Saturday, December 3, 2020, Taylor Johnson

 Saturday Themeless by Taylor Johnson 

Taylor had this to tell us when he and Christina Iverson had a Saturday Themeless here earlier this year: 

I’m a 32-year old crossword constructor living in Minneapolis, MN. By day I work for a food co-op, and by night, (and really all the time), I hang out with a couple of small humans that call me dad.

I first got into solving crossword puzzles around five years ago. I began constructing around the time my daughter was born, in the spring of 2021. I strive to make puzzles that everyone can enjoy solving, from the seasoned vets, t0new sovlers just starting out. I want my puzzles to be approachable, fresh, full of life and zest, a healthy dose of pop culture, and a focus on representation and inclusivity. I want my puzzles to be

for everyone, and reflect the world we live in. Most of all, I just want people to have fun, that’s cool, right?

I had a picture of Taylor and Christina together for their collaborative puzzle and asked Taylor if he wanted to submit a solo picture and he sent this "way cool" one you see above.

Because I choose to work these advance puzzles online I get the Congratulations box when I put in the final correct cell. I was amazed and pleasantly surprised when I got that message where AM_RETTI crossed FL_ORISLAVA and I had correctly put in an "O". Yay me!

 Across:

1. Qdoba choice: SOFT TACO - I prefer the crunch of the hard taco

9. Some polytheists: PAGANS  - The Greek and Roman polytheists provide a lot of crossword content

15. Leia's message to Obi-Wan, for one: HOLOGRAM.

16. Spanish cheer: ARRIBA.

17. Little cherubs: AMORETTI - Modern AMORETTI by Hans Market

18. Indulgent outing: SPA DAY.

19. Winds: SPOOLS - SPOOLS as a verb

20. Full of moxie: GUTSY.

22. Changes the pitch on a roof, say: TARS 😃 This took some time but finally hit me. Pitch is another name for tar so...

23. End: CLOSE and 29. End: CEASE.

25. Calif. home of the Harvey Milk terminal: SFO.

28. Sushi option: AHI - Eel and Roe? Not so much.

30. Breezing through: ACING - I knew which kids would ACE my tests and so I corrected their tests first to make sure my questions were fair and the key was correct.

32. Big stink: STENCH.

34. React to sad news: TEAR UP.

35. Comedian who voices Spider-Ham in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse": MULANEY - John

37. Like a naked mole rat: FURLESS.

38. Goes with the flow: ADAPTS.

39. Ones waiting for bottle openers?: GENIES - Not lamp openers?

40. Old Chevys: NOVAS.

41. Subtle glows: AURAE - One AURA, two AURAE

42. See 53-Down: TAC and 53. With 42-Across, Wash. hub: SEA - Where you can take off with Mt. Rainier in the background

45. "Cherry Wine" rapper: NAS 

46. Namesake of Ohio State's track-and-field stadium: OWENS - Neither Hitler nor FDR shook this great athlete's hand in 1936.

47. Deep cut: GASH.

48. 2019 AP Female Athlete of the Year: BILES - Simone BILES of course 

50. Loath: AVERSE.

52. Mythical realm watched over by Heimdall: ASGARD - Heimdall is described as all-seeing and all-hearing and is the sole protector of the Bifröst in Asgard. Okay...

55. Picked one: SELECTEE - Choosing up sides on the playground can be a traumatic event for some, especially if you are the last SELECTEE

57. "Brewski! Now!": BEER ME.

58. Snuggies, e.g.: SLANKETS - A portmanteau of SLeeve and blANKET

59. "Planet of the Apes" role for Andy Serkis: CAESAR - Talk about yer Saturday cluing for a common name!

60. Language of the Eddas: OLD NORSE - Edda is a crossword staple.

Down:

1. Drink that comes in California Dreamin' and Grapefruit Zazz flavors: SHASTA - They're both in here:

 
2. Oktoberfest blast: OOMPAH.

3. Netflix show based on a children's game: FLOOR IS LAVA - The kid's game and the Netflix game

4. Bilbao bulls: TOROS - The bullfighting arena in Bilbao, Spain 

5. Neutrogena product: T-GEL.

6. Cultural spheres: ART SCENES - The Omaha Art Show takes up several city blocks and has representation from about every ART SCENE you could imagine. 

7. Meowth of Pokémon, for one: CAT - The Spanish Mewoth Pokémon card

8. "Jeepers": O MI GOSH.

9. Product many stick with: PASTE - What, it's not edible?

10. Dadaist collection: ARPS - Hans ARP among some of his work of the Dada ART SCENE

11. Smartphone setting that may help reduce screen time: GRAY SCALE - Research has shown that switching your phone to GRAY SCALE as opposed to full color reduces your interest and therefore your screen time

12. Band follower?: AID.

13. Sixth Man of the Year Award org.: NBA - Back when I followed the NBA, I knew Kevin McHale won that award two years in a row

14. Utter: SAY.

21. Function: USE.

24. Like some gowns: LACY.

26. Drew Barrymore's third film: FIRE STARTER - 9-yr-old Drew had the 27. Weight: ONUS. to carry this film of a Steven King novel. It made a very small profit and got a 38% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

29. Pennies: CENTS - Don't we all have some squirreled away? 

30. American Eagle Outfitters subsidiary: AERIE - AERIE is short for American Eagle lingerie and is an intimate apparel and lifestyle retailer and sub-brand owned by American Eagle Outfitters. You're welcome.

31. Travel guide: GPS - How a GPS would get you from London to Highclare Castle that was used in Downton Abbey

33. Spots to order calamares with un cóctel: TAPAS BARS - Fried calamare (squid) with a un cóctel (a cocktail).

34. Filling option for stuffed avocados: TUNA SALAD.

35. "Hoo boy": MAN!

36. Wheat noodle: UDON - There's this wonderful lady in Minneapolis we all know who really knows her Asian noodles...

37. "Charlotte's Web" girl: FERN - We just had Drew Barrymore in Firestarter and here is 12-yr-old Dakota Fanning as the human protagonist FERN Arable in Charlotte's Web. This movie made big money and got a 78% from Rotten Tomatoes.

39. "Sure seems like it": GUESS SO.

41. Reverence: AWE,

43. Financial heading: ASSETS.

44. Robert Cormier's "I Am the __": CHEESE - The last line of a children's song is "The cheese stands alone." So by saying "I am the cheese", Adam is saying that he knows he is alone. Without parents, friends, or anyone who truly cares for him, he is by himself in the world, even in the world of his imagination.

46. More mature: OLDER.

47. Spokescritter with a British accent: GECKO - Adman David Hulin came up with the Geico gecko and sales for that company took off.

49. Cookbook writer Rombauer: IRMA - IRMA is the author of The Joy Of Cooking

51. Logician known for overlapping diagrams: VENN.

52. Block letters?: ABC - Didn't we all have these in some iteration?

54. "Golly!": GEE.

56. Leader of Louisiana?: ELL - Ah, another meta clue. ELL is the first letter of Louisiana 

Friday, December 2, 2022, Jeff Stillman

Theme: Added "n"ergy!

Puzzling thoughts: Friday puzzles are now officially categorized as "wordplay". It seems that the last several puzzles that I (and MM) have recapped are all based around play-on-words/puns. Not sure if this is by design, but it sure seems like more than a coincidence. And I have no complaints! I much prefer recapping these, as puns are in my "wheelhouse". Let's see how Jeff Stillman created today's entries:

17-Across. Preference for the center of the road?: MEDIAN BIAS. Playing off of the more common and popular phrase, "MEDIA BIAS". MEDIAN is the center part of a divided highway. This clip shows "The Bandit" and his "MEDIAN BIAS" (check the scenes from 1:42 to 1:48 of this trailer)

29-Across. Where a Met singer reclines between arias?: OPERA DIVAN. "DIVA" has become a crossword "staple" (along with ARIA), so the phrase "OPERA DIVA" makes sense. To my ear, DIVAN and DAVENPORT (a less often used term for "sofa") sound alike. But according to [wiki diff], a DIVAN is: "A couch- or sofa-like piece of furniture made of a mattress lying against the wall and either on the floor or an elevated structure." It doesn't have to have a back support. Either way, a clever play-on-words

46-Across. Cereal that has amazing health benefits?: WONDER BRAN. Drop the "N" from this entry (great clue, BTW) and you're left with ... well, you can figure it out! But since I am not going to post a picture of that piece of lingerie, I'll add a Moe-ku instead:

Not wanting implants,
The lass stuffed some Wonder Bread
In her WONDER BRA

61-Across. Hotel choice leading up to Eid al-Fitr?: RAMADAN INN. First off, the clue/entry is pretty darn clever. However, not all would know that Eid al-Fitr (according to [Wikipedia]) is: "the earlier of the two official holidays celebrated within Islam. The religious holiday is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. RAMADA INN hotels have been owned by Wyndham since 2006.

Fun fact: The first RAMADA INN was built on the old Route 66 in Flagstaff, AZ, back in the early 1950's

And the entry that didn't make the cut (too many letters to fit): "What does Sally (from Peanuts) call her pet primate?" Answer: MY SWEET BABBOON [sic]

Here is the grid, and then off to the rest of the words/clues ...

Across:
1. "Likewise": SO AM I. DITTO fit, too

6. Oft-misused pronoun: WHOM. This seems to be a good explanation

10. Scholastic nos.: GPAS. Grade Point AverageS

14. Labor alliance: UNION. Hoping that the collective UNIONs that are involved with the Railroad industry come to an agreement by the time this blog posts [spoiler alert: I am writing this on Tuesday Nov 29th]

15. Icicle spot: EAVE. Moe-ku 2:

Where icicles form
December the 24th?
On Christmas Eve EAVE

16. "If all __ fails ... ": ELSE. Drop back 10 yards and punt

19. Significant other: MATE. MARGARET didn't fit into this spot, but she's MY MATE

20. Neruda's "__ to Salt": ODE. [as copied from some random Google result I saw on the Web]

"This salt in the saltcellar I once saw in the salt mines.
I know you won't believe me, but it sings,
Salt sings, the skin of the salt mines sings with a mouth smothered by the earth.
I shivered in those solitudes when I heard the voice of the salt in the desert"

21. Sport: WEAR. "Sport" is also a nickname for a guy

22. Slopes topper: SKI CAP. Also worn by football players ...

24. APB subject: PERP. We here at the Crossword Corner prefer THIS clue: "Word that avoids having a Natick?"

25. Biblical possessive: THINE. Fun Fact about quotes (from the Bible or not?) [from adefiniteplan dot com] Does the Bible say "to thine own self be true"?

"I commonly hear “Be true to yourself.” It's most commonly misquoted as coming out of the Bible as “To THINE own self be true.” It's NOT in the Bible. It comes from William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Sometimes we get confused about Shakespeare's quotes because he used over 2,000 Bible verses in his writings"

26. "Pumice-powered" soap: LAVA. A manly soap ...

33. Valuable violin: AMATI. You want one? Visit this website

35. Hang out in a hammock: LOLL. LAZE fits, too

36. "Odds __ ... ": ARE. Odds ARE "even money" that Moe will give you a song video! From the group that had the theme song for "The Big Bang Theory", Barenaked Ladies ... enjoy!

37. __ cit.: footnote notation: LOC. [from proofed dot com] "How do you write loc cit?"

“Loc. cit.” is an abbreviation of loco citato, which means “in the place cited.” It is used when citing the exact same part of a source as in a previous citation:"

38. Response producers: STIMULI. "Groans" are the STIMULI that follow many of my Moe-kus and R-O-S's daffynitions

41. Paris article: LES. "THE" could fit, if the clue meant Paris, KY

42. 2010 health law, for short: ACA. Affordable Care Act. Thumper

43. Pests treated with Nix Ultra shampoo: LICE. I wonder if LAVA soap works???

44. Needle: TAUNT. TEASE fits, among other 5-letter words here. How about these? ANNOY, BULLY, CHAFF, FLIRT, GOADS, HAUNT, JESTS, JIVES, PUT ON, SCOFF, ARROW, STING, and I'm sure many more. One-word Friday clues should always have some vagueness

50. Wasabi __: PEAS. Spicy little devils ... FYI, I watched this until the bloody end ... I suggest you fast forward through most of it, but listen to the last couple minutes. This is just an example of what we bloggers do to keep you solvers amused!! ;^)

51. Carved symbol: TOTEM.

52. Wall calendar span: YEAR. WEEK fit, too

54. First woman Speaker of the House: PELOSI. Soon to be replaced by Kevin McCarthy - not a woman, but also a representative from CA

56. Hit or miss: VERB. Nice clue to provide a little Friday "diversion". The phrase "hit or miss" is more common to our brain than to break the words down to being either a noun, a verb, et al

57. Hon: BAE. I'm adjusting to the new words/expressions that are finding their way into crossword puzzles; slowly, but surely

60. Run __: AMOK.

64. Moreno of "West Side Story": RITA. She appeared in both movies; the 1961 and 2021 versions. The imbedded video is an interview of RITA as well as some clips from each movie

65. Jazz singer Anita: O'DAY. Here she is singing "That Old Feeling"

66. Govt. investment: T-BOND. Moe-ku 3

Roger Moore said this,
When asked about investing:
"T-BOND; not James Bond"

67. Crafty website: ETSY. I actually bought a couple of things from this website - back when the pandemic first hit I found some sports-themed facemasks from various craftspersons

68. Plane part: NOSE. WING also fit

69. Alleviates: EASES.

Down:
1. Sport with referees called gyoji: SUMO. Haiku, of course:

Japanese wrestler
Has legal issue, with Stooge.
He wants to SUMO

2. Linear: ONE D. "ONED" looked funny; ONE "D", not so much. Short for one dimensional (linear)

3. Assistant: AIDE.

4. "Pretentious? __?": MOI. Who else but Miss Piggy??

5. Flabbergasted: IN AWE.

6. Google Docs, e.g.: WEB APP. APP is another of those words - like "BAE" - that is becoming a crossword staple

7. Bun contents: HAIR. I suppose BRAT could fit if it were referring to a type of bread/roll

8. Egg cells: OVA.

9. Private eatery: MESS HALL. Ha ha; "private" as in a soldier's rank

10. NASA's second human spaceflight program: GEMINI. Could've been clued as: "One who is born between May 21 and June 20"

11. Mathematical concept based on a digit's position: PLACE VALUE. I found this interesting novelty on-line; it's a PLACE VALUE placemat! ;^)

12. Hammett dog: ASTA. Nick and Nora's pet

13. Permeate: SEEP. When the water table's high, perhaps?

18. Adopted son of Claudius: NERO. Who knew? Not I. Always a learning experience doing crossword puzzles

23. Judy Blume books, e.g.: KID LIT. Margaret helped me with this as I was solving the puzzle, otherwise I would have had to look it up. Here is a link to her website. I'll ask my daughter if she had any of Blume's books as a kid, or if she has bought some for my less than 3 year-old grandson

24. Butter square: PAT. This made me think of when butter PATs were actually used in restaurants. Probably back when they last used sugar cubes ...

25. Slangy slacks: TROU. An even slangier term is for boxers/briefs: "U-TROU"

26. Dey-time drama?: L.A. LAW. Another "groaner" clue, as you need to see that DEY is used, not DAY. Susan Dey is the actor who starred in L.A. LAW

27. BP subsidiary: AMOCO. Hard sometimes to keep track of all the mergers within the oil and gas industry

28. Developers' purchases: VACANT LOTS. Here in our part of AZ there have been a huge number of developers buying VACANT LOTS (aka, "the desert") to create new housing; mostly rentals

30. Cartoon hunter who tries to take a vacation in "Wabbit Twouble": ELMER. I knew this was "ELMER FUDD" as the word "Wabbit" gave it away. So, Moe, how about a video?? OK, since you asked! Wabbit Twouble

31. Boxing venue: ARENA.

32. Egg holders: NESTS.

34. Archipelago units: ISLETS.

39. Flat-changing tool, once: TIRE IRON. Once upon a time, for most readers here. Ever since tubeless tires have become the norm, and ever since hubcaps disappeared, a TIRE IRON is not normally used to fix a flat. But I am guessing that the wrench end of one could still remove the lug nuts ...

40. Disarmament subj.: ICBM. Crossword staple abbr

45. Spring mo.: APR. Crossword staple abbr - MAR or JUN could have fit, too

47. Just get by: DO OKAY. Anyone else try "EKE OUT" in this spot?

48. "Understood, cap'n": AYE AYE. Yes, yes

49. Young Sheldon, e.g.: NERD. One of Margaret's and my favorite sitcoms

53. Lessen: ABATE. I suppose - in a stretch - ERODE could work here, too

54. Peel: PARE. Does anyone PARE a pear?

55. Discharge: EMIT.

56. MTV statuettes with an astronaut holding a flag: VMAS. Total PERP to get this one. I don't watch MTV so the acronym was not familiar; nonetheless, getting VMAS (short for Video Music AwardS) was pretty easy

57. Many Wiki entries: BIOS. Wiki, as in [Wikipedia dot com]. They are back on their "request for $ kick", so today's blog has been void of any links to them

58. Queen played by Olivia Colman in "The Favourite": ANNE. Read all about it, and play a trailer if you're so inclined

59. Concludes: ENDS. My blog is almost over!!

62. Big fuss: ADO. Much ADO about nothing

63. Slam Dunk Contest org.: NBA. National Basketball Association. Some of the all-time greatest dunks, IMO; number "4" was sick ...

Please enter your comments/questions/thoughts below. See you in a couple weeks ...

Thursday, December 1, 2022, Shannon Rapp

 

 

High Fives

Click on Diagram to Enlarge

Shannon Rapp, disguised as Nora Sharpe (a riff on Michael Sharp of Rex Parker fame?), is no stranger to the LA Times.  Here's a bit about her, shamelessly plagiarized from Anon -T's review of her August 31, 2022 puzzle (and his debut to boot).

Today Shannon hints at ways that members of underground societies signal their identities to others in their groups in plain sight.   E.g. Freemasons are well-known for their elaborate systems of handshakes to indicate their level in the Masonic hierarchy;  the 1st-4th century mystery religion of Mithraism, a rival to Christianity, called new initiates  syndexioi, those "united by the handshake";   when an early  Christian met a stranger on the road he'd reveal his identity by idly drawing a curved line arcing downward in the dirt with  a stick.  If the stranger responded by drawing the other half of a fish they would know that they'd met a fellow believer. 

Shannon's four Zen-like themers show us the result of  "one hand shaking" embedded in each clue ...

17A. *Bounce around the Caribbean, say: ISLAND HOP.  How about bouncing around the Pacific instead?  ISLAND HOPPING was the Allies' code name for their successful strategy in the Pacific in WWII: 

25A. *1983 film that won an Oscar for Best Original Song: FLASH DANCE.  Flashdance is a 1983 American romantic drama dance film starring Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer who aspires to become a professional ballerina  (Alex), alongside Michael Nouri playing her boyfriend and the owner of the steel mill where she works by day in Pittsburgh.  The film itself was a flash in the pan, but the song was a winner.  It was composed by Giorgio Moroder, with lyrics by Irene Cara and Keith Forsey, was released as a single, and spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.  Here it is sung by Cara ...

Sadly, as I was finishing up this review on November 26th and posting comments to the Saturday puzzle, Ray - O shared the news with us that Irene Cara had passed away the previous day.

Irene Cara
March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022

47A. *School of Hindu philosophy:JAIN DHARMA.  Jainism, also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four Tirthankaras (supreme preachers of Dharma), with the first in the current time cycle being Rishabhadeva, whom the tradition holds to have lived millions of years ago (Vidwan we miss you; you would make all of this clear!).  Jain monks, after positioning themselves in the sublime state of soul consciousness, take five main vows: ahiṃsā (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (not stealing), brahmacharya (chastity), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness).

Shri Simandhar Swami

56A. *Was completely clueless: HAD NO IDEA.   When a crossword solver is completely clueless about the answers to two intersecting clues, we call that a NATICK,

And the reveal:

35A Greeting between members of an exclusive club, and what's hiding in the answer to the starred clues?: SECRET HANDSHAKE.

Here's the grid:

Let there be no secret about the rest of the clues ...

Across:

1. Period after Shrove Tuesday: LENT.  Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), observed in many Christian countries through participating in confession and absolution, the ritual burning of the previous year's Holy Week palms, finalizing one's Lenten sacrifice, as well as eating pancakes and other sweets. 

It's also known as Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday).  Next year it falls on February 21, 2023.  Good times will roll in New Orleans!

5. Lyricist Gershwin: IRA.  IRA wrote the words to Summertime from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and here ELLA and LOUIS sing it:

8. Inca __: Peruvian soft drink: KOLA.  Inca Kola (also known as "the Golden Kola" in international advertising) is a soft drink that was created in Peru in 1935 by British immigrant Joseph Robinson Lindley. The soda has a sweet, fruity flavor that somewhat resembles its main ingredient, lemon verbena.

Inca Kola

12. Mideast rulers: EMIRS.

14. Blues' org.: NHL.  The Saint Louis Blues.  Hand up if you're a Blues fan?

15. Passing words?: OBITS.  Clever clue.  Maybe not if they're about you.

17. [Theme clue].

19. Tropical ray: MANTA.  We visited the National Aquarium twice last week with 3 of our grandchildren.  It's an exciting place.  Here's a brief video taken by a visitor of some MANTA RAYS, SHARKS, HUMANS, and other denizens of the deep ...

20. Beg: PLEAD.  "Not guilty your honor".

21. "It's open!": COME IN.

22. Brought into a discussion: CCED.  "Carbon Copied".  Or invited to blog by our fearless leader!

25. [Theme clue].

27. Adjust after a wrong turn: REROUTE.

29. Courts: WOOS.  Or short for WOOSLE, my son's nickname for of one of my granddaughters.

30. "The Waste Land" poet: ELIOT. Thomas Stearns Eliot, an American poet born in St. Louis, MO (Hello inanehiker!).  Here are some of his poems.

T. S. Eliot

31. Place to make a round trip?: BAR.  "Drinks are on me!"

32. Lab animal: RAT.  Rattus norvegicus domestica.  Researchers seem to prefer the albino breeds, e.g. the "Wistar" breed developed at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia: 

Isn't he cute!

35. [Reveal clue].

40. Sked "Don't know yet": TBA.  "To be announced".  You'll see it here first, as soon as they do!

41. Pack it in: EAT.  This time last week, most people were "packing in the stuffing".

42. Petco Park player: PADRE.  Some off season news on the SAN DIEGO PADRES.  BTW the original PADRES were Franciscan missionaries that founded all the missions along the coast of California that start with SAN, starting with SAN DIEGO.

Petco Park

43. Apiece: EACH.

45. Animal that can run using its flippers: SEA LION.

47. [Theme clue].

51. Antique car design feature: FINS.  Nice ends!

52. Houston team: ASTROS.  It was a good year for the STROS and even more so for Justin Verlander. Hello Anon -T!

53. French bread?: EUROS.   It's getting a bit stale.

55. Sun block?: VISOR.  Unclear on the concept.  Must be the flat head ...
 

56. [Theme clue].

60. Pueblo dwelling material: ADOBE.  Pueblos aren't the only dwellings that use ADOBE:
 

Great Mosque of Djenné

61. Country rockers Little __ Town: BIG.  Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama.  Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Their musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all four members alternating as lead vocalists.  Here's their breakthrough single Boondocks released in 2006:

62. Willing parties?: HEIRS.  Prime suspects in many murder mysteries.

63. Just scrapes (by): EKES.

64. Smelter's supply: ORE.  Crosswords are loded with the stuff these days.

65. Show appreciation at a poetry slam: SNAP.   Is this poet really a poet (or is she a meta-poet?) if nobody's snapping?

I wonder if people snapped at T.S. Eliot?

Down:

1. Lanai wreath: LEI.

2. First responders, briefly: EMS. Emergency Medical Services.

3. Bupkis: NIL.  Today's Yiddish lesson:

Absolutely nothing

Noun. bupkis (uncountable) (US, slang) Absolutely nothing; nothing of value, significance, or substance.

4. Feature of a magician's stage: TRAPDOOR.  Here's Cosentino, an Australian magician, historian of magic, and collector of magic memorabilia with a brief demonstration of an antique TRAPDOOR:

5. Gulp down quickly: INHALE.

6. "Darkwing Duck" character Dr. __ Dendron: RHODA.  Last week it was Sports Heroes, this week it's Foul Heroes.   Darkwing Duck is an American animated superhero comedy television series produced by Disney Television Animation (formerly Walt Disney Television Animation) that first ran from 1991 to 1992, and was then re-run up  until about 2007.  Here's the opening sequence and the credits.  I couldn't find anything on Dr. Dendron.  She must be a plant.

7. French peak: ALP. 

8. __ dragon: KOMODO.  The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of 3 metres (10 ft), and weighing up to 70 kilograms (150 lb). Trigger warning: these guys are scary:

9. 2000s first family: OBAMAS.  It seems like decades ago.

10. Tablecloth fabric: LINEN.

11. Top story?: ATTIC.  This clue is starting to form cobwebs.

13. NBC sketch show: SNL. Timely fill!  I think this review could use a little more COW BELL ...

16. Well-reasoned: SANE.  In whose opinion!?

18. Skillful: DEFT.

21. A major, for one: CHORD.  Major CHORDS are TRIADS, i.e. three notes played simultaneously.  A Major  is a specific chord rooted in the key of A and consists of A, C#, and E.  There other types of triads beside Major chords.  This brief tutorial tells you about Major, Minor, Augmented, and Diminished triads.

22. Peak: CREST. E.g. 7D.  Could also be a verb.

23. Big star: CELEB.

24. Writer Jong: ERICA.  Novelist and noted sufferer from Aerophobia.  She is also a poet.

Erica Jong

26. "__ Lake": SWAN.  Swan Lake, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular ballets of all time.  Here's the Swan:

28. Colorado's Sleeping __ Mountain: UTE.  Ute Mountain, also known as Ute Peak or Sleeping Ute Mountain, is a peak within the Ute Mountains, a small mountain range in Montezuma County.  It is also the location of the Ute Mountain Tribal Park in the Mesa Verde/Mancos Canyon area.

Sleeping Ute Mountain

31. Sonar operator?: BAT.  Is there an ECHO in here?

32. Pie chart lines: RADII.

33. Ohio hometown of poet Rita Dove: AKRON.  Rita Dove was born in Akron, Ohio in 1952. A 1970 Presidential Scholar, she attended Miami University of Ohio, Universität Tübingen in Germany, and the University of Iowa, where she earned her creative writing MFA in 1977. In 1987, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her third collection of poetry, Thomas and Beulah, and from 1993 to 1995, she served as U.S. Poet Laureate at the Library of Congress.

Rita Dove

34. Cold temperatures: TEENS.

36. Support pros: TECHS. A CSO to Anon - T, TTP, Jinx, et. al.

37. "omg so funny!": HA HA.

38. Tub with jets: SPA.

39. 50-50, facetiously: HALFSIES.  "You cut it in half and I'll pick one".

43. Wrap: ENROBE.

44. Fangirls over, perhaps: ADORES.  or ADORBS?

45. Greasy fingerprint, maybe: SMUDGE.

46. Merit: EARN.

47. Programming language with a coffee cup logo: JAVA.   You don't code programs in JAVA, you brew them from objects called Java beans. 

JAVA was the language de jour about the time that Teri and I retired from IT.  Nowadays the trendy language is PYTHON.   But just wait few years and there will be a new trend. The cynic in me says that's because programmers aren't really interested in solving problems, they just like learning new programming languages.  The language Teri and I started with was COBOL.  It's still around, but it's not very cool. You won't even find it listed in the pie chart in the previous link, but a recent study estimated that there could be more than 775 billion to 850 billion extant lines of COBOL code currently running in production, and good money can be made writing and maintaining it.

48. Lines that break the fourth wall: ASIDE.  Shakespeare was famous for them.  But so were these guys ...

49. "No harm, no foul!": ITS OK.

50. Show again: RE AIR.

54. "I'm excited!": OOH.

56. "The White Lotus" network: HBO.   A recent series developed by and for Schadenfreudians.  What will they resort to next?  But as my Mother used to say, "Misery loves company".  No trailer here, as Miss Farrar wouldn't approve (I know I've linked that before, but just think of it as occasionally necessary bloggerese).

57. Annoying racket: DIN.

58. Notable stretch of time: ERA.

59. Nile cobra: ASP.  And speaking of bloggerese,  ASP is crosswordese that slithered into today's puzzle along with such favorites as DIN, ERA, SPA, ALP, LEI, and ORE.  You can find  a whole puzzle filled with this stuff at David Alfred Bywater's site in his meta masterpiece Alphabetical Cavalcade of Crosswordese. 

Cheers,
Bill

As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Shannon Rapp, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below.  We'd love to hear from you.

Wednesday, November 30, 2022, Hoang-Kim Vu & Christine Simpson

Theme: Playing Innocent

 20. Shoplifting?: TAKING A STAND.

29. Insider trading?: BODY SWAPPING.

50. Money laundering?: GREEN WASHING.

60. "I did nothing wrong!," or an apt title for this puzzle?: IT'S NOT A CRIME.

Melissa here. Fresh and amusing theme today from Hoang-Kim and Christine - the clues are crimes (shoplifting), but the answers aren't (taking a stand). The unifier is perfect. Accordiing to this, Hoang-Kim has debuted 18 answer words in his NYT puzzles. He collaborates with his wife Jessica Zetzman (most recently 9/1/22), but here today with Christine Simpson - which appears to be her debut. Congratulations! Hoang-Kim's LA Times debut was May 2, 2019.

Across:

1. French "Thank you": MERCI. Nice, easy start.

6. Political alliance: BLOC. I first read this as Political allegiance.

10. Strongbox: SAFE.

14. Starters: A TEAM. Nice clue, I was thinking food.

15. New York school named after a Scottish isle: IONA. Iona University is a private Roman Catholic university in New Rochelle, New York. It was founded in 1940.

16. "Grand slam" awards acronym: EGOT. We see this regularly. The four awards are: Emmy (television), Grammy (music), Oscar (film), and Tony (theater). 17 people who have won an EGOT.

17. African herbivore: RHINO. It would be fun to see the full name rhinoceros, instead of shortened RHINO - although I'd never be able to spell it. Sad fact: Out of 100 that are known, there are currently only five species of living rhinos - three being critically endangered. Both species of African rhinos, black and white rhinos, are actually the same color - grey. Rhinoceros Fact Sheet.

18. "Double Indemnity" genre: NOIR. Stylish genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity.

19. Filmmaker Ephron: NORA. So many good films. She died in 2012.

23. Huffy mood: SNIT. I like the term "spiff," a combo of tiff and spat.

24. Pacific Northwest st.: ORE. PNW State = Oregon. The others are Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska.

25. "Lady Bird" Oscar nominee Metcalf: LAURIE. Looks good - Metcalf is brilliant in everything she does.

32. Male with horns: STEER. Second horned beast today.

35. Road goo: TAR.

36. Cushioned seat: SOFA.

37. La madre de su prima: TIA. Spanish for "his cousin's mother," making it his aunt.

38. Family docs: GPS. General Practitioners.

41. Food with altered DNA: GMO. Genetically Modified Organism.

43. Martin's "The West Wing" role: JED.

44. Lobby group for seniors: AARP. American Association of Retired Persons. Being retired isn't a requirement for membership.

46. Big primate: APE.

48. Erodes: WEARS.

54. Depress: SADDEN.

55. Group of whales: POD. A group of closely related matrilines (line of descent from a female ancestor) made up of mothers, daughters, sisters, cousins and their children. Pods usually consist of 5 - 30 whales, although some pods may combine to form a group of 100 or more.

56. Greeting Down Under: G'DAY. Australian phrase. King Charles III was officially proclaimed head of state of both Australia and New Zealand following Queen Elizabeth II's death at 96 in September of this year. Fun fact below.

63. Essential nutrient for the immune system: ZINC.

66. Pulled strings?: HARP. Sneaky - noun not verb.

67. Bushy-tailed canines: FOXES.

68. Field: AREA.

69. Aware of: ONTO.

70. Singer Patsy: CLINE.

71. Dollop: GLOB. I think I'd rather have a dollop than a glob.

72. Blast from the __: PAST.

73. Snow vehicles: SLEDS.

Down:

1. Gas station shops: MARTS.

2. "__ Frome": Edith Wharton novel: ETHAN.

3. Hands-on healing practice: REIKI.

4. "Do my eyes deceive me?": CAN IT BE.

5. "My time to shine!": I'M ON. Fun fact: Consummate actor Jack Lemmon had a habit of saying to himself before every take: “It’s magic time.”

6. Using only ones and zeros: BINARY.

7. Least strict: LOOSEST.

8. "Put a lid __!": ON IT.

9. Deterrent in a parking garage: CAR ALARM. Also Mike Ehrmantraut - one of the funniest running gags of all time in Better Call Saul.

10. Parodies: SENDUPS. Favorite parody, anyone?

11. Before now: AGO.

12. Pro: FOR.

13. "Wheels down" stat, for short: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.

21. Jupiter or Mars: GOD.

22. Suede property: NAP. The texture of the suede and nubuck's surface that can be felt and is created by the raised fibers of the hair.

26. Spanish wine region: RIOJA.

27. Deduce: INFER. Commonly misused to mean imply.

28. "Zounds!": EGADS.

30. __ chart: corporate diagram: ORG. "Corp. diagram," would indicate the shortened "org."

31. Move one's tail: WAG. Wag more. Bark less.

32. Males with antlers: STAGS. Yet more horned beasts!

33. Jeweled accessory: TIARA.

34. Like cornstalks?: EARED. Okay.

39. Spot for fast cash: PAWN SHOP.

40. Mud wrap venue: SPA.

42. Possess: OWN.

45. Human-powered taxi: PEDICAB.

47. Competitive video gaming: E-SPORTS.

49. Appetizer served with duck sauce: EGGROLL.

51. Brooklyn NBA player: NET.

52. Family-style Asian dish: HOT POT. Chinese Hot Pot is an interactive meal in which diners sit around a simmering pot of soup at the center of the table with various raw ingredients — meat, seafood, vegetables, tofu, and starches — in thin slices or small pieces for quick cooking.

53. Journalist Tarbell: IDA. In her most famous work, The History of the Standard Oil Company (which oil historian Daniel Yergin called the “most important business book ever written”), Miss Tarbell revealed, after years of painstaking research, the illegal means used by John D. Rockefeller to monopolize the early oil industry.

57. Carter of "Designing Women": DIXIE.

58. Modify: AMEND.

59. Agreements: YESES.

61. Mama's mama: NANA. That's what we called my dad's mom. She even had a restaurant called "Nana's Kitchen," and made the best Thanksgiving green bean casserole.

62. Ozone-destroying chemicals: Abbr.: CFCS. Chlorofluorocarbons. Today, the use of CFCs is outlawed by 197 countries around the world and scientists concur that the ozone layer is slowly recovering as a result.

63. Zig counterpart: ZAG.

64. Not online, online: IRL. In Real Life.

65. Prefix for classical and gothic: NEO.