Saturday, July 22, 2023, Ed Sessa

 Saturday Themeless by Dr. Ed Sessa

It has been over two years since I have had the privilege blogging one of Dr. Sessa's Saturday themeless puzzles. He is a master constructor and even the obscure fill of today had plenty of help to complete. Here we see him with his late puppy Tug. 

As you know, Dr. Ed was displaced from his idyllic Sanibel Island by Hurricane Ian and after searching for new quarters wound up on the Florida mainland just across from his old digs on Sanibel. 

Across:

1. Bee team: SWARM 😀

6. One who handles liner notes?: 😀 PURSER  - One of many jobs a PURSER handles on a cruise liner.

            

12. Gorillagram get-up: APE SUIT.

14. Individually: APIECE.

15. [yawn]: BLAH BLAH - Read the room!

17. Northernmost capital on the Mississippi: ST. PAUL - Just across the river from C.C.

 
18. Need for some kiddie pools: AIR.

19. Bit of Springfield graffiti: EL BARTO.

21. Actress Wray: FAY - She'll always be remembered for this role

22. Orhan Pamuk novel featuring a blizzard in Turkey: SNOW - All you'd ever want to know

24. Choir section: ALTOS.

25. Carpentry joint: DADO.

26. Lab burners of old: ETNAS - I wasn't teaching when they were called this: in my lab we called them Bunsen burners

28. When day is done, to Donne: EEN - Poetic contraction for evening

29. "The Newsroom" creator Sorkin: AARON - AARON is on the front right

30. Wielder of a Neutrona Wand: GHOSTBUSTER - A model of Peter Venkman with one. "Who ya gonna call?"

33. Number cruncher: BEAN COUNTER.    

34. Fine and dandy: RIGHT AS RAIN - A very appropriate sentiment for summer in Nebraska

35. Some consoles: SEGAS.

36. Tent stake: PEG.

37. Lives like a queen?: RULES - We have one at our house.

41. Footlocker clasp: HASP.

42. Get ready, in a way: TEE UP - Fore!

44. Slow roller from first to third?: TARP - Yes, it rolls out slowly and covers first base to third base, but don't be too slow and get caught under it.

45. High point of a Ricola commercial: ALP.

46. Places with some good deals: CASINOS - 😀 After years of resistance, Nebraska has finally legalized CASINOS.  Temporary ones have already generated millions in tax revenues while big new facilities are being constructed like this one in Lincoln.

48. Orange County airport, on luggage tags: SNA - SNA is the airport code for this airport in Santa Ana, CA.

49. Plug: STOP UP 

51. QB stat: TD PASSES.

53. Blow one's horn: TOOTLE - This sounds like something Jeffrey Wechsler might author.

54. "Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical," for one: YOGIISM - Ya gotta love #8, YOGI Berra!

55. Name of the pig on "Green Acres": ARNOLD - ARNOLD Ziffel to be exact

56. Parking ticket issuer: VALET - 😀 You get a ticket so your VALET can retrieve your car

Down:

1. Support after a break, perhaps: SPLINT 😀

2. Start to aggravate: WEAR ON.

3. Volcanic fallout: ASH - From the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens

4. Unsophisticated sort: RUBE - Lil Abner leapt to my mind

5. Jovovich of the "Resident Evil" films: MILLA - Hollywood has a penchant for scantily attired, young women toting weapons

6. Personal histories: PASTS.

7. Until: UP TO.

8. Letters set in stone: RIP - Rest In Peace

9. Plymouth voyager?: SEAFARER - Puritan was one letter short. Those who did make the 66-day trip in 1620 were indeed SEAFARERS.

10. Country named for its location: ECUADOR - ECUADOR is Spanish for equator. ECUADOR is one of the few places on Earth where the 0^o line of latitude goes through Ciuad Mitad del Mundo, which is a few miles north of Quito.  Some say it is off by 250 yds but on March 21 and September 21 they have no shadow there.

11. Need: RELY ON.

12. Put down: ABASE.

13. Artistic settings?: TABLESCAPES - Probably too fancy for a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.

16. "Such a shame": HATE TO SEE IT - An instate boy was a huge disappointment!

20. Fictional news anchor who ended broadcasts with "You stay classy, San Diego!": RON BURGUNDY.

23. Equal Pay Day issue: WAGE GAP - I've never taught at a school where there was a WAGE GAP between men and women teachers. Nor was there one between great and mediocre ones. 

25. Bread sold in cans: DATE NUT.

27. Pahlavi dynasts: SHAHS - The SHAH had his shortcomings but after he left...

29. Up: ASTIR.

31. Maple Leafs prov.: ONT - The Maple Leafs play in the Scotiabank Arena, 40 Bay St., Toronto, ONT M5J 2X2, Canada

32. "__ cerveza, por favor": UNA - One beer please in Español 

33. Hip hugger?: BIG SPOON - 😀

34. One who moves a lot?: REALTOR - REALTORS in our neighborhood are trying to move building lots for $75,000 apiece

35. Peak in the Cascade Range: SHASTA - C.C. and I did a puzzle 9 years ago that had the names of peaks in The Cascade Range differently clued.

38. Dog star: LASSIE.  Not Sirius

39. "A Lesson Before Dying" writer __ J. Gaines: ERNEST.

40. Unavoidable jerk: SPASM - We have an unavoidable jerk in our golf league. 

42. Cordoned (off): TAPED.

43. American vodka brand with a Russian name: POPOV.

46. Gather selectively: CULL - My MIL had to periodically CULL the non-laying hens out of her flock 

47. Extensive account: SAGA.

50. Sick days, personal days, etc.: Abbr.: PTO - Paid Time Off

52. Part of RSVP: SIL - Voulez-vous S'IL vous plaît commenter l'énigme du Docteur Sessa? (Will you please comment on Doctor Sessa's puzzle?)

 

Friday, July 21, 2023, Jess Schulman, Shannon Rapp

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with today's recap of a puzzle by Jess Shulman and Shannon Rapp.

Let us begin with the reveal:

57 Across:  Business retreat, and an apt title for this puzzle?: COMPANY OUTING.

OUTING is used here as a stand-in for take out.  No, not like in take-out food but as in to remove something. The removal is employed at three places within the grid where our puzzle setters delete the abbreviation for COMPANY (CO) from recognizable names and phrases.  

20 Across:  Melt down in response to some trash talk?: PANIC AT THE DIS.  Before the "outing" PANIC AT THE DISCO.  DIS as in to criticize.  Panic at the Disco was an American pop rock band.

36 Across:  Talent for sliding into someone's DMs?: PING SKILLS.  DM is contemporary talk  for Direct Messaging.  Before the "outing" COPING SKILLS.  PING is a network utility used to test reachability of a host.  Alternatively, PING me."

43 Across:  Little cat with a beachy vibe?: CALI KITTEN.  CALI as in California.  I wish they all could be California cats, I suppose.  Before the "outing" CALICO KITTEN.

Here is how this looks in the completed grid.  It proved impossible to highlight the letters that were not there:

The remaining clues and answers are:

Across:

1. History: PAST.

5. Dreamcast maker: SEGA.  A home video game console.

9. Blessing preceder: ACHOO.  Gezuntheit.

14. "__, Brute?": ET TU.  A Shakespearean reference.

15. God attended by Valkyries: ODIN.

16. Intact: WHOLE.

17. Instagram video: REEL.  A contemporary usage of the word REEL.

18. Compact __: DISC.  They replaced LPs

19. Like some seals: EARED.  Most often fur seals and sea lions.

23. Refill: TOP UP.  As in a cocktail or fuel tank.  Do we TOP UP electric vehicles?

24. Costa del __: SOL.

25. AED pro: EMT.  Automated External Defibrillator was new to this solver but the perps quickly led to Emergency Medical Technician because EMTs appear here frequently.

28. Copy cats?: MEOW.  Not exactly copycats as in persons who imitate.   Literally, copy a cat.

30. Noisy bird: MAGPIE.  See also 33 Down.

33. Colorado's __ Verde National Park: MESA.  Cliff dwellings.

39. Haim of "Licorice Pizza": ALANA.  Unknown to this solver.  As the puzzles get more contemporary I find myself becoming less enthusiastic about some of them.  I also know that time marches on and a puzzle full of references to prior generations of entertainers won't do either.

41. Zodiac lion: LEO.

42. __-garde: AVANT.

46. Peepers: EYES.  If one goes looking online for the old song one is "rewarded" with many references to the horror movies.  The phrase predates both.  Louis Armstrong sang it to an eponymous horse.

Jeepers Creepers

47. Connect: ATTACH.   What can you ATTACH to a ball, a cart or a harp to make it something completely different.  OON.

48. "Star Wars" family name of Han and Ben: SOLO.

50. Bentley of "Yellowstone": WES.

51. Substance that lacks refinement?: ORE.  Nice word play.   No, not the French city.

54. Benchmarks: NORMS.  If Weird Al Yankovic wasn't weird he'd be called NORM Al.

62. Language of Iran: FARSI.   . . . and portions of Los Angeles.

64. Exam with a max score of 180: LSAT.  The law school aptitude test.

65. Sunburn salve: ALOE.  Often applied in crossword puzzles.

66. __ beverage: ADULT.  Alcohol.

67. Entice: LURE.

68. Mario __: game with a Rainbow Road: KART.

69. Captcha target: ROBOT.    A contrived acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart".  It is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether the user is human.

70. Itches: YENS.  As in desires not allergic reactios.

71. Docs who insert tympanostomy tubes: ENTS.  Our second medical reference with an abbreviated clue (Docs) and answer.  Ear Nose and Throat specialistS

Down:

1. BOLO target: PERP.  Be On The Alert.  PERPetrator not a crossing word in a puzzle.

2. Patronized, as a restaurant: ATE AT.

3. Shorthand pro: STENO.  A somewhat obsolete profession.

4. Dutch market craze of the late 1630s: TULIP MANIA.  Perhaps not what we have been led to believe,

Smithsonian Magazine - September 2017

5. Soft drink: SODA POP.

What Is It Called Across the USA

6. Address plot holes, perhaps: EDIT.

7. General ideas: GISTS.  What do biologists, archaeologists and meteorologists all have in common?  They all get the GIST of their fields.

8. Dried poblano: ANCHO.

9. Amazed: AWED.  A truck loaded with thousands of copies of Roget's Thesaurus crashed yesterday losing its entire load.  Witnesses were stunned, startled, aghast, taken aback, stupefied, confused, shocked, rattled, paralyzed, dazed, bewildered, mixed up, surprised, awed, dumbfounded, nonplussed, flabbergasted, astounded, amazed, confounded, astonished, overwhelmed, horrified, numbed, speechless, and perplexed.

10. Milky spiced tea: CHAI.

11. Tomfoolery: HORSEPLAY.

12. La Liga cheer: OLE.  A soccer reference.

13. Ref. work that once employed J.R.R. Tolkien: OED.  Oxford English Dictionary.  Tolkien was an English author best known for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

21. Snooker stick: CUE.

22. Long-lived trees: ELMS.  Neither Sequoias nor Bristle Cone Pines would fit.

26. Eeyore creator: MILNE.  A Winnie The Pooh reference.

27. Challenges: TESTS.  Both can be used as nouns or verbs so that wasn't at issue.

29. Go limp: WILT.

31. Pseudonym indicator: AKA.  Also Known As

32. "Ish": GIVE OR TAKE.

33. Noisy bird: MACAW.  The second noisy bird today.

34. Thrill: ELATE.

35. Element of a margarita pedicure: SALT SCRUB.  Margarita pedicures are not within my ken.  SALT, however, was not surprising as part of the answer.

37. Aquarium scoop: NET.

38. "So It __ ... ": song on Taylor Swift's "Reputation": GOES.  Is Taylor Swift now channeling Kurt Vonnegut?

40. "For the love of all things dog" org.: AKC.

44. Eatery with a "Happy Face" combo on the kids menu: IHOP.

45. "Don't change a thing": NO NOTES.

49. "Mambo No. 5" singer Bega: LOU.

52. Comeback: RALLY.

53. Follow: ENSUE.

55. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" novelist Kundera: MILAN.  MILAN Kundera passed away on July 11, 2023.

56. Stifled laugh: SNORT.

58. Norse city name that can be translated as "meadow of the gods": OSLO.  Frequently visited in our puzzles.

59. Fly catcher?: MITT.  A baseball reference.

"I Got It"

60. Crocheter's supply: YARN.

61. Understands: GETS.  Can you dig it?

62. Way off: FAR.

63. Fuss: ADO.

Well, coworkers, that will wrap things up for today.  For those of you entertaining guests this weekend, enjoy your COMPANY.

__________________________________________

Thursday, July 20, 2023, Matthew Stock

 

 Love is a Many Splendored Thing

This will be Matthew Stock's 10th outing, both solo and co-constructed.  For a brief bio see Husker's review of his Saturday, June 25, 2022 themeless.  Today Matthew tackles one of life's greatest mysteries, cleverly hidden in the answers to these three theme clues ...

18A. Specialty concerned with player experience: GAME DESIGN.  From Adele's album 30 ...

29A. Leadership styles that encourage transparency: OPEN DOOR POLICIES.  From Frozen ...

48A. John Travolta film that won nine Razzies, including Worst Picture of the Decade: BATTLEFIELD EARTH.  Nine Razzies?  Worst Picture of the Decade?  (it won't take you long to find out why).   Here's a bit about Pat Benatar who sings this song ...

The songs above are (not the only) answers to the following question  (e.g. see line 1 of this review):

64A. 1993 dance hit, and a musical question answered by the starts of 18-, 29-, and 48-Across?: WHAT IS LOVE.  From the hit single by Nestor Alexander Haddaway ...

Wow, that was easy!  Don't you wish it was always that easy?

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Tie with a cord: BOLO.  Hand up if you started with BIND?  The History of Native American Bolo Ties.

5. Unctuous flattery: SMARM.  Masters of the art ...

10. Primary course of action: PLAN A.  Be sure it includes a plan for PLAN B.

15. "Only joking": I KID.

16. Animated garden snail who dreams of racing in the Indy 500: TURBO.

17. The MLB's Angels, to fans: HALOS.  They must be related to the NFL NOLA team.

18. [Theme clue]

20. Greek yogurt brand: OIKOS.  OIKOS is also the ancient Greek word for three related but distinct concepts: the family, the family's property, and the house.

21. Henna, for one: DYE.  Henna is a dye prepared from the plant Lawsonia inermis, also known as the henna tree, the mignonette tree, and the Egyptian privet.  My artist granddaughter uses it to draw temporary tattoos on her left arm.  For some reason she never draws one on her right arm ...

Not my granddaughter's arm

22. __ rug: AREA.

23. Par for the course: AVERAGE.  Some of you already knew the answer to this question, but I didn't: How is Golf Course Par Determined?

25. DIY publication: ZINE.  You could DIY with Blogger.  C.C. did!

27. MRI output: SCAN.  Only recently have MRI scans been taken of multiple people who are in close proximity to one another involved in social activities.  Scans demonstrating the synchronization of brain wave activity are described in "Hyperscans” Show How Brains Sync as People Interact and Cuddling brings two minds together, MRI study reveals.  Neither article describes how this synchronization occurs, but it would be logical to assume that it might be mediated by an as yet undetected form of communication.

MRI scan of cuddlers

28. Ignited: LIT.

29. [Theme clue]

34. Like slime-making kits: MESSY.  Slime, whether jiggly slime, water slime, or another variety, is always popular. I did not know this.  Here are 4 MESSY DIY slime kits.

35. Derisive laugh: HAH.

36. PC file suffix: EXE.  EXEcutable, i.e. a program or app.

37. Slalom marker: GATE.  Slalom is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline, involving skiing between poles or GATES.

Tonje Sekse of Norway
2011 Slalom event

38. "Color me exhausted": IM BEAT.  or a homophone of I'M BEET, i.e. RED.

40. Egg-shaped tomato: ROMA.  AKA plum tomatoes.  The tomato of choice for making tomato sauce and tomato paste ...

Roma Tomatoes

44. Smash (into): RAM.  Also a noun.  Used by SWAT teams in British mysteries to batter down doors.
 

Battering Ram

46. "Dude ... ": BRO.

47. Dispatches: SENDS.

48. [Theme clue]

53. "We're on __ way": OUR.

54. Single __ whisky: MALT.  Single MALT whisky is malt whisky from a single distillery.

55. Govern: RULE.  Not as easy as it sounds.

56. Free, as legal work: PRO BONO.  A CSO to Hahtoolah and Lemonade.  Also U2 FANS.  A lot of them turned up for this video.  The band may have needed some PRO BONO legal work when this was all over ...

58. "About me" bits: BIOS.

60. Rideshare alternative: CAB.  Or any or all of these (a CSO to Alan, Doug, and JzB) for giving me a lift with this one.

63. Ames resident: IOWAN.  Ames is a city in Story County, IOWA, United States, located approximately 30 miles (48 km) north of Des Moines in central Iowa.

64. [Theme reveal]

67. General tendency: TREND.  See also 23A.

68. Implant: EMBED. 

69. Niagara River source: ERIE.  Inquiring minds want to know -- Why doesn't Lake Erie get empty at the rate of which Niagara Falls gets drained into Lake Ontario?

70. Retail statistic: SALES.

71. Wanders: ROAMS. Here's baritone John Shirley-Quirk singing The Vagabond  from Ralph Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel ...

72. Chances: ODDS.

Down:
 
1. Mavs' city: BIG D.  The city where the Dallas Mavericks play.

2. So-so: OKAY.

3. Citrus shavings: LIME ZEST.

4. Lorca work: ODE.  Federico García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director.  He achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a group consisting mostly of poets who introduced the tenets of European movements (such as symbolism, futurism, and surrealism) into Spanish literature.  Garcia Lorca was assassinated by Spanish Nationalists on August 19, 1936.

García Lorca
in 1932

5. Vinyl lover's setup: STEREO.  One of my prized possessions is a vinyl recording of the album annotating clue 71A above, autographed by the singer John Shirley-Quirk.

6. Euterpe, to musicians: MUSE.  Euterpe was one of  9 goddesses, the MUSES who inspired artists.  Her sister Erato was the muse of LOVE poetry.

Euterpe         Erato

7. "Casta diva," e.g.: ARIA.  The Greeks would say that Euterpe inspired Bel Canto composer Vincenzo Bellini, to write the beautiful opera Norma about a druid priestess who was unlucky in love.  Here is the divine Renée Fleming in recital  (lyrics and translation) ...

8. Justice impersonated by Kate McKinnon on "SNL": RBG.  Ruth Bader Ginsberg.  SNL can be a bit political, so let's have Felicity Jones impersonate her instead ...

9. Grand Prix locale: MONACO.  MONACO is one of many locales where Formula 1 Grand Prix races are held in over 30 nations around the world.

Monaco Grand Prix track

10. Most populous U.S. state capital: PHOENIX.  A CSO to Lucina and the Chairman.

11. Den: LAIR.

12. Basic substance: ALKALI.  In chemistry, an ALKALI is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. The alkali metals are listed in column 1 (except for the gas Hydrogen) and the alkaline earth metals are listed in column 2 ...

13. Knuckle-headed antic?: NOOGIE.

14. Net worth component: ASSETS.  An ASSET is a resource with economic value that an individual, corporation, or country owns or controls with the expectation that it will provide a future benefit.

19. Fine and __: DANDY.

24. Driving force in fine dining?: VALET.

26. Promo with a credit card bill, e.g.: INSERT.

27. Round one?: SPHERE.

29. Texter's "Crikey!": OMG.

30. Samosa vegetable: PEA.  Here's a recipe.

Aloo Samosa

31. Unit of resistance: OHM.  A CSO to Jayce.  The OHM is one of his three favorite metrics.

32. Trix mascot: RABBIT.  See 33A.

33. Trix, e.g.: CEREAL.  In 2017 the maker of the iconic sugary breakfast cereal Trix reintroduced artificial colors and flavorings after customers complained about the all-natural option.

38. Clarifying words: I MEAN.

39. Early ISP: AOL.

41. Well-documented: ON RECORD.

42. Summer hrs. in the Navajo Nation: MDT.  The Navajo Nation is a Native American reservation of Navajos in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah.

Navajo Nation

43. Light gray shade: ASH.

45. Polvorones nuts: ALMONDS.  Misty's gonna love this puzzle.  Here's a recipe.

Polvorones

47. Dr. for kids?: SEUSS.  He's back!

48. Hasbro toys that issue commands: BOP ITS.  New to me.  BOP IT toys are a line of audio games. By following a series of commands issued through voice recordings produced by a speaker by the toy, which has multiple inputs including pressable buttons, pull handles, twisting cranks, spinnable wheels, flickable switches—the player progresses and the pace of the game increases. Apparently it can get a bit extreme. Comme ça ...

49. High lights?: AURORA.  A CSO to CanadianEh! ...

50. Garden tool: TROWEL.

51. Garden bloom: FLOWER.

52. Extras in "Star Wars" films: DROIDS.  Extras?  That's a bit cold.  Here Luke Skywalker meets the indispensable R2-D2 and C-3PO ... 

57. Curse: BANE.  Misdirection and meta-clues are the BANE of crossword puzzle solvers.

58. Papa, in Chinese: BABA.  What one of my grandsons used to call my son.  Now he just calls him DAD.

59. Article: ITEM.

61. Passionate: AVID.

62. Nectar collectors: BEES.

65. Med. network: HMO.

66. Hall of Fame MLB manager Durocher: LEO.  Leo Ernest Durocher (July 27, 1905 – October 7, 1991), nicknamed "Leo the Lip" and "Lippy", was an American professional baseball player, manager and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,008 career victories, second only to John McGraw in National League history.  A controversial and outspoken character, Durocher's half-century in baseball was dogged by clashes with authority, the baseball commissioner, the press, and umpires; his 95 career ejections as a manager trailed only McGraw when he retired, and still ranks fourth on the all-time list. He won three National League pennants and one world championship.

Leo Durocher
was posthumously elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994. 

Cheers,
Bill

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

waseeley 

Wednesday, July 19, 2023 ~ Brian Callahan & Katie Hale

Alliance Consolidation

Good Wednesday Cornerites.
[Note: Today's expo will be terse as I drafted yesterday's expo before going on vacation only to later learn that I had solved the wrong puzzle(?!?).  Below is the best I could do in short-order.]

Today's puzzle brings ALL sides together to form a unified PACT. What do I mean? Let's take a gander:

17. Garb Maria creates from curtains in "The Sound of Music": PLAY CLOTHES. Curtains implies a play and not a musical(?)

23. Administer in small portions: PARCEL OUT. Dole OUT was too short.

34. Practical advice for an overnight stay: PACK LIGHT. Any more than a backpack and it's too much stuff.

50. The NCAA's "Conference of Champions": PAC TWELVE. The PAC-12 is known as the "Conference of Champions," for having won more collegiate championships than any other conference.

56. Formally agreeing to terms, and what this puzzle's sets of circled letters are gradually doing: MAKING A PACT.

The word PACT came together as the four theme answers progressed.
P
PA
PAC
PACT

Clever. MAKING A PACT can be a step by step process. One step at a time.

Now that we've agreed on that, let's see if we can come together (like the theme's circles) on the rest of the fill.

Across:
1. Chicago MLBer: CUB.  Not a [White] Sox.
 

Cub's Logo

4. 9000 and 9-5 automaker: SAAB. A Man Called Ove loved his SAAB.

8. Flourish: BLOOM.

13. Singer DiFranco: ANI.
 

Folk-y

14. Spanish "she": ELLA.

15. Like Ralph Lauren clothing: PREPPY. Preppy as in "from Prep School." Like, totally '80's.
 

The Rich Kids' Duds

16. Apple co-founder, casually: WOZ. Steve Wozniak [Berkeley Profile].

17. [See: Theme]

19. Hold a cattle call: CAST. A broad-net casting call is a "cattle-call" (or Southwest Airlines' boarding)

21. Cattle calls: MOOs. Tee-hee.

22. Email status: SENT.

23. [See: Theme]

25. Oklahoma city: TULSA. Cute - lower-case "city" and not Enid, OK.

26. Printing goofs: ERRATA. Latin for a list of errors post-printing.

27. More like a cord: ROPIER. Um, OK.

28. Megastar: IDOL.

29. Fragments: PIECES.

33. Need for some noisy toys: AAs. Small "Batteries not included."

34. [See: Theme]

37. "Poldark" airer: PBS.

40. Salad option: CAESAR. It's only proper with discernible anchovy flavor. Anyone else ask for extra anchovies if you can't taste 'em?

41. Minnesota representative Ilhan: OMAR. Somalia-born Representative from Minnesota's 5th District. IIRC, she's now in her 3rd term.

45. Surgical knife: LANCET. Also the name of England's oldest medical journal.

47. Jalisco, por ejemplo: ESTADO. Jalisco is Mexico's 7th largest ESTADO (state).

49. Zones: AREAS.

50. [See: Theme]

53. Multifunction printer function: SCAN.
 

My Multifunction HP

54. Get along nicely: MESH.

55. See 62-Across: IDLE. //wait for it...

56. [See: Theme]

59. X-ray kin: MRI.  Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

61. Large concert venues: ARENAS.

62. With 55-Across, "Spamalot" co-creator: ERIC. Eric Idle is one of the founding Pythons and my (28a) IDOL. He is still quite active on Twitter as @EricIdle

63. Start of a kindergarten tune: ABC. Stephen Write asked why the alphabet is in that order?  He postulated that it's because of that song.

64. Sprinkle about: STREW.

65. Snack (on): NOSH. Nom nom nom.

66. Therapist's maj.: PSY. Psychology: the study of non-phonetic spelling's effect on the mind.

Down:
1. Crow's cry: CAW.

2. Draw Two or Skip: UNO CARD.

3. Stranger than strange: BIZARRO.
 

Bizarro Jerry

4. Deadly sins, e.g.: SEPTET. Sept = 7 -- of which the count of sins that mars the soul.

5. The "A" of GOAT: ALL. Greatest of ALL Time.

6. Avis rival: ALAMO. I barely remembered it ;-)

7. "The __ City": Houston nickname: BAYOU. Aka Clutch City, Space City USA, H-Town - anything to keep your mind off the fact you're in an over-developed swamp and it's 100F outside.

8. "My guy!": BRO.

9. Eases off: LETS UP.

10. Daughter of Polonius: OPHELIA. From The Bard's Hamlet.

11. Briny deep: OPEN SEA.

12. "Zounds!": MY STARS.

15. "If you don't mind," in a text: PLS. Please.

18. Air mattress alternative: COT. Air mattress was not an option in Basic Training.

20. Head massage target: SCALP.

23. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame architect: PEI.
 

Looks like a 45RPM spindle. Read more

24. Purrr-manent fixture when sitting: LAP CAT. Cute.

25. Reggae singer Peter: TOSH.

27. Rue: REGRET.

30. 1950s prez: IKE.

31. Couple of fellows?: ELS. There are two "L"s in feLLows.

32. Jack Ryan's org.: CIA. Ryan is a fictional character who works in the very-real Central Intelligence Agency.

35. Las Vegas WNBA team: ACES. Makes sense that a team name in Vegas deals with playing cards :-)

36. Hauled: TOTED.

37. Once-common flat-screens: PLASMAS.

38. Spot for drinks in a small apartment, say: BAR CART.

39. Athletic shoe: SNEAKER. What do you call 'em? Tennis shoes?, sneakers?, tennies?, or just shoes?

42. Aid in finding the food court, perhaps: MALL MAP.

43. Sometimes and often: ADVERBS. Part of speech. An adverb is a word that can modify or describe a verb, adjective, another adverb, or entire sentence.
 

Schoolhouse Rock

44. Sushi topper: ROE.

46. Incisor neighbor: CANINE. #Teeth

48. Animal Crossing console: SWITCH. Animal Crossing is a video game played on the Nintendo SWITCH platform.

50. Gravel size: PEA.

51. Colorado ski destination: ASPEN.

52. One-named actress/flamenco guitarist: CHARO.
 

What I found - link if you know better (please!)

54. Booker T.'s band: MGS. Booker T and the MG's
 

You know this tune

57. Casual denial: NAW.

58. Opposite of trans: CIS. -gender.

60. Like unsalted winter roads: ICY.

And without further ado, The Grid

The Grid

Cheers, -T