Friday, August 2, 2024, Josh M. Kaufmann

 Theme:  Precisely as stated.

This crossword was a real puzzle for today's blogger.  If I were younger, I might say my brain LITERALLY exploded!  I filled the squares, but it took longer to understand the cryptic clues.  And then I read the theme clues from top to bottom and saw that all together they spelled LITERALLY.

17. LI?: LINE LEADERS.  Line leaders can be team leaders in manufacturing, or simply people who lead others in a line, like teachers leading children.  LI gives us the beginning of the word LITERALLY.  L and I are LITERALLY the LEADERS in the word LINE.

24. TE?: MID-SENTENCE.  Mid-sentence means in the middle of a sentence.  TE is the next part of the word LITERALLY.  T and E are LITERALLY the middle of the word SENTENCE.

38. R?: EARTH'S INNER CORE.  Earth's inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the planet Earth.  R is the next part of the word LITERALLY.  R is LITERALLY the inner core (or center) of the word EARTH.

50. AL?: HEART OF PALM.  Heart of palm is a vegetable harvested from the inner core of certain palm trees.  AL is the next part of the word LITERALLY.  A and L are LITERALLY the heart (or center) of the word PALM.

 61. LY?: EARLY FINISH.  In project management, early finish is the earliest time by which an activity can be completed.  LY is the last part of the word LITERALLY.  L and Y are LITERALLY the finish (or end) of the world EARLY.

And now for the less cryptic clues and answers:

Across:

1. Cybersecurity event: HACK.

5. Far off: REMOTE.

11. Sad: LOW.

14. __ vera: ALOE.

15. Camera holder: TRIPOD.

16. Org. with a flower on its seal: EPA.  Environmental Protection Agency.

17. [Theme clue}

19. Range pts.: MTS.  Mountains.  An abbreviated clue calls for an abbreviated answer.

20. African animal with features similar to zebras and giraffes: OKAPI.

21. Singer DiFranco: ANI.  Sure, she's released more than 20 albums, but did she ever expect to be so popular in crosswords?

22. Verbal nudge: DO IT.

23. Capitol fig.: SEN.  A figure that might be seen around the Capitol is a Senator.

24. [Theme clue]

28. Documentary podcast about legends: LORE.  DNK (did not know), but not hard to guess.

29. Wrapped up in court?: ROBED.  Judges wear robes in court, and are therefore ROBED.

30. Bánh mì spread: PATE.  DNK, but bánh mì is food (a Vietnamese sandwich), and a spread used with food is often a paté (meat paste).

33. Speaker at a gig: AMP.  Gig is a short word for a temporary job, often a live concert or stage performance, and amp is short for amplifier, part of the sound system used on stage.  It is technically not the same thing as a speaker, but I'll leave that to the technicians.

35. Part of Amelia Bedelia's outfit: APRON.  Amelia Bedelia, a character in children's books by Peggy Parish, is a housekeeper who takes things too LITERALLY.  When told to dust the furniture, she obliges by putting dust on the furniture.  Here she is "putting the lights out."

38. [Theme entry]

42. Instagram upload: PHOTO.

43. Tabby: CAT.

44. French twist, e.g.: UPDO.  An updo is a hairstyle that lifts hair UP off the neck into a hairDO.  A French twist is one such style.

45. "The Masked Singer" judge Ken: JEONG.  DNK.  I'd had my fill of singing competitions on TV before this series debuted.

48. Electronic music duo __ Punk: DAFT.  The masked duo took their name from a negative review.

50. [Theme clue]

53. Workplace of some RNs: ICU.  Some Registered Nurses work in the Intensive Care Unit.

56. Samovars: URNS.  A samovar is a Russian urn, used for boiling water and brewing tea.

57. Egg __ yung: FOO.  Yummers!  This can be vegetarian or even vegan.

58. Lampshade-shaped candies: ROLOS.

60. Level the playing field?: MOW.

61. [Theme clue]

64. Smooch in public, briefly: PDA.  Public Display of Affection.  

65. Coin that fittingly weighs five grams: NICKEL.  Fitting, I suppose, because it's worth five cents.

66. No longer feral: TAME.  A feral animal lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals -- like most pigeons today!  If you take a feral animal into your home and it becomes accustomed to you, it is now tame.

My daughter rescued this pigeon on more than one occasion.

"Pretty Bird" is pretty tame!

67. "That lady?": HER.

68. Overcast, say: DREARY.  Like Los Angeles during May gray and June gloom.

69. Smell: ODOR.

Down:

1. Brand of mandarin oranges owned by The Wonderful Company: HALOS.

2. Cut from the same cloth: ALIKE.

3. Podcaster O'Brien: CONAN.

4. "__ the change": KEEP.

5. Rd. with a no.: RTE.

6. Significant span: ERA.

7. King with a touching story?: MIDAS.  Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, granted a wish to King Midas of Phrygia (Turkey), who said, "I hope that everything I touch becomes gold."  That seemed great until he touched his breakfast, which turned to gold, and then hugged his daughter.  Oops!

8. Warm-up act: OPENER.

9. Classic Ford named for an Italian city: TORINO.  The city is AKA Turin.

10. Masthead pros: EDS.  In publishing, a masthead is a list at the top of a page that includes the names of editors, writers, and owners, as well as the title of the newspaper or magazine.  Some of the listed PROfessionals are EDitorS.

11. Triple sec and vodka cocktail: LEMON DROP.

12. __ nerve: OPTIC.  I rely on my OPTIC nerves to connect an image of the puzzle to my brain.

13. Use unwisely: WASTE.

18. Fancy wheels: LIMO.  Limousine.

22. Song that's only familiar to superfans: DEEP CUT.  A song that is less widely played and less well-known than other songs on the same album or by the same artist.

25. Portfolio options, for short: IRAS.  Individual Retirement Accounts.

26. __ bra: narrow-cupped garment: DEMI.  Good choice with a low neckline.

27. Ski lift: T-BAR.  This basic lift will drag you up the mountain so that you can slide down on your skinny sticks.

28. Mail: LETTERS.

30. __ talk: PEP.

31. Spa sound: AAH.

32. "Odyssey" prelude: TROJAN WAR.  Odysseus was a Greek hero who fought in the Trojan War and came up with the brilliant idea of the Trojan horse, which allowed the Greeks to enter Troy and end the war.  All of that is detailed in Homer's Iliad.  In the next book, the Odyssey, our hero struggles for ten years to get home to Ithaca, where his wife Penelope is waiting.

34. Pittsburgh's __ Park: PNC.  A stadium in Pittsburgh, named for a local financial services firm.

36. Chicago airport code: ORD.

37. Opposite of paleo-: NEO.  Old vs new.  

39. "I'm an owl!": HOOT.

40. Zilch: NADA.  From the Spanish for nothing.

41. Etc. kin: ET AL.  Etc. or "et cetera" is used at the end of a list to mean "and more things like that."

Et al. or "et alia" is used at the end of a list of names to mean "and other people."

46. Outraged cry: NO FAIR.

47. Roller coaster sensation: G-FORCE.  Gravitational force.

49. Brain scan, for short: FMRI.  Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow.

50. Disgruntled grunt: HUMPH.

51. Eat into: ERODE.

52. Beer garden sound: POLKA.

53. "Odyssey" prelude: ILIAD.  Same clue as 32 across, slightly different answer!  The Odyssey is an epic poem by Homer.  The Iliad is the epic poem by Homer that tells the earlier story of the Trojan War.  Here in the Corner, we call that a "clecho" -- a clue echo. 

54. Pink cocktail, casually: COSMO.  Casual reference to a Cosmopolitan cocktail: vodka, orange liqueur, lime juice, and cranberry juice.  Popularized by the TV show "Sex and the City."

55. Theater guide: USHER.

59. Not fooled by: ONTO.

61. Last word of a fairy tale: END.  Almost "The End" here, too!

62. "__ darn tootin'!": YER.  You are absolutely right. A variant of "You're darn tootin'!"  I say, This puzzle seemed hard!  You say, YER darn tootin'!

63. Pass muster: FLY.  Pass muster comes from the military and means "to pass inspection."  FLY can also mean to be acceptable.  We usually hear it in the negative:  "That plan won't fly."  Did this puzzle pass muster with you?

Here's the grid:

This is my first Friday blog, stepping in for Chairman Moe.  In his honor, a haiku:

Chairman Moe has some

extremely large shoes to fill --

not LITERALLY!

NaomiZ

 

Notes from C.C.:

 

1) Belated Happy 80th Birthday to Tehachapi Ken!

 

2) Happy 70th Birthday to Subgenius (Darryl). Here is a recent picture of him.

Thursday, August 1, 2024, Renee Thomason and Zhouqin Burnikel

  

Punny
Funny Papers 

xkcd

Before we retired, our daily newspaper was delivered to our door printed on cheap, recyclable newsprint.   After retirement we found that we were paying a premium of $50 dollars a month more for home delivery and switching to email delivery seemed like a no brainer.  What I didn't foresee was that the latter was not a very convenient way to read the comics, a habit I'd had since childhood.   While it is possible to have individual webcomics like xkcd shown above, delivered via email, all of the daily and Sunday funny papers are just not as easy to read on a screen as they are in the paper with your feet propped up on the sofa.

To remind us of what we're missing, our very own Corner constructors, Renée Thomason (sumdaze) and Zhouqin Burnikel (C.C.) are taking us back to those days with 5 punny theme clues where the second word of the fill is a classic comic strip ...

16A. Popular comic strip at a deli?: DILL PICKLES.  Pickles is a daily and Sunday comic strip by Brian Crane focusing on a retired couple in their seventies, Earl and Opal Pickles. Pickles has been published since April 2, 1990. 

Pickles by Brian Crane for July 15, 2024

23A. Popular comic strip on an ocean liner?: SALTED PEANUTS.  Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, and still continuing in reruns afterward. Peanuts is among the most popular and influential comics in history.

37A. Popular comic strip at a pub?: TAP SHOE. TAP is Brit slang for a pub and tap shoes are worn for a once popular style of dancing.  Shoe is a comic strip about a motley crew of newspapermen, all of whom happen to be birds. It was written and drawn by its creator, cartoonist Jeff MacNelly, from September 13, 1977, until his death in 2000 but continues due to the efforts of a dedicated team led by Susie MacNelly (Jeff's widow). I thought this one might be timely -- here are editor Shoe, reporter Cosmo and Sen. Batson D. Belfry at a press conference ... 

Wednesday, Jul. 17th, 2024

50A. Popular comic strip at the White House?: JAMES GARFIELD. Garfield is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. It was created in 1976 and gained nationwide syndication beginning in 1978. It chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his dim bulb owner Jon Arbuckle, and his gullible dog Odie ...

July 10, 2024

Side note: We visited the President James Garfield Memorial on our recent visit to Cleveland -- a great man who met a tragic end.

61A. Popular comic strip at a talk show?: CHATTY CATHY.  Cathy is an American gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Cathy Guisewite from 1976 until 2010. The comic follows Cathy, a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life: food, love, family, and work. The strip gently pokes fun at the lives and foibles of modern women (at least those prior to 2011).  It took me a lot of random searches to find this one, but this just could be the moment where the classic Cathy AACK enters crosswordese ,,,

And this one came with a bonus, as CHATTY CATHY is a real doll ... 😀

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

 1. Wile E. Coyote's vantage points: MESAS.  These vantage points don't turn out to be much of an advantage in the end ...

For you die hard W.E.C fans, here's a pictorial history of just how far Coyote was willing to go to capture the Road Runner (which he never did), just how short (or far) he fell, how many ACME products he purchased over the years, and just what they might have cost him? 

  6. Cantilever, sometimes: BEAM.  A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilever can be formed as a beam, plate, truss, or slab. 

10. Brooding type?: HEN.

13. Very angry: IRATE.

14. 42-Across lane: AISLE.

15. Store in a wine barrel: AGE.

16. [Theme clue]

18. "The Commitments" loc.: IRE.  A friend of mine turned me on to this film years ago.  The Commitments is a 1991 musical comedy-drama film set in the Northside of Dublin, Ireland.  It tells the story a young music fanatic who assembles a group of working-class youths to form a soul band named "The Commitments".  The film doesn't have an original film score, but the soundtrack features fourteen classic soul songs from that time.  Here's Chain of Fools sung by Aretha Franklin ...

Lyrics

19. Slushy treat: ICEE.

  20. Italian three: TRE.  Today's Italian lesson.

21. Like hardened mud on tires: CAKED.

23. [Theme clue]

27. "That's for sure!": I'LL SAY.

29. Treaty partner: ALLY.

30. Some karaoke performances: DUETS.  These guys sound just like the originals! ... 😀

31. NCR device: ATM.  NCR provides a lot more than just essential crosswordese. 

32. Mint and Snapchat: APPS.  Mint was a personal financial management app before it was acquired by Intuit, Inc. in 2009. 

Snapchat is an app primarily used for creating multimedia messages referred to as "snaps"; snaps can consist of a photo or a short video, and can be edited to include filters and effects, text captions, and drawings.  Photo snaps can be viewed for a user-specified length of time (1 to 10 seconds as determined by the sender) before they become inaccessible.  This feature is intended to frustrate the ability to take screenshots of snaps (should the originals be unseemly 😀)

Snapchat logo

36. Portuguese feminine pronoun: ELA.   Today's Portuguese lesson: SHE.

37. [Theme clue]

41. Garnish on uramaki sushi: ROE.  Inside out sushi rolls.  ROE are the fish eggs used for garnishing them ...

Ungarnished Uramaki sushi

42. No-frills supermarket chain: ALDI.  Aldi stores are noted as examples of so-called no-frills stores that often display a variety of items at discount prices, specializing in staple items, such as food, beverages, toilet paper, sanitary articles, and other inexpensive household items. Many of its products are own brands, with the number of other brands usually limited to a maximum of two for a given item.

Aldi's opposite is a "frills-chain" called Trader Joes, which incidentally is owned by the same holding company.  The latter, often called TJ's, is a favorite of  ours and we shop at our local store about once a week. 

44. Lacuna: GAP.  

The PBS series Magpie Murders is about a lacuna -- the last chapter in a murder mystery is missing -- and the author is dead! ...

45. Figure of speech: TROPE.  A literary trope is the use of figurative language, via word, phrase or an image, for artistic effect such as using a figure of speech.

I've also seen it used to refer to an overused, or trite, plot device is a literary work.

47. "Gangnam Style" style: KPOP.  Korean POP.  Wild stuff ...

49. Future ENT's course: PREMED. Aspiring Ear Nose and Throat doctors must get through PREMED before being accepted into medical school.

50. [Theme clue]

55. Collection: ARRAY.   This seems like a simple relationship, but apparently an ARRAY is only one of many types of collections (don't ask me to explain this -- I can't 😀).

56. Work on an order?: EAT.  If you're working on your food, you're eating too fast!

57. Point in the right direction?: EAST.  EAST as in RIGHT on a map.

60. Grumpy companion: DOC.

                                              GRUMPY                       DOC
61. [Theme clue]

65. Bird that can run faster than Usain Bolt: EMU.  How fast can a human possibly go ...

Usain Bolt
28 MPH

 But this bird can run faster ...

Emu
31 MPH

Notice that the pic of the emu is blurred due to its blazing speed, whereas Bolt's pic is crystal clear.  It just shows to go ya that crosswordese wins everytime! 😀 

66. Day divisions: HOURS.

67. Finish off: USE UP.

68. Gentle touch: DAB.  A little DAB'll do ya' ...!

69. Brand that makes Froot Loops waffles: EGGO.  A nested brand ...
 

Or maybe a contested brand?
There is nary a mention of Froot[sic] Loops in the above link

70. Sauce that originated in Genoa: PESTO.  We make our own --

1. puree some crushed garlic and parmesan cheese in 4 TBSP olive oil in a blender,

2. pack the blender with Basil leaves, and

3. puree to a smooth paste. 

We preserve it by spooning the paste into mini muffin pans, smoothing with a knife, covering with wax paper, and freezing overnight.  Next day we pop the "muffins" out with a warm dinner knife, and put these "pesto patties" in plastic freezer boxes separated by wax paper.  They can then be added to stir fries, soups, and stews as needed.  They seem to keep forever.

Down:

 1. Skirt length: MIDI.  Teri was wearing a tartan wool MIDI when I met her in the doorway of Mr. Saterlie's Modern and Contemporary History class in the 11th Grade.  The rest is history ...

2. "True Blood" vampire Northman: ERIC.  DNK this character. This could also have been clued "Viking ____ the Red".

3. Potential new client: SALES LEAD.

4. If nothing else: AT LEAST.

5. Bi Visibility Day mo.: SEP.  Month is abbreviated, so September is abbreviated.

6. Went by tandem: BIKED. A CSO to sumdaze and her DH?

7. Night school subj.: ESL.  English as a Second Language.

8. Drink made from hops: ALE.

9. Drink made from agave: MESCAL.  There are many types of agave.  Mezcal, sometimes spelled MESCAL, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave.  A related spirit, called Tequila, can be made only from Blue Agave. 

Blue Agave

10. 17-syllable poem: HAIKU.  A CSO to Chairman Moe.

11. Bird that stands on cattle: EGRET.  Unlike other herons and egrets, this species typically feeds in dry fields, often following cattle (or other animals) and waiting for them to flush insects into view.

Cattle Egret on a horse
Worcester Co., Maryland

12. Water and light, for plants: NEEDS.

14. McMansion plot: ACRE.  Here are some McMansions under construction in a new community not far from where we live called The Courts of Hidden Waters.  There was an actual mansion there years ago used for retreats by the faculty and staff of the University of Maryland at Baltimore.  It was hidden by trees and you couldn't see it from the road.  The  old mansion and the trees are all gone now and the  new mansions are clearly visible less than a half a block from the road.  Note the CSO to -T on the sign -- I think it's his East Coast side hustle ... 😀 

The Courts of Hidden Waters
(they don't look like ACRE plots to me)

17. Teensy: ITTY.

22. Actress Taylor-Joy: ANYA.  Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy (b. April 16, 1996) was born in Miami and raised in Buenos Aires and London.  Taylor-Joy left school at the age of 16 to pursue an acting career. After a series of small television roles, her breakthrough came with a leading role in the horror film The Witch (2015). In 2020, Taylor-Joy starred as Emma Woodhouse in Autumn de Wilde's directorial debut Emma, an adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 novel of the same name. Reviewing the film, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone deemed Taylor-Joy "incandescent" ...

24. Anchor's position in a relay: LAST.

25. Camino de Santiago element: PATH.  My oldest granddaughter walked  the 500 mile Camino de Santiago ("The Way of Saint James") after graduating from college.  The 2010 film The Way tells the story of a father and his son who walked this PATH together ...

Martin Sheen
Emilio Estevez

 26. Red Muppet: ELMO.  This one ...

27. Notion: IDEA. 

28. Quiet moment: LULL.

31. African viper: ASP.

33. Teens in tuxedos: PROM DATES.

34. Leader of the Holy See: POPE.   The word "see" comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning 'seat', specifically the seat of a bishop. The Holy See refers to the office of the Bishop of Rome, currently held by Pope Francis, who was born in Argentina in 1936 and was elevated to the Papacy in 2013.

Pope Francis

35. Finch food: SEED.

38. Open-mouthed: AGOG.

39. Daddy: PAPA.

40. To be, in Biarritz: ETRE.  Today's French lesson.  Biarritz is a small town in France on the Atlantic coast about 260 mi SW of Bordeaux.  It is rumored to be the home of those notorious aliens the Coneheads. 😀

 

43. Store with Småland play areas: IKEA.  A supervised place to play for the kids, while parents buy lots of DIY Swedish Modern furniture ....

Småland

46. Free: RELEASE.

48. Id, ego, and superego, collectively: PSYCHE.  That's the Freudian interpretation, but in Greek mythology Psyche (Latin Anima) was the goddess of the soul and was often represented as a beautiful woman with butterfly wings.  She was born a mortal woman and was eventually granted immortality, with beauty that rivaled even Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

Psyche Abandoned 
by Pietro Tenerani

49. Feel sympathy for: PITY.

50. Tired of it all: JADED.

51. Diffuser output: AROMA.

52. Nickname for Ernie Banks: MR CUB.  A signature clue from C.C. no doubt.  Some memorable moments in Ernie's career ...

53. Like some thrift store finds: RETRO.

54. Saturated __: FATS.  Are all saturated fats unhealthy? 

58. Not open: SHUT.

59. Keyboard goof: TYPO.  This is much less of a problem now that we have auto-defect.  😀

62. Fail to share: HOG.

63. Mo. before 5-Down: AUG.  Month is abbreviated so August is abbreviated.

64. Sippy __: CUP.  Great baby shower gifts ...

tommy tippee sippy cups

Cheers,

Bill

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

waseeley

 
Bonus feature: Peanuts vs. Garfield: Charles Schulz secretly considered Jim Davis his arch-rival

Wednesday, July 31, 2024, Zachary David Levy

 MY HEART'S CONTENT

It is peculiar that I blogged July 31st last year as well - that day was my second "debut" at the Corner as a blogger; 'tis unique to be able to blog the "same" day two years in a row.   Today's puzzle is from a familiar constructor here at the corner - his last grid appeared on MM's watch June 28th this year.  I do not think that I could be blessed with a theme any closer to my blogging heart - let me count the ways I can run amok using "little women" in my post.  But first, the theme answers;

17. Grand Ole Opry fixture from 1940 to 1991: MINNIE PEARL - mini

28. "If These Walls Could Talk" star: DEMI MOORE - demi

36. Actress who played Lucy on "Raising Hope": BIJOU PHILLIPS - bijou, is not "little" in Frawnche - turns out it's British - I am chagrinned

43. Singer born Emma Lee Bunton: BABY SPICE - well, baby, but still....

And the Reveal -

60. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy ... as well as 17-, 28-, 36-, and 43-Across?: LITTLE WOMEN

Never read it, and now I am curious.....

I was thinking more like this

The "little (shortest) woman" is the cutest

And Awow We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Snake charming snakes: COBRAS

7. Lacking pep: FLAT

11. Many a plaid cap: TAM

14. Damage, in a way: AMOUNT  - I usually refer to anything more than $100 as being "damage"; however, I was "accosted" this week at the supermarket my a strange woman who wanted to point out to me that a pound of butter was $7.49 - I so rarely buy butter, I told her I had nothing to compare it to....

15. Like notes that aren't sharp, briefly: LO-FI - FLAT was in the grid already - this is the "other" kind of "not" sharp, as in poorly defined

16. Fuming feeling: IRE - the blogger format is generating a tremendous amount of "IRE" in me

19. UFC sport: MMA - Mixed Martial Arts; not my thing; I did watch Table Tennis from Paris tho

Bernadette Szocs, Romania

20. Sources of jealousy, perhaps: EGOS

21. Avis rival: ALAMO - car rentals

22. Larry's housemate on "Curb Your Enthusiasm": LEON - never saw the show; filled via perps

23. Pilfer: ROB - pinch, swipe, boost, palm, the "five-finger discount".....

24. Estadio chant: OLÉ

25. State of matter: SOLID - the others being Liquid, Gas and Plasma - this last one being the state found in a fluorescent light - I did not know that; see here

26. Dress up: ADORN

Velma and "Danger-prone" Daphne

32. NL East city: ATLanta

34. Account: TALE - interesting; the theme of that Jul '23 puzzle was "Long Story"

35. "__ the fields we go ... ": O'ER - Jingle Bells - we're just 146 days from Christmas~!

40. Check writer's need: PEN

41. Mine, en français: AMOI - Les Frawnche

42. Pit stop brand: STP

46. Abates: EASES - I had WaNes - that's 60% 100% correct

50. Hound's sniffer: SNOUT

51. Driveway sealant: TAR - I was out using the tractor this weekend to try and fix my stone wall - but it's too far gone; I'd like to rebuild the whole thing, and TAR PAVE my driveway, but I can't afford it this year.

53. Special attention, for short: TLC - Tender Loving Care

54. Pond blanket: SCUM - my first thought, but considered ALGA, too

55. Kit filled with money and passports, in spy movies: GO-BAG

58. Film transition: FADE - also known as a WIPE

59. Nomadic invader: HUN - ah.  Not ANT.  Yeah - that's the picnic invader

62. MDW alternative: ORD - no clue, but when I was composing the blog, I realized these are the codes for Chicago's airports - Midway & O'Hare

63. Family name in baseball's only all-brother outfield: ALOU - Baseball crossword standard, for C.C.

64. On the house: NO COST

65. Thesis pieces, briefly: WDs - WORDS: a quaint play on Reese's Pieces; I like it. 

66. Lyric tributes: ODES - seems to be in at least one crossword a week lately

67. Unforeseen plot elements: TWISTS

DOWN:

1. Cell component?: CAMERA - cell PHONE; I was thinking JAIL cell at first

2. "Whoa": "OMIGOD~!"

3. Congo ape: BONOBO - there's also an electronica artist known as Bonobo

Flutter - my heart is a-flutter

4. Box score total: RUNS - more baseball

5. "The Phantom Menace" boy: ANI - Anakin Skywalker, AKA Darth Vader

 6. Absolute bargain: STEAL - see 23A.

7. Teeny circus performer: FLEA

8. Nutrient-rich soil: LOAM

9. Naturally curly style: AFRO

10. "Fake it __ you make it": TIL

11. Narrative device employed in "Russian Doll": TIME LOOP - I've heard of the show, but I don't have Nextflix - the IMDb

12. Some tall antiques: ARMOIRES

13. Wander aimlessly: MEANDER

18. Responded in court: PLED

22. Water closet: LOO

24. How caviar may be served: ON TOAST - I tried ON SUSHI first

25. Ore refinery: SMELTER

27. Koothrappali on "The Big Bang Theory": RAJ - I cannot stand this show.  Sorry.

29. Guiding principle: ETHIC

30. __ tai: MAI

Someone buy that woman a Mai Tai

31. Misfortunes: ILLS

33. Sum thing?: LUMP - lump sum, as in lottery winnings

36. Tofu, essentially: BEAN CURD - I tried SOYBEANS; I was also offered some fried tofu by a co-worker this past week, but she has not brought any in - yet.

37. Not out of play: INBOUNDS - as in football, tennis, golf, etc.

38. Luau bowlful: POI

39. Letters on some beer cans: IPA - getting to be like ERA and OREO; desperately trying to find new ways to clue this fill

40. "Wild Kratts," e.g.: PBS SHOW - PBS KIDS, actually; I had no clue, and when the " -SS -" appeared, and I figured something was wrong at first

44. "Love it": YUM 

I luv Chocolate Moose Tracks the best....

45. Citation abbr.: ET. AL.

47. John who played Blackie Parrish on "General Hospital": STAMOS

48. Most senior: ELDEST - just had to change my oldest "O" to "E"

49. Hound's trails: SCENTS

52. Book deal negotiator: AGENT

55. __ the lily: GILD

56. Oklahoma Natives: OTOE

57. AC measures: BTUs

58. Ellipse points: FOCI - I knew that the two "focal" points were used with a piece of string to male an ellipse - this is how I made the arch over my office shelf; I did not realize there's the "line method", too....

60. Language along the Mekong: LAO

61. Blow away: WOW - and one last image before I sign off

 I think I see "Little Women" on the shelf there....

Splynter