Saturday, January 27, 2024, Anne Marie Brethauer and Katie Hale

 Saturday Themeless by Annemarie Brethauer and Katie Hale.

A previous collaboration on a Saturday (7/1/23) themeless I blogged from Annemarie and Katie. I flew through the top of this puzzle with just a few missing cells and then the work began.

The two red cells show Naticks for me that appeared when simple fill, STEAM and SIRI, were replaced by obscure cluing. 

Across:

1. Start of communications with NATO: ALFA

5. Building blocks: ABCS.

9. Seacrest vehicle, familiarly: IDOL.

13. Baby hippo: CALF.

14. Studio Ghibli's animated fuzz ball: SOOT SPRITE - Okay...

17. Rhyming song that's acted out: I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT - We've all done this one!

19. Fanning of "Coraline": DAKOTA.

20. Uber CEO Khosrowshahi: DARA - I got the first "A" in DARA out of nowhere without reasonable cluing for STEAM.

21. Article in a French periodical: LES - Yeah, I thought of La Monde first.

22. In: AMID.

24. Some shortcuts: MACROS - A set of keystrokes you define and use to do a bigger task

26. "I'm late!": GOTTA RUN.

30. Overflow (with): TEEM.

31. "Ew, no": UGH.

32. Doner __: Turkish dish: KEBAB.

34. Gems formed by silica deposits: OPALS.

37. Get up: ARISE.

39. Valuable diamond, say: ACE 😀 Yes, I have heard of a diamond being called ICE, but...

40. "Ask anyone else": NOT IT - I struggled with this and asked a few peeps including Irish Miss but I came back to my original idea. This fun clip seems to reenforce the idea of how every game of "Tag" I've ever played started.

41. Change: CENTS - I never seem to have any coins with me any more

42. Fuming: IRATE - The Detroit Lions coach after the referees disallowed a play that would have won the game.

44. Shiba __: INU - New to me but a beautiful looking dog

45. Meet face-to-face?: KISS. 😗

47. Magnified: ENHANCED - Sorry ENLARGED, not today

49. Pro who worked with Magic: KAREEM.

         Magic Johnson   KAREEM Abdul Jabar

51. "Memories of the Future" author Hustvedt: SIRI crossing 33. Part of a full English breakfast: BEANS. Saturday cluing for common fill.

52. Cribbage piece: PEG - My dad and his brothers could never find the PEGS that went with their very old Cribbage board and so they used matchsticks.

53. Just so: NEAT - Major Frank Burns took great pride in using a string to line up the condiments on the mess hall tables.

55. Figure in a Clement Clarke Moore poem: ST NICK.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be ST. NICK

59. First play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway: A RAISIN IN THE SUN.

62. Many a Gillian Flynn work: CRIME NOVEL.

63. Gladys Knight, for one: ALTO - I can't pick a favorite but Midnight Train To Georgia is right up there.

64. Sardine cans: TINS.

65. Used cars?: RODE - Used is a verb here.

66. With 57-Down, rom-com trope: MEET and 57. See 66-Across: CUTE - Name the wonderful 90-yr-old rom-com with this CUTE MEET: Runaway heiress is forced to share a bus seat with an unemployed journalist. (*answer below)

Down:

1. Rock type: ACID.

2. Dharma teacher: LAMA - What is Dharma?

3. Barrage of criticism: FLAK - If you want a barrage of FLAK, run for public office

4. Solvent: AFLOAT.

5. "Easter Parade" star: ASTAIRE - Fred and sister Adele's birth home in South Omaha.

6. Spam maker: BOT - They can fill up your computer in a hurry

7. Dispassionate: COLD.

8. Video game distribution platform: STEAM - There is common and even clever cluing for STEAM but this was "off the rails" obscure for me when I needed it for SOOT SPRITE and DARA.

9. A Gershwin: IRA - 'S wonderful, 'S marvelous that IRA set wonderful lyrics to brother George's music. BTW, I can understand if you don't get the odd words in the previous sentence.😀

10. Strategically polite: DIPLOMATIC.

11. Chiwere speakers: OTOES.

12. "I'm down": LET'S.

15. Classic Fender, for short: STRAT - A Fender STRATocaster 

16. Message on some holiday cards: PEACE ON EARTH.

18. "That tracks": IT MAKES SENSE.

23. Home of the Museum of the Future: DUBAI.

 

25. Default action, informally: REPO

26. Quick dip?: GUAC.

27. Princess Fiona, after sunset: OGRE.

28. "Nope": THINK AGAIN.

29. Mother-of-pearl: NACRE.

35. Stick figure's torso: LINE 

36. First earring, maybe: STUD 😀

38. Mix: STIR.

43. Symbol of Scotland: THISTLE.

46. Receive: SEE IN - Remember movie ushers?

48. Starting hr. for some: NINE AM - School always started before EIGHT AM and I was always there before 7 AM.

49. Gymnast Strug: KERRI - KERRI supplied one of the guttiest performances I have ever seen in the 1994 Olympics!

50. Estate: MANOR.

52. Accord: PACT.

54. Late show broadcaster?: TIVO - Before we had our own recorders.

56. "__ of Dogs": Wes Anderson film: ISLE.

58. Bedhead problem: KNOT - Yikes!

60. Cyberchats: IMS - Internet Messages - I like how they give you time to consider an answer.

61. Composer Rorem: NED - NED Flanders from The Simpsons gets the day off

*The classic movie with the rom-com CUTE MEET on the bus that I mentioned above

 

Friday, January 26, 2024, Luke Schreiber

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with today's pacer.  Excuse me, recap.  Our puzzle setter, Luke Schreiber has executed a pretty straightforward theme.  Or is it  a straightbackward theme?  At four places, Luke presents us with single-word clues followed by a question mark.  To answer these clues we are required to reverse the letters of the clue, place that reversed rendition at the end of the allotted squares, conjure up something that explains the reversal and then place that explanation at the head of the answer.  The four themed answers are found at:

21 Across:  EMIT?: TURN BACK TIME.  Turn TIME backwards and you get EMIT

39 Across:  LOOP?: REFLECTING POOL.  POOL as seen in a mirror, or reflecting pool, will appear to be reversed.  It won't read LOOP but the letters will be in that order.

52 Across:  SPOT?: FLIP TOPS.  Flip TOPS around and you get SPOT.

63 Across:  RAW?: REVOLUTIONARY WAR.  This one is a bit less straightforward but Luke has made up for that by having the answer span the entire grid.

The grid is 16 squares wide, instead of the usual 15, and the symmetry is atypical and really quite elegant in and of itself.

Here is how all of this appears in the grid:

Here are the other clues and answers:

Across:

1. Moussaka ingredient: LAMB.  Eggplant was too long.

5. Harmonious church groups: CHOIRS.  Singing in harmony.

11. Parachute necessity: CORD.  Do not forget to pull the ripCORD.

15. Cookie with a Java Chip flavor: OREO.  My niece recently sent me a link to a puzzle source and, in one of those puzzles, there was a great clue for OREO:  Cookie whose clue is almost moot since you likely knew what the answer was after reading "cookie".

16. Solitary sort: HERMIT.  We could go with a song by Herman's Hermits but this fits the clue pretty well:

Johnny Cash

17. Mind: OBEY. Do you mind (care)?  No.  What's on your mind (brain)?  No.  "You will do as I say!"

18. Wolverine, for one: XMAN.

19. Esoteric information: ARCANA.  Specialized knowledge that is mysterious to the uninitiated.

20. A few: SOME.

24. Not quite aligned: OFFSET.

OFFSET Wrenches

26. Inventor who said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work": EDISON.  Thomas Alva EDISON.

29. Slugger Judge who was AP Athlete of the Year in 2022: AARON.  A baseball reference.

30. Ankle-length attire: MAXI.

34. Mouthwash brand: SCOPE.  Listerine was too long.  Act was too short.

35. Feudal estate: FIEF.

36. Selena or Selena Gomez: LATINA.  SINGER would have fit.

38. Katniss Everdeen portrayer, to fans: J LAW.  a "Hunger Games" reference.  The character is portrayed by Jennifer LAWrence.

42. Overhang: EAVE.  EAVEs hang around our puzzles quite regularly.

43. Midwestern Native: SAUK.  New to this solver.  Those in the Green Bay, Wisconsin  or Northern New York State areas may be more familiar with the SAUK.

44. Five-time Olympic gold-medal swimmer Ian: THORPE.  Jim Thorpe, it turns out, was a member of the SAUK (aka Sac and Fox) peoples.  Luke, however, has gone with Ian who is Australian.

47. Comes down hard?: SLEETS.  A hard rain's a-gonna fall.  Literally.

Figuratively

51. "Just a Geek" memoirist Wheaton: WIL.

57. Tate Modern filler: ART.  A museum reference.

58. Verdi aria that translates to "It was you": ERI TU.

60. Lisa Halaby's royal name: NOOR.  An American-born Jordanian who was the fourth wife of the late King Hussein of Jordan.  She was Queen NOOR of Jordan from 1978 until the king's death in 1999.

61. Sunlit lobbies: ATRIA.  Plural of ATRIum.  Stadium / Stadia

66. Intense: KEEN.  What do you call someone who really likes to talk about cereals?  A KEEN oat speaker.

67. Some green sauces: PESTOS.  Rarely seen pluralized.

Basil and Roasted Tomato PESTOS

68. Senate position: PAGE.  Go-fers, albeit esteemed, for the senators.

69. Divisions in an outdated atlas: Abbr.: SSRS.  Soviet Socialist RepublicS

70. Plumes: CRESTS.

Mount CRESTed Butte, Colorado

71. Exxon constituents?: EXES.  In the middle of the word.  Often clued with reference to past partners.

George Strait

Down:

1. Bagel topping: LOX.

2. Branch: ARM.  The U.S. Army is a branch of the armed forces.

3. Vegetarian: MEAT FREE.  A woman came up to me and said that she recognized me from the local vegetarian restaurant.  This confused me as I had never met herbivore.  Perhaps it was a missed steak.

4. Pot sweetener: BONUS OFFER.  Hand up for trying to think of something related to poker.

5. Root words?: CHANT.  As in to root for your favorite sports team.

6. Cilantro, e.g.: HERB.  I really need to plant some HERBs of my own.  I have been living on borrowed thyme.

7. Wolf of the sea: ORCA.  They swim through our puzzles on a regular basis.

8. Apple since 1998: IMAC.  Not a fruit reference.

9. Curling spot: RINK.

The Physics of Curling

10. Washington, but not Washington, D.C.: STATE.  Nor George.

11.  Life itself, to a crepehanger: COSMIC JOKE.

12. Recital piece for a double-reed woodwind: OBOE SOLO.

13. "Collapse Into Now" band: REM.  The clue is the name of one of REM's albums.

14. Go green, perhaps: DYE.  Hand up for first trying to think (overthink?) of something ecologically related.

22. Kylo __: "The Last Jedi" villain: REN.  A Star Wars reference.

23. Picks out, for short: IDS.  We had IDS as, IDentufieS in the puzzle that I recapped two Fridays ago.

24. Lummox: OAF.  What do you call a healthcare worker who does not self isolate after contracting COVID?  A Hippocratic OAF.

25. Just: FAIR.  Not "Just" as in merely.

27. Iridescent gem: OPAL.

28. Not old: NEW.  Now, this one is straightforward.

30. Spice cookie spice: MACE.  Also, a brand of self-defense pepper spray.

31. QB stat: ATT.  A football reference.  Passing ATTempts.

32. Roman dozen: XII.  Roman Numeral

33. Accommodating places: INNS.  Places to procure accommodations for the night.

36. Flatten: LEVEL.

37. Shocked: AGASP.

40. Squiggly baby, to a sitter: LAPFUL.  Nice wordplay employing babysitter and anyone who happens to be seated.

41. Radio wave-emitting star: PULSAR.

44. Dances provocatively: TWERKS.  Today's let's pass on the video moment.

45. New faces in the staff lounge: HIREES.

46. "Last Week Tonight" host John: OLIVER.

48. Swab target: EAR WAX.  A Q-tip™ reference.  

49. Emergency priority system: TRIAGE.

50. Unblinking looks: STARES.

53. __ Miami CF: INTER.  A Major League Soccer reference.

54. Self-composure: POISE.

55. Friendly horn sounds: TOOTS.  As opposed to an unfriendly horn sound?

56. " ... but I could be wrong": OR NOT.  "I take back everything that I just said."

59. Heavy weights: TONS.  SNOT?

62. Variety: TYPE.

64. Lines at the register?: UPC.  Universal Product Code aka Bar Code

65. Donkey: ASS.

Well, that will wrap things up for today.   Time, now, to get my donkey back on the slopes.

_____________________________________________________

Thursday, January 25, 2024 ~ Freddie Cheng

Pump Up The Jam

Click if you don't know the song

Ok, I concede, you can't make jam out of a pump but "plum up jam" isn't a thing -- though, you can plumb UP a [door] jamb :-).

Anyone with a better title? Fortified Foods?

Today, Freddie adds the word UP to intensify our foods / FARE. Let's see what I mean.

20. Add bulk to cured meat?: BEEF UP JERKY. BEEF UP: Make it stronger, better, more interesting.

25. Treat haricot verts to extra plant food?: BUTTER UP BEANS. Haricot verts are French green beans [Google]. BUTTER UP: Praise or flatter in order to get someone to do something

42. Give some oomph to pot stickers?: SOUP UP DUMPLINGS. SOUP UP: Make more powerful such as an engine.

Yummers!

52. Concerns for commuters, or an apt title for this puzzle: FARE HIKES.

I, for one, liked the theme and thought the wordplay in the themers fun. The only downside (or upside depending on your solving experience) is you knew UP was after the verb / before the food.

Across:
1. Element of ecclesiastical architecture: APSE.

5. Pave over: RETAR.

10. Business magnate: CZAR.

14. Tailless cat: MANX. The Manx cat is a breed of domestic cat originating on the Isle of Man, with a mutation that shortens the tail. Many Manx have a small stub of a tail, but Manx cats are best known as being entirely tailless; this is the most distinguishing characteristic of the breed, along with elongated hind legs and a rounded head. [WikiP]
 

Manx Cat

15. "Same here," more formally: AS AM I. Not "ditto?"

16. Gold element of some religious paintings: HALO.
 

History of the World Part I

17. Thing that may have twists and turns: PLOT. Cute.

18. Capacitance unit: FARAD. A capacitor holds a charge between two plates. The Farad was named for Michael Faraday.

19. Penny-__: ANTE. Small stakes poker

20. [See: theme]

23. Pro Bowl org.: NFL. National Football League holds a Pro Bowl (all star) every year the week before the Super Bowl.

24. California's Big __: SUR. Let's check in with the Chamber of Commerce.

25. [See: theme]

32. Longtime "Dancing With the Stars" judge Goodman: LEN.

Len passed last year of pancreatic cancer.

33. "My bad": SORRY.

34. Zelenskyy's country: Abbr.: UKR. Ukraine's president is Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

There lots of deep-fakes of him dancing but one account is real.

36. Range units: ACRES. "Home, Home, Home on the Acres" just isn't the same.

39. Hubbub: ADO.

40. __ del Carmen, Mexico: PLAYA.

Playa del Carmen in relation to...

42. [See: theme]

45. "No time to talk!": I'M LATE.

Alice in Wonderland's Rabbit

46. Half of an interrogation pair: BAD COP.

Maya Rudolph and Jason Bateman Play Good Cop/Bad Cop 

French Cop / Italian Cop #Improv

47. Decryption need: KEY. Two types of keys - symetric and asymetric. A semetric key is used to encrypt and decrypt. Asymetric keys are two related keys - one is used to encrypt and the other is used to decrypt (read more). Asymetric encryption is what makes online shopping possible.

48. Highway sign no.: RTE.

50. WWII carrier: LST. World War II's "Landing Ship, Tank", 1ea.

51. Dreyer's partner in ice cream: EDY. Crossworddom's favorite frozen treat; presumably the OREOs & cream variety.

52. [See: theme]

55. Corn Belt state: IOWA.

58. Shiraz resident: IRANI.

Pretty much 9 hrs. due south of Tehran

59. Milton setting: EDEN. John Milton's poem Paradise Lost.

63. Pub contest: QUIZ.

64. Disciplined, in a way: FINED.

65. Roof overhang: EAVE.

Eave

66. Place to build: SITE.

67. Months and months: YEARS.

68. Was positive: KNEW.

Down:
1. Band aid: AMP. Cute.

2. Sidekick: PAL. Not Tonto nor Robin.

3. Stuffed shirt: SNOB.

4. Length: EXTENT.

5. Some drawings: RAFFLES. Pastels fit.

6. Biblical birthright seller: ESAU.

7. Renovator's protective cover: TARP.

8. Key of Beethoven's Sym. No. 7: A MAJ. Even if you don't know, you can count on an M and wait for perps.

9. Rolls past: RIDES BY.

10. Yogic spiritual center: CHAKRA. Did you know it's also another Stan Lee superhero?

11. Off-the-wall: ZANY.

12. PC key near Z: ALT. Left side of your keyboard.

13. Sturgeon delicacy: ROE.

21. Young salamander: EFT.

22. Have regrets about: RUE.

25. Turn into: BECOME.

26. Disorderly: UNRULY.

27. Thing that may have twists and turns: ROAD. Cute Clecho with 17a.

28. Pakistani language: URDU.

29. Dance with a queen: PROM.

ABBA's Dancing Queen

30. Fine point: NUANCE.

31. Heavenly body?: SKY GOD.

32. Shortsighted solution?: LASIK. Cute.

35. Rough, in a way: RASPY. RASPY wasn't a ROUGH START Monday.

37. Org. concerned with plastic pollution: EPA. Environmental Protection Agency.

38. Buddhist teaching: SUTRA.

40. One in a buffet stack: PLATE.

41. Starbucks top: LID.

43. Paralyze with fear: PETRIFY.

44. "The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo" airer: PBS KIDS.

49. Strange and scary: EERIE.

50. Hard-hit baseball: LINER.

52. Throw for a loop: FAZE.

53. Mandlikova in the International Tennis Hall of Fame: HANA.

Her Wiki

54. Try to find: SEEK.

55. Sharpness figs.: IQS. Intelligence Quotient. Its a measure against others your age on a test designed to measure intelligence / problem solving. The average is 100, one sigma is 85 to 115. If you're three-sigmas from the mean, you're either a genius or a moron (or both!)

56. "Absolument!": OUI.  Is the clue really a word? Or even French??

57. One with a knack for snappy comebacks: WIT.

60. Auerbach of the Black Keys: DAN.

61. "House of the Dragon" actress Best: EVE.

62. Word in four state names: NEW.

The Grid

The Grid

WOs: mask->TARP, Lts->LST (untie!), dAZE->FAZE
ESPs: PLAYA, DAN
Fav: Penny-ANTE. FIL used to say "Penny-ANTE lollipop bullsh**" for the small stuff.

What foods can you UP? My Angel Editor came up with four (4) in short-order.

Cheers, -T

Wednesday, January 24th, 2024, Michael Schlossberg

 FLAME ON~!

A Marvel Comics theme with the long(ish) Across fills referring to the "super-powers" of the four members of the reveal "Fantastic" group - here's the Wiki.  I must apologize in advance to everyone here at the blog who is a massive comic book and/or Marvel / DC Comics movies fan - it's just not my "THING" (get it~?)  I grew up with Star Wars, and those movies, toys & action figures.  I did actually see the Fantastic Four movie released in 2005 , but the "THING" I don't much care for is the never-ending "remakes" and rebranding of comic book superheroes - including Batman, Iron Man, Spiderman, etc. - Fantastic Four came out again in 2015 ( and for the truly hard-core, there was a 1994 movie as well ).  The "THING" is, part of the reason for my apathy - and this is a consequence of Star Wars - is that the movies are SO overdone with CGI that it's all just a blur to me....

19. Economic metaphor coined by Adam Smith: INVISIBLE HAND - Sue Storm-Richards, who can turn invisible and generate force fields

28. Gawk: RUBBERNECK - Reed Richards, able to 'stretch' to incredible proportions

38. Hurry, with "it": HOTFOOT - Johnny Storm, who has the ability to become the "Human Torch"

46. Lowest of lows: ROCK BOTTOM - Ben Grimm, with skin of stone

54. Superhero team with the physical features of 19-, 28-, 38-, and 46-Across: FANTASTIC FOUR

And Aflame We Go~!


ACROSS:

1. Halts: CEASES

7. Loops in via email: CCs - a subtle shout-out to our blog creator - as to our "challenge", I had my first personal training session last Friday, and another on Sunday - ooof....

10. Muslim cleric: IMAM

14. "Dear Prudence" offering: ADVICE

15. Circle of life?: TREE RING

17. __ Marcus: NEIMAN

18. New word for something old: RETRONYM - Spell-check doesn't like it, but it makes sense to me

21. Crow's-nest call: "AHOY~!" - I had "LAND" to start; crossing LDS at 20D. - Bzzzt~!

22. Tolkien villains: ORCS - another series of movies I was not really interested in, until I read The Lord of the Rings - which, surprisingly, I only recently picked up, back in 2022; I did like the book, so I ended up watching the movies.

25. Cryptographer Turing: ALAN - if you get the chance, read Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stevenson, a great story beginning before WWII and running through the 1990s; it's a well-developed narrative based on secret codes and a little bit about the NFT coins of the stock market today

33. Cantina dip: SALSA - Star Wars had a cantina

35. Hence: ERGO - THUS fit too, but didn't gibe

36. "Leave the World Behind" actor Mahershala: ALI - filled via perps; never read the clue until I wrote the blog

37. Very softly, in music: ppp - meh.  Technically correct, but it's an abbreviation for one step past pianissimo, 'very quiet' - as opposed to fff, forte, 'loud' - but there's no 'abbr.' in the clue; filled via perps anyway...

41. Hydroelectric facility: DAM

42. Ore-__ Tater Tots: IDA

43. Years during Caesar's reign: ANNI

44. One of the Stooges: SHEMP

50. Some Dada works: ARPS - learned from doing crosswords; Jean Arp, artist of the Dada movement

51. "Manhattan Beach" novelist Jennifer: EGAN - no clue, filled via perps

52. Ranch newborn: FOAL

62. Hawaiian treat similar to a snow cone: SHAVE ICE

64. Mellow: SEDATE

65. "Until we meet again": "FAREWELL"

Welcome To My Morning (Farewell Andromeda)

66. Beyond thrilled: ELATED

67. Pieces de resistance?: OHMS - har-har

68. "Levitating" singer __ Lipa: DUA - a recent addition to crosswords, from my perspective - my cable provider offers VEVO music video channels, and I managed to watch a whole clip from her - just not my "THING"

69. States definitively: SAYS SO -  "sand" being a problem for the Fantastic Four and Darth Vader - this article "says so"

DOWN:

1. "Pretty please?": "CAN I~?"

2. Genesis paradise: EDEN

3. Tel __, Israel: AVIV - crossword staple

4. Gorillas, e.g.: SIMIANS

5. Net funds: eCASH - as in interNET

6. Ranking: SENIOR

7. Corner PC key: CTRL

8. One of Canada's First Nations: CREE

9. "An American Pickle" star Rogen: SETH - about the only proper name I did know

10. Like some transfers: IRON-ON

11. Telepath: MIND READER - how 'bout a Blue Öyster Cult interlude~? - the "THING" is, it's got a bit of a 'superhero' flair to it....

FLAMING Telepaths

12. Whichever: ANY

13. James Bond film studio: MGM - which bought out the original studio, United Artists - but "UA" was not long enough.  The story of two Bonds in one year

16. Big Band __: ERA

20. Mormon sch.: BYU - Dah~!  Brigham Young University.  For some reason, I went with Latter Day Saints

23. Letter-shaped vise: C-CLAMP - I like answers like this, with the opening "C-C" ( shout out ) as sort of misleading; I thought I had something wrong

24. Pinches pennies: SKIMP

25. Seek (to): ASPIRE - I do not "ASPIRE" to be in the spotlight, but the "THING" is, I managed to get my picture in the Washington National Cathedral newsletter; that's me in the lead with a chest that we just removed from the gallery division of the pipe organ

26. Cuddly companion: LAPDOG

27. Source of some wool: ALPACA FARM

29. Suit: BEFIT - ah, the verb

30. "Dude!": "BRO~!"

31. Self-importance: EGO

32. Decomposes: ROTS

34. Literary captain obsessed with a whale: AHAB - believe it or not, I was not obligated to read this book/novel in high school, but I did actually read it by choice about 5 years ago; a bit of a slog; the "THING" is, much of the book came across more like a whale encyclopedia

39. Artist Yoko: ONO

40. Minecraft explosive: TNT

45. Part-timer's work period, perhaps: HALF-DAY - ah, but which half~?

47. Rapscallions: KNAVES

48. Many times, poetically: OFT

49. Felipe Alou's outfielder son: MOISES - learned by doing crosswords

53. Amtrak express: ACELA - I pondered a visit to my good buddy down in Georgia by taking a sleeper bunk on Amtrak to get there - but round trip was somewhere around $1400; not likely, since a Southwest flight is about $250, and about 4hours, not 24hours.  The "THING" is, I did take the "Empire Builder" from NYC all the way to Seattle back in 2003, and it was a great trip.

55. State-of-the-art: NEW

56. Deadlocked: TIED

57. Women's Rights Project org.: ACLU

58. Actress Ward: SELA - I know her from the movie "The Fugitive", and TV's "House, M.D."

59. Feedbag grains: OATS

60. Versatile vehicles, for short: UTES - crossword staple

61. Start afresh: REDO

62. Bay Area airport letters: SFO - I went looking for an explanation for the "O" at the end, but no revelations there; I did, however, see that a plane crashed on my birthday in 1937 - the Wiki

63. "As if!": "HAH~!"

Splynter

24 Jan 24