group where his name and books have come up, but I haven't read any of his books. It is an unusual name though, and it must have stuck in my head.

ESTES - I don't know how Rich ended up cluing it. I had it clued as ___ Park, Colorado , which maybe Rich thought was too easy?  If the clue is about an opera singer - I have no idea! Never heard of him. 

STERIC,  I clued as Spatial, in chemistry. This is outside of my wheelhouse, for sure, and I tried to clue it in a straightforward way. As a solver, I would need most of the crosses to get it. 

Stay well,

Debbie

Off we go: 

Across:

1. It's happening now: APRIL - Since only Rich knows when puzzles are going to be published, he did change Debbie's initial cluing as you read in her note

6. Controversial reading: PALM - Not OP-ED but the lines of your hand

10. Circumstance partner: POMP - Not going to be heard this spring

14. Brain center associated with speech: BROCA'S AREA - Frontal lobe usually on the left side

16. '60s pop singer Sands: EVIE - Johnny Cash loved her voice and marveled at how she played her guitar upside down with her left hand 

17. Borders of old, e.g.: BOOKSELLER - The flagship store in Ann Arbor, MI founded by brothers Tom and Louis Borders in 1971

18. First name in jazz: LENA - LENA Horn gets the job and Ella and Etta do not today

19. Abbr. on an invoice: AMT.

20. Tech boss: CIO - Tech in the clue hints at Chief Information Officer 

21. Relating to the arrangement of atoms in space: STERIC - Space taken up by molecules 

23. Mealtime alert: SOUP'S ON Is it 43. Soup sometimes served with banh mi: PHO  (banh mi is Vietnamese for bread)

26. Magic competition?: NBA GAME - The Orlando Magic are one of four NBA teams with a singular name. The others play in Oklahoma City, Miami and Utah.

27. Give rise to: SPAWN - A pair of bettas SPAWNING by releasing sperm and eggs into the water

28. Rap's "Puffy" Combs: SEAN - Can't quote

29. Head of Parliament?: LOO - A naval toilet to clue a toilet in the British home of Government 


30. '40s-'50s paranoia: RED SCARE - This also gave HUAC the center stage

32. Bud's bud: LOU - Bud Abbott's pal LOU Costello

33. Judge in stripes: ZEBRA - Slang for a referee wearing stripes

36. Anago or unagi: EEL - Names we see here for this fish

37. "__ that been done?": HASN'T - What Rich has to ask before he okays a daily puzzle gimmick

39. 2019 Uber landmark, briefly: IPO - Uber and Lyft's stock price after Initial Public Offering. Two days ago Uber was selling for $27.99

40. Brought under control: REINED IN - The goal for COVID-19

44. Eastern brew: SAKE - Wines such as Riesling, Grüner Veltliner and Sauvignon Blanc are suggested to drink with PHO. SAKE is not.

45. Bass-baritone Simon: ESTES - A very interesting man who was a grandson of a slave and born in Centerville, Iowa. Here he is being honored at Iowa State University. As you read, Debbie originally had ____ Park in Colorado

48. "Time to move on": LET IT GO - Live life through the windshield not the rearview mirror

50. Co-star of Cox and Kudrow: ANISTON.

52. "No worries": I'M COOL.

53. Behave: ACT.

54. Co-star of Ethan in "Gattaca": UMA - Trailer

55. Without rocks: NEAT - A shoutout to our "iceless" Tinman

56. Mexican fare: ENCHILADAS.

60. "Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died" writer Bombeck: ERMA.

61. Latin American fare: TELENOVELA - A portmanteau of TELE (television) and NOVLEA (novel) produced primarily in Latin America

62. Enervates: SAPS.

63. Certain farm, or one of its residents: STUD - Brian Paquin's puzzle last Saturday talked of being PUT OUT TO PASTURE. Now Debbie, on the other hand... 

64. Pesto ingredient: BASIL.


Down:

1. Arafat's successor: ABBAS - Mahmoud, head of the PLO

2. Ads, e.g.: PROMOS - $500M worth of them did him no good

3. Pull from the ground, in Plymouth: ROOT UP - On this side of the Atlantic we might UPROOT 

4. Disgusted remark: ICK.

5. Much of "Deck the Halls": LAS - Paired with FAS

6. "The Python Years" diarist: PALIN - Michael tells of his time with Monty Python

7. Janis' comics mate: ARLO.

8. Casual brand: LEE.

9. Milky Way cousin: MARS BAR.

10. Crony of Captain Bildad, in "Moby-Dick": PELEG - The principal owners of the Pequod who hired Ishmael 

From the Moby Dick Card Game

11. Construction sight: OVERALLS.

12. Quick getaway for newlyweds: MINIMOON - A seed entry for Debbie as she explained in her note

13. Hipster's "Later": PEACE OUT.

15. Vote to support: SECOND.

22. "Between the World and Me" National Book Award winner Coates: TA-NEHISI - Info on TAH-nuh-HAH-see

24. Henry VIII's sixth: PARR - Catherine kept her head and outlived him

25. Affirms: SWEARS TO.

26. Author Zora __ Hurston: NEALE - Another author unknown to me. Her writings of blacks in the 1700's of America

28. Director's unit: SCENE.

31. Quartz watch innovator: SEIKO.

33. Rainforest explorers' aids: ZIP LINES - I'd love to make this trip in Costa Rico

34. Transient things: EPHEMERA.

35. Military training site: BOOT CAMP - Sir! Yes, Sir!

38. Red stingers: ANTS.

41. Bald babies?: EAGLETS - Last week, cute Akitas. This week...

42. Most of a tooth: DENTIN.

46. Liszt's "Paganini __": ETUDES - This is #6. You gotta have some real chops to play this exercise!

47. Mogadishu native: SOMALI.

49. Little bits: IOTAS.

50. Needed a massage: ACHED.

51. Like "m" or "n," phonetically: NASAL - A lowered velum (soft palate) gives a NASAL sound

53. Org. co-founded by Helen Keller: ACLU - I'll take Amazing Women for $1,000, Alex

57. Surfer's setting: NET - I know Debbie lives in LA and so I thought a surfer's setting might be PDT. Nope, it's the interNET

58. Alley-oop pass: LOB.

59. Actress Gardner: AVA - Also Mrs. Frank Sinatra, Mrs. Artie Shaw and Mrs. Mickey Rooney 

Friday, April 10, 2020 Dick Shlakman

"ER Added"


17. How to get buns of steel?: TAKE THE A TRAINER. 

25. Axes one of the market employees?: BOUNCES A CHECKER.

43. "All these steaks are too well done"?: NOT ONE RED CENTER.

57. Hilariously react to a butt-baring prankster?: HOWL AT THE MOONER.


Remove the ER from the nouns to get the base phrases of these funnily redefined theme entries.   The first one was the hardest for me to parse.   Just took a bit of staring to see it.   It was also the one that cracked me up the most.

This looks to be another debut for the LA Times crossword venue.  Lemonade sent me an email saying that today's constructor and Jeff Chen collaborated on a pair of NYT puzzles in 2014.  So six years later, it seems Dick has once again decided to dip his toe into crossword construction. 


Across:


1. Stat cousin: ASAP.

5. Acronym often seen with a plus sign: LGBTQ.    I forgot the Q part, and the intersecting "NBA Div." clue had me stumped.

10. 1886 debut at Jacobs' Pharmacy in Atlanta: COKE.    The first year's sales averaged nine glasses a day @ five cents each.   

14. Unflappable: COOL.   For a moment, I thought Molly Brown was unflappable.  Then remembered the correct adjective.

15. Stop on the Métro?: ARRET.    Métro tells you it is French.  The question mark alerts you that something is afoot.

Arrêt does mean stop.   But a station on the Métro is formally known as a station de métro.   Who woulda thunk it ?

Informally, the answer could mean stop...   In the right context,  arrêt would probably be understood to mean train station stop.   But be careful, because a bus stop is known as an "arret de bus" so... 

This convoluted explanation brought to you by me after reading an explanation on Trip Advisor.   I defer to Kazie and those who are well-versed in travelling the Métro.

 
16. Anderson of "WKRP in Cincinnati": LONI.  -   The St. Paul, Minnesota born bosomy blonde bombshell probably kept the sitcom afloat and probably set aflame the hearts of the teenage boy viewing audience.  

20. Rental at Aspen: SKI BOOTS.  Boot rentals make sense unless you are an avid skier or a ski bum.

21. All agog: IN AWE. 

22. Mme. counterpart: SRA.   The abbreviations for Madame and Senora, respectively.  Wlile we are at it, let's also review that Mademoiselle would be Mlle., and  Senorita would be Srta.

23. Samsung : Bixby :: Apple : __: SIRI.   Virtual assistants.  High tech.

33. Sleep disturbance: APNEA.    That's not what wakes me up at night.

34. Roxette and Eurythmics: DUOs.




35. "The Puzzle Palace" org.: NSA.   I read the preview.

36. D-Day invasion city: ST LO.

37. Draining target?: SWAMP.     Didn't they try that in the Everglades ?  

39. Pressure: HEAT.  

40. Adherent's suffix: ITE.

41. High-tech read: EMAG.   I guess high tech because they are online, or because you read them on a high tech device.  Technology ?  Yes.   High tech ?  

42. "The Power of Now" author Eckhart __: TOLLE.    A quick search tells me he is a spiritual teacher and best selling author.  His 1997 book cited in the clue,  " ... is intended to be a guide for day-to-day living and stresses the importance of living in the present moment and transcending thoughts of the past or future."

47. __ & Chandon Champagne: MOET.

48. Popular U.S. street name: ELM.   There was a nightmare there.

49. Cheese shape: WHEEL.    200 and 220 pound wheels ?   They are huge.   But not this Wisconsin Baby Swiss:

Wisconsin’s Legendary Baby Swiss Cheese

52. Transmission problem: SLIPPAGE.   I had this problem in my Grand Prix, way back when they were large cars.   To save money,  GM decided to put the small Turbo Hydramatic 200 transmission that was developed for the smaller Chevy Vega and Chevy Nova in all their larger cars.   One day it wouldn't move in reverse gear.   I called a transmission shop and they told me to contact the Better Business Bureau.  GM paid for the replacement of a rebuilt 350 transmission.

60. "Get it?" response: I SEE.

61. Mazda MX-5, familiarly: MIATA.    Anonymous PVX tells us:  he has one,  loves it,  and isn't ready to replace it anytime soon.

62. Fly in the ointment: SNAG.

63. Drink garnish: ZEST.   The store was out of Ivory, Dove and Dial bar soaps.  So I bought Zest.  The scent is too much for DW at night.  She had to shut the bathroom door.  Wait.  I take that back.  It was Irish Spring, not Zest.

64. Researcher's aid: INDEX.   The Differences Between Indexes and Scales

65. Besmirches: TARS.    Tars as slang for tarnishes.

Down:

1. Musical pair, commonly: ACTs. 

2. Drench: SOAK.

3. World Golf Hall of Famer Isao: AOKI.   His first and last names are very crossword friendly.

4. Working-class Roman: PLEB.

5. Capital of Pakistan's Punjab province: LAHORE.   Nailed it !

6. Activist Thunberg and actress Scacchi: GRETAs.   Only knew of the former but it was enough to fill in the blanks.

7. Support group?: BRAs.   My wife did not think using her brassières as face masks was too smart.   However, if you search YouTube, you'll find various videos of people using thongs and jock straps.

8. Saigon New Year: TET.

9. NBA div.: QTR.   I had  (blank) T R, and was stumped.  Knew it wasn't CTR, and had to recite the alphabet until I got all the way to Q.   Then it dawned.   An NBA basketball game is divided into four 12 minute quarters. 

10. Place with outpatients: CLINIC. 

11. The last Mrs. Chaplin: OONA.

12. Was forewarned: KNEW.

13. Cork's home: EIRE.

18. Puccini heroine: TOSCA.

19. Winds, in a South American city name: AIRES.   Buenos.

23. Film on water: SCUM.

24. Restaurant in the same corporate group as Applebee's: IHOP.    The corporate group is Dine Brands Global.   However,  they may not be together much longer.   On April 2nd, Reuters reported that activist investment firm JCP Partners filed a proposal urging shareholders to vote FOR having Dine Brands spin off IHOP.   JCP argues that Applebee's has been a drag on corporate earnings.  Shareholders will decide on May 12th.  It may have been fortuitous that this puzzle and clue was published before then.

25. Water holder: BASIN.

26. Decide one will: OPT TO.

27. Vacant, in a way: UNLET.

28. Opposite of paleo-: NEO.

29. Saw: ADAGE.

30. Prepared to talk to a tot, perhaps: KNELT.   

31. Virtual transaction: E-SALE.

32. Zagat, for one: RATER.  Over the years since 1979, the Zagat Guides have reported on and rated restaurants, hotels, nightlife, shopping, zoos, music, movies, theaters, golf courses, and airlines.  Probably not as trusted as it once was.   I used the Michelin Guides in Europe.

Now they are all being supplanted by crowd sourced reviews on apps such as Yelp.   The Yelp ratings are ok, as long as you have a healthy skepticism of reviews that are too glowing or too negative.  That's because crowd sourced restaurant and product reviews are frequent targets of astroturfing by sockpuppets.

37. Bob Hoskins' role in "Hook": SMEE.   He played Smee in 1991's Hook, and in 2011's Neverland.

38. Small flaw: WART.

39. Sweetie: HON.   Terms of endearment. 

41. Name on a historic B-29: ENOLA.  The "Enola Gay" was so named by pilot Colonel Paul Tibbets in honor of his mother. 

42. Beat: TEMPO.

44. Western, e.g.: OMELET.  Wait a minute.  Last week they said it was a Denver omelet.   IHOP has a Colorado Omelet. 

45. Rub out: DELETE.

46. Turning point: CLIMAX.   Years ago I thought the band Climax Blues Band was a later version of the band Climax.    "Precious and Few" was released in 1971 and sung by Sonny Geraci, who five years earlier in 1966 had a hit with the band, The Outsiders.  I'd link that song, but "Time Won't Let Me"

49. Phenom: WHIZ.

50. Cheat: HOSE.

51. Rams' fans?: EWES. 

52. Herring known for its roe: SHAD.

53. Military installation: POST.

54. "Frozen" princess: ANNA.   Voiced, in part, by Kristen Bell.

55. Reverse, say: GEAR.   Have I ever mentioned about my Pontiac Grand Prix that wouldn't move when I shifted gears to R ? 

56. Joule fractions: ERGS.

58. Texter's "I didn't need to know that": TMI.   Too Much Information

59. __ ear: TIN.

Thursday, April 9th 2010 Bruce Haight

Theme Partial Periodic - four of the elements are name-checked in the theme entries:

17A. Getting on in years: GROWING OLD. It beats the alternative.

25A. Gets plastered: TIES ONE ON

38A. Owns part of: HAS AN INTEREST IN

47A. Classified item: FOR SALE AD It took me a little while to figure this one out, I was looking for something "secret" at first.

and the reveal tells us what to look for:

59A. Holmes' comment about the ends of the four other longest Across answers?: ELEMENTARY. Did you know Conan Doyle's Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson"?

A neat theme from Bruce and some tidy construction - those stacked nines in the down entries are nicely done and there's some sparkle in the fill which is always good to see. The two nines, two tens and a grid-spanner for the theme entries account for a satisfyingly weighty contribution to the acrosses.

Let's take the tour:

Across:

1. Mind: OBEY

5. Old lemon: EDSEL

10. What's under a beret: TÊTE. I think I'd have liked more of a nod to a French word in clue, but no harm done.

14. Oxford tightener: LACE It's the lace that defines the style; they have "shoelace eyelet tabs that are attached under the vamp". So now we know, I thought it was a plain shoe with a toecap.

15. Pledge drive gifts: TOTES. Here's one from the folks at our favorite online encyclopedia:

16. YouTube journal: VLOG. From "video log". They can get quite addictive - there's one that I follow by a chap who lives aboard a narrow boat on the UK canal system. He's oddly entertaining.

19. Lobed organ: LUNG. Nor EARR then.

20. Web pioneer: AOL. Trying to cram Tim Berners-Lee in there didn't work too well, so I cast around for alternatives.

21. Polish place: NAIL. Polish or polish?

22. Couldn't help it: HAD TO

23. Document feature with size options: FONT

28. "See You on the Radio" essayist Charles: OSGOOD. Also the host of CBS News Sunday Morning. I heard him say once that he imagined he was just talking to his sister when he broadcast.

30. Dull sound: THUD

31. Transplanting need: SOIL. Nice cluing today. Potting compost didn't fit, so soil it had to be.

32. Some allergy symptoms: RASHES. I don't really have any allergies, but any I do manifest in sneezing fits. There is a specific combination of some kind of chili pepper together with cumin that sets me off. I've never figured out exactly what the magic formula is that sets me off.

35. "So that's what's going on here!": AHA!

41. Well-suited: APT

42. With enthusiasm: AVIDLY

43. Ronnie in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: LOTT

44. Rtes. often numbered: AVES

45. Pack animals: LLAMAS

52. "Let's do it!": I'M IN

53. European toast: SKOAL. I tried SKOLL first, but that didn't work that well with the china. I associate "Skoal" most with the snuff, not the Swedish toast.

54. Chucklehead: BOZO

56. Atlanta-based health agcy.: CDC. Somewhat in the news at the moment.

58. Document settings: TABS

62. "Return to Mayberry" grown-up: OPIE

63. Frost-resistant flower: ASTER

64. Golfo contents: AGUA

65. Ice cream buy: PINT. Tried "cone", was wrong.

66. __-Japanese War: RUSSO. My first thought was SINO, came up a little short on the letter count.

67. One of the Ivies: PENN

Down:

1. "Quantum of Solace" actress Kurylenko: OLGA. Thank you, crosses.

2. Cake on a dish: BAR OF SOAP. 

3. EPA scientist: ECOLOGIST. Let's give a little sympathy to the EPA scientists in the light of the recent government decisions to roll back a lot of the protections. Say no more.

4. Longbow wood: YEW. A longbow is as tall as the archer, that's one hell of a big bow. You can make a longbow from a single piece of wood, or from laminate. The English got pretty good at archery due to the on-again off-again fight with the French over eight hundred years or so. There is still a law in England that you have to practice your archery every Sunday or be fined three pence. The "two-fingered salute" hails from those times.

5. Italian smoker: ETNA. Here's my favorite Italian smoker - Sophia Loren.

6. Slack off: DOG IT

7. Skyy shelfmate, familiarly: STOLI. I don't buy either, but I'm familiar with the brands.

8. __ sauce: sushi condiment: EEL. So not SOY.

9. Trippy '60s drug: LSD

10. Cable network with classic sitcoms: TV LAND. I'm sure more viewers over the past few weeks as people delve into the archives whilst "working from home"!

11. Get past: ELUDE

12. Jay Silverheels role: TONTO. Heigh-o Silver!

13. Prod: EGG ON

18. "What have I gotten myself __?": INTO

22. __ cat: HOUSE

24. Mardi Gras acronym: NOLA

26. Musical star Merman: ETHEL

27. Grammy winner Crow: SHERYL. She got into a little argument for her "Tuesday Night Music Club" album which was a collaboration with other artists. However, the first single from the album is nothing if not catchy!

28. Hazmat monitor: OSHA

29. Rot: DRIVEL

33. Sambuca flavoring: ANISE. I once set my face alight with flaming Sambuca, that's a story for another day.

34. Avg.: STD.

35. Period spawned by the Manhattan Project: ATOMIC AGE. Lovely clue/entry. I wanted "nuclear era" at first, then saw the space I had to work with and the crosses.

36. Baseball strategy for a contact hitter: HIT AND RUN. Bothered by "hitter" in the clue, I held off filling in the entry until it was apparent that was the correct response. Maybe "contact batter" would have worrked better?

37. Little marchers: ANTS

39. Maritime: NAVAL

40. Bridge feat: SLAM. A grand slam, to be perfectly correct. All 13 tricks. EUCHRE! is my midwest shout. I was taught to play by a friend from Ohio. He was bummed when I figured it out.

44. How china is sold: AS A SET. My last fill, complicated by not-smart decisions on the crosses.

46. Fuzzy film coward: LION

47. Shooter's setting: F-STOP. Wide for depth of field. Narrow for sharp focus. Or was it the other way around? Hello automatic camera.

48. Congo critter with striped legs: OKAPI. Funny, I thought this was the plural. I guess there's no Okapo. Nor Okape.

49. Dick Grayson's alter ego: ROBIN. Batman buddy. I always loved the sight of them walking up the side of a building on a rope. Holy vertical drop, Batman!

50. Does some fencing, maybe: ABETS. Great clue. In my memory, you can't aid or abet singularly, you are always nabbed for "aiding and abetting". A two-fer when the magistrate hands down the sentence.

51. Stadium toppers: DOMES. No, the sky tops my favorite stadia.

55. Terrible test score: ZERO

57. Ink cartridge color: CYAN. Did anyone know cyan or magenta were even colors before inkjet printers? "OK, we need four colors - black, yellow, that's easy - then we need ummmm wait, cyan, there we go and what else? Oh! Magenta! Stupid us!"

59. Corn serving: EAR. Not COB then. Goof.

60. 2020 NCAA FBS champs: LSU. Lousinana State U. It almost seems odd that a sporting event was played out in front of a full crowd. Our perspectives have changed.

61. Touch-screen touch: TAP. When a tap doesn't seem to cut it, try a prod or a poke. A stab sometimes is more effective. In extremis, a reboot generally sets things right.

I think that's me done.  Here's the grid, thanks again to Bruce, please all be vigilant and keep safe.

I saw a gaggle of cyclists yesterday ride past my house, no masks, "sponsored" jerseys, pretending they were all riding the Tour de France or some nonsense. You might be fit, healthy and 30, but you're not immune, nor are the people you come into contact with.

Wake up.

On the plus side, I had a great conversation with one of our blog readers who lives not too far away from me and reached out for a chat. If this goes on, then let's think about a group "puzzle solve" happy hour on Zoom.

Be safe!

Steve

Wednesday, April 8, 2020, Zachary David Levy

Theme: IT'S A CAKEWALK

17. Early stage of most tornados: FUNNEL CLOUD.

24. Bikini Bottom fry cook: SPONGE BOB.

36. Common nickname for a redhead: CARROT TOP.

51. Hashtag symbol: POUND SIGN.

60. Easy-peasy ... or a hint to the start of 17-, 24-, 36- and 51-Across: PIECE OF CAKE.

Melissa here. What a sweet puzzle, self-explanatory theme. I don't know about you but now I'm hungry. These pics may inspire bakers with some extra time on their hands this month. You're welcome.

Across:

1. Continent with 11 time zones: ASIA. Wow.

5. Gift for a creative kid: ART SET.

11. Slyly include in an email, for short: BCC. Blind carbon copy.

14. Textile machine: LOOM.

15. "Who __ thunk it?": WOULDA.

16. Significant time span: ERA.

19. Smallish batteries: AAS.

20. Knotted up: TIED.

21. Actress Basinger: KIM.

22. Former Clannad singer: ENYA. A little obscure.  From 1980 to 1982, Clannad operated as a six-piece band with Enya Brennan on additional keyboards and vocals, before she left the group to pursue a solo career.

23. Terrible twos, one hopes: PHASE.

27. Pacific current: EL NINO.

29. "Fan-cee!": OOLALA.

30. Curiosity org.: NASA. Curiosity is the car-sized rover designed to explore the crater Gale on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission.

31. Practitioner of total patient care: HOLIST. Tricky. I've never seen the noun form of this word.

35. Neon or Freon: GAS.

39. "Oh, puh-leeze!": HAH.

42. Congregation leader: PASTOR.

43. Fail to include: OMIT.

47. Turkish inn: IMARET. Another obscure word. Dictionary.com says, In Turkey, a hospice for pilgrims and travelers. Wikipedia doesn't mention Turkey, but says it is one of a few names used to identify the public soup kitchens built throughout the Ottoman Empire from the 14th to the 19th centuries. The imarets gave out food that was free of charge to specific types of people and unfortunate individuals.

49. At full volume: ABLARE.

55. Dog-__: folded at the corner: EARED. A no-no for library books.

56. Ward of "Sisters": SELA.

57. SADD concern: DUI.

58. "The Grouchy Ladybug" writer Carle: ERIC. He also wrote The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

59. "Conan" channel: TBS. Rather than cease production during the pandemic, the shows are being shot remotely on an iPhone, without an audience and with guest interviews being filmed via video chat.

64. Seine water: EAU.

65. Puts into law: ENACTS.

66. At once, in many poems: ANON.

67. Sales __: REP.

68. Some digital watches: CASIOS.

69. Polliwog home: POND.

Down:

1. ET from Melmac: ALF.

2. Watts Towers neighborhood, briefly: SOUTH LA. Having lived in California most of my adult life, I did not know about the Watts Towers.

3. Greek islanders of old: IONIANS.

4. "Who am I?" speaker, perhaps: AMNESIAC.

5. Leatherworking tool: AWL.

6. Is totally awesome: ROCKS. Cute.

7. Dutch flower: TULIP. Anyone been to the tulip fields in Amsterdam?

8. MLB replay aid: SLO MO. Slow motion.

9. College URL suffix: EDU.

10. Bit: TAD.

11. Pliable seat: BEANBAG.

12. Coloring name since 1903: CRAYOLA.

13. Winter melons: CASABAS.

18. Paradise: EDEN.

22. Skinny swimmer: EEL.

23. Home near a barn: PEN.

25. Cosa __: NOSTRA. The Sicilian Mafia.

26. Show up for: GO TO.

28. "Darn it all": OH RATS.

32. Surg. centers: ORS. Operating Rooms.

33. Used car site: LOT.

34. "Who am __ judge?": I TO.

37. Pretended to be: APED.

38. Icy end-of-the-world region: POLAR CAP.

39. Trendy type often parodied on "Portlandia": HIPSTER.

40. Slide organisms: AMOEBAE.

41. Calls on the carpet: HAULS UP. Have never heard this phrase.

44. Rivera in Cooperstown: MARIANO. Mariano Rivera was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY on July 21, 2019.

45. "Seems to me," in dialect: I RECKON.

46. Danson of "The Good Place": TED.

48. Genetic "messenger" initials: RNA.

50. Most steaks: BEEF. Followed by a slice of one of those cakes up top.

52. Notions: IDEAS. Not sewing.

53. Fashion brand identified by interlocking G's: GUCCI.

54. 2012-'18 Mexican president: NIETO.

60. Push-up target, for short: PEC.

61. __ bind: stuck: INA.

62. CIA forerunner: OSS.

63. Close: END. And that's the end.