Saturday, November 7, 2020, Brian E. Paquin

Saturday Themeless by Brian E. Paquin

Our retired computer systems developer, and now crossword constructor, from Kingston, Ontario returns today with a lovely little puzzle.

I had a very quick and pleasant tiptoe through the cells as the long fills were very helpful and gettable. 

Here is Brian's gracious and informative response to my request for info on this puzzle including on the process of cluing and editing by Rich and his staff which we have discussed here recently: 

Hi Gary,

It really saves me time that you provide the published clues in your emails.   It makes it easier for me to update my records.  Thanks for that.

Here are my comments:

This grid is similar to the one I used for my last appearance in the LAT.   Namely, the longer entries cross in the middle.   When those entries are filled, it just leaves me 4 mini-puzzles in the corners.  It is kind of my lazy grid because it takes advantage of the strengths of computers.   But any grid can fight back strongly, and I usually have to try this and try that on my own to make it work.

I actually hadn't seen that puzzle for quite a while, having submitted v1 in May of 2019.   I see that I have a lot of proper names in the grid.  I keep telling myself to stop doing that, but I just don't seem to listen.  Most of them are well known, but some of the clues have been "Saturday-ed" to make the difficulty level appropriate.  How many people know that Bonny Blue's birth name was Eugenie? The clue that I was disappointed to lose was for 24D CAYENNE: "Moderately hot chili pepper" (a reference to the rock group, of course).   But there were significant cluing improvements done.

Brian

Across:

1. Actor Richard Anthony Marin, familiarly: CHEECH - Cheech (sans Chong) made an appearance on Grey's Anatomy and was billed as CHEECH Marin.

7. TV's "Moonlighting," for one: DRAMEDY - We crossworders know it's a portmanteau of Drama and Comedy. I think Grey's Anatomy would qualify as one.

14. Sarcastic comment to a complainer, maybe: POOR YOU.

15. Bonnie Blue's birth name, in "Gone With the Wind": EUGENIE - Rhett and Scarlett's post-war baby

16. Eno, for one: ANAGRAM - So clever, Eno is an ANAGRAM of One and is another "meta" clue Jeffrey Wechsler told us about last Saturday.

17. Erodes: ABRADES  and 39. Sign of aging: WEAR - This is my 25-year-old "tiller that won't die". Even the ABRADING and WEAR on the belt doesn't motivate me to buy a new one because everything still works.

18. Mil. break: RNR - Rest and Relaxation - On M*A*S*H they all wanted RNR in Tokyo

19. Greek vowel: ETA.

20. Venison source: DEER.

21. "__ consummation devoutly to be wish'd": Hamlet: TIS A - TIS A gloomy part of this famous soliloquy 

23. Ancient Peruvian: INCA.

24. Capital of French Guiana: CAYENNE - On the other side of the South American continent 

25. Mother __: EARTH - This picture of Mother EARTH rising over the Moon was taken in 1968 by Scott Anders on Apollo 8. He said, "We came all this way to explore the Moon and what we found was the EARTH."

29. "I don't believe it!": YEESH.

31. Hard __: CASH - "Atta boys" are nice but I'd prefer HARD CASH

33. Non-discrimination letters: EOE - As opposed to EEO this time

34. Time-saving words?: YADA YADA YADA.

38. Made something more desirable: SWEETENED THE POT - A perk for some people who work for ABC/Disney is an all-access pass to Disney Parks.

41. Typical Louis L'Amour work: WESTERN NOVEL - He wrote a 100 of 'em.

42. Rd. service club: AAA.

43. Ill-advised move: NO NO - Don't bring your queen out so early!

44. Lyon lasses: Abbr.: MLLES - An abbr. for Mademoiselles

48. Beetle larvae: GRUBS - If you see these guys, you have sod webworms!

51. Techie, often: NERD.

53. Do an usher's job: SEAT - A verb here

54. Symbol of innocence: LAMB.

56. Col. neighbor: NEB - NEB's Lake McConaughy attracts a lot of COL peeps

58. Matter-of-fact opening?: AS A 

59. Jackson dubbed "Queen of Gospel": MAHALIA - Here you see MAHALIA to Dr. King's left on Aug. 28, 1963. MLK's speech wasn't going as well as he liked when MAHALIA yelled, "Tell them about the dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!" - an idea she had discussed with him before. Dr. King pushed his prepared speech to the left and his extemporaneous, "I had a dream" speech leapt into the American consciousness. 

62. Old rubber?: ALADDIN - Fun change of rubber from a noun to a verb

64. Winning steadily: ON A ROLL.

65. Metaphor for misfortune: ILL WIND - The Gulf Coast has had too many of these!

66. Advil rival: TYLENOL - My doctor said to say away from the ibuprofen in Advil and use the acetaminophen in TYLENOL

67. Bill of __: LADING - Here's one from 1775

Down:

1. News anchor Chung: CONNIE - CBS said Connie and Dan's bad chemistry led to bad ratings and was part of her losing the gig. You can look up "the rest of the story"

2. Sounding rough: HOARSE

3. Joule part: ERG.

4. Victorian heroine: EYRE - Charlotte Bronte's first novel written under the male pseudonym of Currer Bell

5. Raccoon kin: COATI - A cute 52 sec. video showing these two members of the Procyonidae family

6. Risky aerial act: HUMAN CANNON BALL - You don't see guys of this caliber very often anymore 

7. Kaput: DEAD AS A DOORNAIL - All you'd want to know about this phrase

8. Sticks figure: RUBE - The most famous RUBE who lived in the sticks?

9. Match: AGREE.

10. Half a comedy duo: MEARA - Ann MEARA and Jerry STILLER's son Ben lives near our cwd friend Chef Wendy on Kauai 

11. Wrap up: END.

12. Rolled game piece: DIE.

13. "You betcha!": YES.

14. It may be a blast: PARTY.

22. So far: AS YET.

26. Gather: REAP - What ye sow

27. Well attachment?: TO DO - I spent a lot of yute in my friend's well TO-DO household

28. Cops: HEAT - The HEAT Is On sung by Glen Frey of The Eagles. He was paid $15,000 to play guitar and sing this song for Beverly Hills Cop

30. Word with crime or watch: HATE - HATE Crime is disgusting but familiar, however I had to look up HATE Watch which is where one watches a TV show they actually hate like I did last night when I watched a competitive cooking show for two minutes.

32. Couch potato's buy: HDTV.

35. "The 'Burbs" actor: DERN - Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a 53%. Their audiences gave it a 71%

36. "Pardon me ... ": AHEM.

37. Long-distance calls?: YELLS - 2020 Texas A&M YELL leaders

38. Plunder: SWAG - Nominees in the best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, and best director categories get a SWAG Bag containing $215,000 of goodies.

40. Biblical twin: ESAU.

45. Introduction: LEAD IN - In the beginning, Seinfeld benefitted by having Cheers as a LEAD IN

46. Letting up: EASING.

47. Artist's aid: STAND - Yeah, I tried EASEL first too

49. Sit on, as a horn: BLARE - The temptation is very strong after 10 minutes in a drive-thru lane but I don't because everyone today has a weapon and an attitude. I let it go!

50. Elegant room: SALON.

Stockholm Royal Palace Meleager Salon 

52. Reese of "Chico and the Man": DELLA - I hereby grant myself poetic license to link to  my favorite DELLA song

55. Ventimiglia of "This Is Us": MILO - MILO is on the right (HG correction)

57. __ eagle: BALD.

59. Clever remark: MOT - I'll bet this is a real page turner

60. "__ ideas?": ANY 61. Baseball exec Steinbrenner: HAL - Yankee owner HAL might be asking "ANY ideas?" since the Yankees have won only one World Series in the last 20 years but have spent millions.

63. SADD concern: DWI - Driving While Distracted (DWD) is a big problem also

 

Friday, November 6, 2020, Kevin Christian

  Title: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE.

Today's trek will require you to jog your memories to recall various "nouns of multitude" for animal groups. If that term is not a familiar one then you might want to follow this LINK and listen and learn. This is a play on word puzzle with five theme fill. Kevin has been entertaining us for more than 10 years with the late dear Santa blogging his first here in April 2010. Remarkably, I do not believe I have ever written up one of his efforts -until now. This theme is a bit subtle, taking an animal group pairing that with a word that gives a different meaning to the now paired word. As with most featured Fridays, this has much to like in the fill...ARE WE OK,  HASSLES,  HOTDOGS,  HYDRANT,  RISOTTO THE BOMB, PANCETTA and USA TODAY, I highlight the new fill by using red. 

For a theme, we have...

17A. Lions in the city?: CIVIC PRIDE (10). Civic being the city part...

25A. Fish with experience?: OLD SCHOOL (9). We reverse the clue, not the fill.

36A. Bees behind bars?: PENAL COLONY (11). This was hard because we think of bees in a hive. My thought was "where do chlamydia live?" I'll see if Tom censors me.

47A. Whales on the run?: ESCAPE POD (9). By now you should know this one. Whales can be very tight when they group, swimming in close proximity to each other on occasion. To the first ceteologists, they resembled seeds in a pod-like that of a legume.

58A. Wolves with a clean lair?: VACUUM PACK (10). Picturing a bunch of surly wolves vacuuming makes this a big stretch.

Across:

1. Persepolis ruins locale: IRAN. In the old Persia, where so much HISTORY lies.

5. Prickly plants: CACTI. Much better than prickly pants.

10. Former Supreme Court first name: RUTH. Ms. Bader Ginsberg, a remarkable woman.

14. iPod model: NANO. 

15. Garden nuisance: APHID. But needed by Peonies, remember?

16. Protection org. since 1970: OSHA. Occupational Safety Health Administration.

19. Slangy sweeties: BAES. I.m already bored with this word. 

20. Pulitzer-winning author Lurie: ALISON. I cannot read the way I used to, but I would have missed her anyway. LINK.

21. Spring: LEAP. Forward.

23. Conan's network: TBS. One of Ted Turner's baes.

24. Willamette River capital: SALEM. The OREGON one. 

27. UFO fliers, presumably: ETS. Meh.

28. __ bath: MUD. People actually pay for these. Or...


30. Luke and Leia's mother: PADME. I just had the yummy Natalie Portman.

31. Show-offs: HOTDOGS. None more so than JOEY.

35. Pats gently: DABS. A little one will do you. 

38. Inland Asian sea: ARAL. Having a COMEBACK?

40. Fixture in some no-parking zones: HYDRANT. Very random.

41. Starr man: RINGO. A gimme from the spelling. 

43. One kept on a child at the pool: EYE.

44. Hole goal: PAR.

51. GE rival: AMANA. Appliance makers. 

53. "Alas!" prompter: WOE. Alack, 

54. Seafarers: TARS.

55. USC athlete: TROJAN.

56. Novel ending?: ETTE.

60. Miranda __ of "Homeland": OTTO. Miranda Otto is an Australian actress who portrayed Allison Carr on Homeland. She is best known for playing Eowyn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

61. Dutch cheeses: EDAMS.

62. Czech track legend Zátopek: EMIL.

63. Zen riddle: KOAN. A characteristic example of the style is the well-known koan “When both hands have clapped a sound is produced; listen to the sound of one hand clapping.”

64. "Building a Mystery" singer McLachlan: SARAH.

65. Cook of comedy: DANE. Rather a passe star I think, but I never enjoyed his comedy.

Down:

1. If: IN CASE. In Alabama, they say, for case. 

2. Scold harshly: RAIL AT.

3. Wile E. Coyote weapons: ANVILS. He is back again!

4. White __: NOISE. We use a fan.

5. Bo's'n boss: CAPN. Match the abbreviations.

6. Loan fig.: APR. Annual Percentage Rate.

7. Put on ice: CHILL.

8. Helped through a tough time, with "over": TIDED.  Stimulus anyone?

9. Brainstorming session output: IDEAS.

10. Director Reiner: ROB. He also is back after his recent appearance as the director of When Harry Met Sally.

11. Paper with Money and Life sections: USA TODAY. Where you get lots of C.C. puzzles these days.

12. Awesome, slangily: THE BOMB.

13. Bothers: HASSLES.

18. Public town park: COMMON.

22. Narc's find: PCP.

25. "Funny thing is ... ": ODDLY.

26. "I __ thought of that": HADN'T.

29. Home to the Ogden Raptors of MiLB: UTAH. Minor League Baseball.

31. Hägar the Horrible's wife: HELGA.

32. Med. condition with repetitive behavior: OCD. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.  

33. Hurt in a ring: GORED. A bunch of bull.

34. Take out, as a vampire: SLAY. Hey Peg, how are you? 

36. Italian bacon: PANCETTA. Maybe with some 39D. Dish with arborio rice: RISOTTO.

37. Like difficult push-ups: ONE ARM. Who can forget?

38. "Do you and I need to clear the air?": ARE WE OK.

42. Withdraw, with "out": OPT.

44. __ party: PAJAMA.

45. Aleve rival: ANACIN.

46. Really get to: RANKLE.

48. Wasp nest sites: EAVES.

49. Red-carpet brand: PRADA. 

50. NBA great Robertson nicknamed "The Big O": OSCAR.

52. Minibike kin: MOPED. We had one while we were kids.

55. Derriere: TUSH. I do appreciate a well-formed one.

57. Long time to wait, facetiously: EON.

59. Thurman in films: UMA. We finish with the now ubiquitous Uma.

What a week, so far. I had a good time with Kevin's puzzle even though I did not get a chance to go through Kansas City this year. Thank you all. Lemonade out.

Did you like the music?

Thursday, November 5, 2020, Jerry Edelstein

 

Good morning, once again, cruciverbalists.  After taking last week off to be the subject of an alien probe, this Manatee has once again put flipper to keyboard to recap a puzzle.  The aliens, in turn, have continued to act a bit otherworldly.  In the Manatee's last write-up, we shared a theme of Jumping Jacks and one of those Jacks was Jack Sprat.  Well, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction as today our constructor, Jerry Edelstein, reveals today's theme to be none other than:

57. ACROSS - Nursery rhyme guy whose last name inspired the answers to starred clues?:  JACK SPRAT.

Eerie coincidence aside, this was one of the more straightforward themes that we have seen in a while.  All of the theme answers below are anagrams of SPRAT.  That is, if Sprat is a "word".  If SPRAT isn't a word then, per last week's comments, all the theme answers are Jumbles of S P R A T.  

17. ACROSS   *Helmet part: CHIN STRAP.

23. ACROSS  *Diamond protectors: INFIELD TARPS.

35. ACROSS  *Unlikely roles for mimes: SPEAKING PARTS.

46. ACROSS  *Crustacean catchers: LOBSTER TRAPS.

ACROSS:

1. Competition prize: MEDAL.

6. "Sistas" and "Being Mary Jane" cable channel: BET.  The Black Entertainment Television networks.

9. Toaster, often: EMCEE.  Were we duped, initially, to think of a kitchen appliance?   In this instance, the TOASTER is the person who makes a toast to the Toastee.

14. Like Lindbergh in the Spirit of St. Louis: ALONE.   In 1927, at the age of twenty-five, Charles Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York, USA to Paris, France.  The flight took more than thirty-three hours and he did it ALONE in his plane which was named The Spirit of St. Louis.  We could spend days, here, discussing the Spirit of Lindbergh, himself.

Charles Lindbergh

15. Former boxer Laila who wrote "Food for Life": ALI.  Laila ALI is the daughter of Muhammad ALI.  Nature or nurture?

Muhammad and Laila ALI

 

16. Ancient Greek physician: GALEN.  Although he did not discover circulation, GALEN did discover that arteries carried blood.

1

Claudius GALEN 129 AD - 210 AD

19. Pick at the polls: ELECT.  More than enough has been written on this topic recently.

20. In __: as found: SITU.  Latin for "on site" or "in position".

21. Tate Modern collection: ART.  In its present incarnation, the Tate Modern was opened on May 11, 2000.  It holds the national collection of British ART as well as international modern and contemporary ART.

22. Taj Mahal location: ASIA.  Using this approach a virtually unlimited number of clues could be used for this answer.  But, it cannot be denied that Agra is, indeed, located in ASIA.  I first put in AGRA because that is where the Taj Mahal is located and two of the letters worked.

The Taj Mahal

28. Chip raw material: POTATO.  Silicon would not fit.  Both POTATO chips and Silicon chips have enriched this Manatee's life immensely.

30. Hosp. areas: ORS.  Operating Rooms

31. Half a cocktail: TAI.  One version of the classic Mai TAI is made with three types of rum (light, gold, and dark), pineapple juice and orange juice.

32. Neat as __: A PIN.  Just how neat is a pin?  The expression was originally meant as in "As neat as a new metal pin."  That doesn't really explain much, does it?

33. Artist Yoko: ONO.  Oh, no!   ONO again!?

34. Scuttlebutt: DIRT.  Scuttlebutt has a derivation similar to that of trading gossip (DIRT) around the office water cooler.  Scuttlebutt is a nautical term for a cask used to serve drinking water on a ship.

39. Pol. units until 1991: SSRS.  The Union of Soviet Socialist RepublicS was formed in 1922 and it dissolved in 1991.  It's various components live on in crossword puzzles.

40. "The Sign" pop group __ of Base: ACE.  A Swedish music group.

41. Start to commute?: TELE.  The question mark tips us off that we are not to take this clue literally.  Many people are TELEcommuting during the COVID crisis.

42. Previously: AGO.  Did you know that The Rolling Stones covered "Going to A GO Go" ?

Next week, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band cover "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy".

43. Polished off: ATE.

I Can't Believe I Ate The Whole Thing

44. Sign usually seen at night: CLOSED.

49. Teases: RIBS.  Yes, when used as a transitive verb.  I prefer these RIBS:

50. Golfer Poulter or Woosnam: IAN.  The first name of both gentlemen.

51. Hybrid Jamaican fruit: UGLI.  An UGLI is a cross between a tangerine and a grapefuit.  The name is a registered trademark.  Would a competitor really wish to steal it?

55. Pickling solution: BRINE.

Preparing to BRINE a Brisket

to Make Corned Beef

59. Gulps down: CHUGS.

60. Boat on a 40-day mission: ARK. What's a cubit?

Noah's ARK

61. Clinton running mate: KAINE.  In 2016, Hillary Clinton's running mate was U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia.  Did you remember the answer to this one?  Perps came to the rescue for this solver.

62. Halley's __: COMET.

Halley's COMET

63. Grill fuel: GAS.

64. Ski resort that shares its name with a tree: ASPEN.

ASPEN Colorado 

DOWN:

1. Brits' raincoats: MACS.  Abbreviated version of a MACkintosh which is named for its Scottish inventor, Charles Macintosh.  The K was added later.

2. Pre-college, briefly: ELHI.  I have never heard this word used outside of crossword puzzles where it has appeared (too) many times.

3. "Stop stalling!": DO IT.

4. Recurring payments: ANNUITIES.  To purchase ANNUITIES you pay a lump sum of money to an insurance company (or other issuer) and they guarantee to pay you periodic fixed sums of money that can last a lifetime.

5. Article in Elle France: LES.  This Manatee never knows, until the perps, if it is going to be LES, CES, MES, or DES.  There are other possibilities, also.

6. Spanish district: BARRIO.  A BARRIO is a district of a town in Spain or other Spanish-speaking countries. 

7. Get a big grin out of: ELATE.  It means "to make someone happy".

8. Money left on the table: TIP.  A bit of misdirection.  As an expression relating to business dealings, to "leave money on the table" means not to take in money that is available.  Here we are supposed to take the clue quite literally.

9. Expels: EGESTS.  There will be no graphics for this one!

10. Former first daughter: MALIA.

Malia Obama

11. Proof of legal ownership: CLEAR TITLE.   CLEAR TITLE means that there are no other claims on TITLE.  This is one form of legal ownership but by no means the only form.

12. Continental trade gp.: EEC.   The European Economic Community existed from 1958 until 2009 when the institutions of the EEC were absorbed into the European Union.

13. Sinus doc: ENT.  Ear Nose and Throat specialist.

18. 1920s chief justice: TAFT.  William Howard TAFT also served as President of the United States from 1909 - 1913.  He is considered to have been the most obese U.S. President (and Chief Justice).

22. __ in the bucket: A DROP.   "A DROP in the bucket" is an idiomatic expression that means an insignificant amount.

24. Grammy: NANA.  Another bit of misdirection by the constructor.  A Grammy Award?  Nope.   Grammy and NANA are synonyms for grandmother.

25. Word with Beach or Island: LONG.  Valerie, and her sister Denise, hail from Rockville Center, LONG Island twenty five miles east of Manhattan.  The City of LONG Beach lies South of Los Angeles.

The Long Island Sisters

26. Grammatically analyzed: PARSED.

27. Convene: SIT.   Meet would not fit in the allotted space.

28. One way to earn $200: PASS GO.  A reference to the game Monopoly which was first broadly marketed in 1935.

29. Cause of disgrace: OPPROBRIUM.  I do not believe that I have ever before seen OPPRORIUM worked into in a crossword puzzle.  Bravo, Jerry!  The definition is "the public disgrace arising from someone's shameful conduct."

33. Number of Eagles' Super Bowl wins: ONE.  The Bengals, Bills, Browns, Cardinals, Chargers, Falcons, Jaguars, Lions, Panthers, Texans, Titans and Vikings combined have ONE less Superbowl win than that.

34. Play the part of in costume: DRESS UP AS.

36. Beckinsale and Winslet: KATES.  Coulda' had a hat trick with Hudson.

37. Bakery employee: ICER.  Or, a hockey player hitting the puck over the center line and the opponent's goal line.

38. Resting on: ATOP.

A TOP

39. Cantina condiment: SAL.  SAL is Spanish for salt.  Cantina was the tip off for the use of a Spanish word as the answer.

43. Ideally: AT BEST.

44. Finally spills the beans: CRACKS.  No, it's not a food service reference.  Almost everyone CRACKS under enough pressure.

45. Slender: LANK.  LANKy is seen in usage far more often.

47. Burn a bit: SINGE.

48. Crown: TIARA.

Miss Piggy Wearing A TIARA

52. Golf lesson subject: GRIP.

53. Country road: LANE.

54. Hwy. through San Antonio and Houston: I TEN.   Interstate Highway TEN is 2,460 miles long and runs from Santa Monica, CA to Jacksonville, FL.

55. Email option, briefly: BCC.  When you Blind Carbon Copy someone they can see the email but their identity is concealed from the other recipients.  The reference to Carbon Copy seems a bit archaic today.

56. Pi follower: RHO.  All that I know about the Greek Alphabet, which is not much, I have learned from solving crossword puzzles.

57. Beemer rival: JAG.  The clue and the answer are slangy terms for BMW and Jaguar automobiles, respectively.

58. Reggae Kin: SKA.  SKA music is a bit "punchier" than Reggae music which evolved from SKA.

____________________________________________

___________________________________________

____________________________________________

MM OUT

Wednesday, November 4, 2020 Mike Peluso

 Theme: Stay on the right track ~ or ~ We are well trained.

This is best explained by starting with the unifier.

59A. Engineer, brakeman and conductor ... and what the ends of the answers to starred clues comprise?: TRAIN CREW.  Those named professionals are indeed the CREW of a TRAIN.  The theme answers will make a TRAIN CREW of a different sort.

16 A. *Person to emulate: ROLE MODEL.  This is the person who is a standout at what s/he does, performing at the highest level, getting the most done, and showing the right way to do it.  A MODEL TRAIN is a scaled down representation of a real TRAIN, used in the hobby of Rail Transport Modeling, which can be extremely elaborate and realistic.  

23 A.  *Thanksgiving condiment: TURKEY GRAVY.   Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meat - in this case, TURKEY, that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with wheat flour or corn starch for added texture.  It is typically served in a GRAVY boat.  The GRAVY TRAIN is a situation where one can make a great deal of money with very little effort.

35. *Effective remedy with little downside: MAGIC BULLET.  A medicine or other problem solving remedy, especially one newly discovered or unexpected with wonderful or highly specific properties.  A BULLET TRAIN is a high speed passenger rail transport that uses an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. They run at least 160 miles per hour, and some systems exceed 200 miles per hour.

50 A. *A high-profile trial might become one: MEDIA CIRCUS.  This is any news event that attracts coverage that is excessive in degree and/or duration, or out of proportion to the event being covered.  This is often also magnified by sensationalistic reporting.  A CIRCUS TRAIN is transportation to take a CIRCUS company from one venue to the next.

 

Across:

1. Band with an electrical symbol in their logo: AC/DC.

 

  5. Youngest woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, familiarly: AOC.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [b 1989,] also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district.

8. Aromatic herb: SAGE.  Salvia officinalis is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It has a long history of culinary and medicinal use.

12. Church divide: AISLE.  The passage between the rows of seats, benches or pews.

14. Rapping MD?: DRE.  Andre Romelle Young [b. 1955,] known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, audio engineer, record executive, entrepreneur, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, 

15. Mariano Rivera's record 652: SAVES.  Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013. Nicknamed "Mo" and "Sandman", he spent most of his career as a relief pitcher and served as the Yankees' closer for 17 seasons.  

A relief pitcher recording a save must preserve his team's lead while doing one of the following:

- Enter the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitch at least one inning.

- Enter the game with the tying run in the on-deck circle, at the plate or on the bases.

- Pitch at least three innings.  [Source]

18. LGBTQ part, briefly: TRANS. This designation, along with its many variants, refers to anyone who is non-heterosexual or non-cisgender.

19. Wavelike pattern: MOIRE.  A large-scale interference pattern that can be produced when an opaque ruled pattern with transparent gaps is overlaid on another similar pattern. For the moiré interference pattern to appear, the two patterns must not be completely identical, but rather displaced, rotated, or have slightly different pitch. [Wikipedia]

20. "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" singer Kathy: MATTEA.   Kathleen Alice Mattea (b. 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reached No. 1.

 

 21. Arafat's gp., once: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization.

26. Nigerian pop star: SADE.  Helen Folasade Adu [b 1959] known professionally as Sade Adu or simply Sade [pronounced Shad-day, don't ask me why] was born in Nigeria, but brought up in England. She has had an enormously successful career.

 

 28. Brief moments: SECS.  Seconds, briefly.

29. Notable times: ERAS.  Jazz, for example

30. Summer beverage: ICE TEA.  Brewed TEA served over ICE.  Let the ICE - ICED controversy commence.

33. "__ Tu": 1974 hit: ERES.

 

 39. Spoken: ORAL.  Communicated using vocal sounds.

40. Trickeries: FRAUDS.  Fakes, phonies, shams.

43. Tel __: AVIV.  Tel AVIV Yafo, to be complete, is a city on Israel's Mediterranean coast with a population of 460, 613.

47. Brown and blonde: ALES.  Less hoppy than IPAs.

49. Cream or Nirvana: TRIO.  Groups of three musicians.

54. Red Sox rivals, on scoreboards: NYY.  New York Yankees.

55. Literally, French for "again": ENCORE.  Makes sense.

56. Perot of politics: H ROSS.

 

  58. Memphis tourist street: BEALE.  One of the city's main tourist attractions.

 

 63. Gillette razors: ATRAS.

64. Carrier to Tokyo: ANA.  All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd is Japan's largest airline.

65. Hotel patron: GUEST.  Paying customer.

66. Lays down the lawn: SODS.  Puts rolls of grass in place.  Nice word play.

67. Time out?: NAP.  "Out" meaning asleep.  

68. Palm gadgets, briefly: PDAS.  Personal Data Assistants.  Mobile devices which function as personal information managers.  Now pretty much displaced by muti-functional smart phones.

Down:

1. Swiss river: AAR.  A tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland.  Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about 295 kilometers (183 mi.)

2. Corp. tech exec: CIO.  The Chief Information Officer is the company executive responsible for the management, implementation, and usability of information and computer technologies.

3. Internet connector via phone line: DSL MODEM.  Digital Subscriber Line is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines.  A modem – a portmanteau of "modulator-demodulator" – is a hardware device that converts data from a digital format.

4. Jazz singer Laine: CLEO.   Clementine Dinah Bullock (b 1927) is an English jazz and pop singer and an actress, known for her scat singing and for her vocal range. 

 

 5. Venomous snakes: ADDERS.  Any of several groups of venomous snakes of the family Viperidae, fond in various parts of the world.

6. Tram load: ORE.  In mining.  

7. Disney frame: CEL.  A special or limited edition version of artwork from an animated cartoon.

8. "No Exit" dramatist: SARTRE.  Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre ]1905 –1980] was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. 

9. Personal user pic: AVATAR.  An electronic image that represents and may be manipulated by a computer user.

 
10. Lake on the French/Swiss border: GENEVA.

11. Op-ed pieces: ESSAYS. 

13. Send out: EMIT.  As, frex., radio waves or light. 

15. Alone, at a party: STAG.  

17. Christian sch. in Tulsa: ORU.  Oral Roberts University.

20. Whitman "53-Down" subject: MYSELF.   SONG of MYSELF is a poem by Walt Whitman (1819–1892) that is included in his work Leaves of Grass. It has been credited as "representing the core of Whitman's poetic vision."

21. 23rd of 24: PSI.  Psi (Greek) (Ψ, ψ), the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet. In both Classical and Modern Greek, the letter indicates the combination /ps/ (as in English word "lapse").

22. SupÈrieur, par exemple: LAC.  One of the Great Lakes, in French.

24. Company with spokes-elves: KEEBLER.  They make cookies.

25. Hose color: ECRU.  Originally, the natural color of unbleached linen.  It became more precisely defined as "a grayish yellow that is greener and paler than chamois or old ivory."  ECRU comes from the French word écru, which means "unbleached."

27. LAX posting: ETA.  Estimated Time of Arrival at Los Angeles International Air Port.

31. Star quality?: EGO.  Quality - I'm not so sure.  More precisely, a characteristic.

32. The Red Baron, for one: AIR ACE.   A flying ace, fighter ace or AIR ACE is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat.  Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen [1892-1918,] known in English as the Red Baron, was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.

34. Canon initials: SLR. Single Lens Reflex, a type of camera.

36. Colombian metropolis: CALI.  Santiago de Cali, or CALI, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with  2,227,642 residents.

 
37. Have: EAT.  Consume.

38. Gets embarrassed, maybe: TURNS RED.

41. Tinkerer's abbr.: DIY. Do It Yourself.

42. Versatile bean: SOY.

43. One-celled critters: AMEBAS.   Unicellular organisms which have the ability to alter their shapes, primarily by extending and retracting pseudopods.

44. Rome's Via __: VENETO.  One of the most famous, elegant, and expensive streets of Rome, Italy. The street is named after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto (1918), a decisive Italian victory of World War I.

45. Bouncer's request: ID CARD.  Needed to get in, or he will bounce you out.

46. Members of string 49-Acrosses: VIOLAS.  Remember, 49 A was a musical trio.  Violas are the alto voices of the viol family, pitched a fifth below the violin, and an octave above the cello.

At 4 min 32 sec, this is the shortest example of a string trio I could find.  Takes a bit to get going, but is really quite beautiful.

 

 48. ESPN commentator Jeremy: SCHAAP.  Jeremy Albert Schaap (b.1969) is an American sportswriter, television reporter, and author. Schaap is an eleven-time Emmy Award winner for his work on ESPN's E:60, SportsCenter, and Outside the Lines.

51. Mars, to Greeks: ARES.  Two views of the God of War

52. Sch. with a Providence campus: URI.  University of Rhode Island.

53. Tune: SONG. Melody.  We have a few today.

57. Atlantic food fish: SCUP. The scup (Stenotomus chrysops) is a fish which occurs primarily in the Atlantic from Massachusetts to South Carolina.  Along with many other fish of the family Sparidae, it is also commonly known as porgy.  First I've ever heard of it.

59. Beach tone: TAN.  Could be the color of the sand; could be the darkening of your skin from the sun's rays.

60. Genetic material: RNA.  Ribonucleic acid.  It's complicated.

61. That, to Pedro: ESA. Spanish

62. Pkg. measures: WTS.  Weights.

OK, folks, we've reached the end of the line.  Hope you enjoyed the journey.  You know how I love to link music vids.  We had a trainload of them today, and a lot of variety.  Adios, for now.  Stay safe, wear a mask, and wash your hands.  Winter is coming.

Cool regards,

JzB

Notes from C.C.:

 

Look at these wonderful Halloween pictures of Lemonade's grandkids. The first is Owen (the youngest). Second Harper. Third Charlotte. Click here for all the sweet pictures from them all these years.