The erstwhile LA Times Editor, Rich Norris, landed the big fish today with his well-formed crossword puzzle, featuring four 15-letter entries. Rich took advantage of the idiomatic expression "hook, line, and sinker", and made us fallcompletely in like with his work - without hesitation
I had a similar puzzle published in 2023 but was able to come up with only three 15-letter, one-word clues that captured the "theme". Rich used not only the individual word clues (hook, line, sinker) but the entire phrase (hook, line, and sinker) to complete his "superfecta"
17-across. Hook: PETER PAN NEMESIS. The first of the four was as clever as it gets. In this case, "Hook" refers to the antagonistic Captain who appears in the 1904 J. M. Barrie play, Peter Pan
24-across. Line: SCRIPT COMPONENT. While not as clever as the first entry, coming up with a 15- letter phrase that fits the clue "line" could not have been easy. In fact, when I googled this answer there was nothing, I saw, that tied Script component to a line. However, if you use a bit of poetic "crossword" justice, you could parse this as being a component of a script; as in the "lines" of a play or movie. Here is a video tutorial on the Elements of a Film Script:
42-across. Sinker: TOUGH PITCH TO HIT. Perhaps my favorite of the three entries, as it took the last of the "fishing" terms in this phrase and referenced a baseball term. The sinker is really just a version of a fastball. As the hyperlink indicates, Curt Simmons (1950's Philadelphia Phillies pitcher) is given credit for being one of the first to perfect it. Here is a video to explain the pitch (and how pitchers grip the ball):
56-across. Hook, line, and sinker: WITHOUT QUESTION. As the idiomatic expression is defined, when you accept/fall for someone's deceitful offer "hook, line, and sinker", you do it without question
Maybe like Jerry Lewis did in this movie?
But I suspect that most - if not all - of our solvers today did not fall for Rich's deception. I found very little, in fact. Yes, there were a plethora of four and five-letter entries (32 of the four-letter variety) but a very manageable 10 TLWs
Lots to like here. Overall score for this: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Grid
Across:
1. Mishandle, as a grounder: BOOT. I'd be curious to know if, when Rich Norris has an LAT puzzle, Patti edits his clues? I worked with Rich once, and he was very good at making clues work
5. Accelerated sci. class: AP BIO. IIRC, when I was in high school, the accelerated classes had a II behind them; Chem II or Algebra II or Calculus II
10. __ Eats: UBER. I have never used either UBER Eats or DoorDash
"Hook, line, and sinker": That deepwater fish is known As OPAH Winfrey
15. Hospital prep area: PRE-OP. Other than the "prep" in the clue matching the PRE in the answer ...
16. Aviation milestone: SOLO. Moe-ku #2:
A Star Wars pilot's First Millennium Falcon Flight, was Han's SOLO
20. Sentimentality: SCHMALTZ.
21. IMO relative: I'D SAY. Well, since IMO (in my opinion) is a text abbr., I'm not sure how I'D SAY is related; text-wise, anyway
22. Orangutan, e.g.: APE.
23. Chilly product prefix: SNO.
33. Basic decision-maker: COIN. I couldn't make "heads" or "tails" out of this clue ...
34. Weak poker hand: A PAIR. But even A PAIR of two's beats an ACE-high hand; just saying
35. Actress Zadora: PIA. Now there's a clue/answer we haven't seen in a long time. An erstwhile "crosswordese" entry
36. Sometime in the past: ONCE. AGO didn't fit
37. Inconsiderable: SCANT. New clue/synonym for this word
38. Fantasy franchise letters: LOTR. Lord of the Rings. Hand up for trying IHOP first? I did
39. Amanda Gorman's "An __ We Owe": ODE.
40. __ dish: PETRI.
41. Prefix with -genarian: OCTO. SEPTA (my prefix) didn't fit
46. Plant sci.: BOT. Short for, botany. Also short for robot
47. "A spider!": EEK.
48. Take by force: WREST. I wrestled with this one for a while; USURP was my first guess
51. "Sadly, yes": AFRAID SO.
59. New Rochelle campus: IONA.
60. Hook, line, and sinker, e.g.: NOUNS. Rich (and/or Patti) found yet another clue for today's "theme"; which coincides with (62-across. "Yep, already spotted that"): I SAW.
61. One on a seal: UNUM. As on the reverse side of a one dollar bill
63. Hard to navigate: SNAKY. Another Friday-like clue for a familiar adjective
64. John or Paul, but not Ringo or George: POPE. Yup
3. Citizenship recitation: OATH. I swear, this is true
4. Ship in a late 19th century tragedy: THE MAINE. This is an LAT entry "debut"; I hope you will remember this (along with the ship)
5. Simple program: APPLET. I solved this whilst having a cup of Java ...
6. Lead-in to fall: PRAT. As in "PRAT-fall". Being a "stooge" I know all about these! I don't know if you need a Facebook account to view the video below ... I read somewhere that the Stooges "inspired" Aerosmith to write the song "Walk this Way" ...
7. Julie who played Rita on "Dexter": BENZ. Would it have been too obvious if her character's name was "Mercedes"?
8. Lithium-__ battery: ION. Did this one almost set you on fire?
9. Reveal, in verse: OPE. Moe-ku #3:
Amanda Gordon Revealed poetic intent When she OPEd an ode
10. Tried to influence with: USED ON. My "influencer" on food packaging is when it says "USED BY"
11. Order (around): BOSS. Verb form
12. Director Kazan: ELIA.
13. Good-looking?: ROSY. The hyphen in the clue gave it away
18. "Snow Angel" singer Rene : RAPP.
19. Key type: MINOR. Perps made this MINOR rather than MAJOR
23. Barbecue rod: SPIT. Doesn't seeing a piece of meat on a SPIT want to make you drool?
24. Slide on a seat: SCOOT. Tough clue
25. Vrbo listing: CONDO.
26. The Owls of the NCAA: RICE U.
27. Jumping chollas, e.g.: CACTI. CSO to me, Lucina, and Yuman
28. Victor Vasarely's movement: OP ART.
29. Frenzied: MANIC. Hoping that no one felt this as they were solving today's puzzle
31. Tucci's "Road to Perdition" role: NITTI. Movie based on mobster Frank NITTI
32. Deck with kings and queens: TAROT. Good Friday clue; or a good clue on any non-Christian Friday
37. Equinox mo.: SEPT. Only because MARC looked odd
38. "You have a dictionary, don't you?": LOOK IT UP. For the most part, I LOOK IT UP for all y'all
40. Snap: PHOTO. Crackle: CHINA; Pop: SODA. Or are snap, crackle, and pop just a bit of Rice Crispies?
43. "Pygmalion" playwright, for short: G.B. SHAW. Not enough spaces for the full name: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW. Fun Fact: SHAW preferred to be called "Bernard", and his signature/autograph was G Bernard Shaw
44. Grounds for excommunication: HERESY. As opposed to grounds for "communication", which for me is COFFEE. Please, no talking until I've drank the first cup!
45. Drinks with scones: TEAS. See 44-across; I am a COFFEE drinker but I do like a good scone
48. "Captain America: The First Avenger" backdrop, briefly: WWII. Margaret got me hooked into the Marvel movie series, and "Captain America: The First Avenger" was my intro
49. Spanish flowers: RIOS. Flowers, as in rivers
50. Italian volcano that's a UNESCO World Heritage Site: ETNA. The UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Italy. Among those that we saw on our trip were: The Piazza del Duomo (Pisa); Venice and its Lagoon; The Historic Centres of Florence and Siena. The city in which we stayed, Montecatini Terme became part of the transnational "Great Spa Towns of Europe" UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021
51. Turquoise hue: AQUA. Needed perps; remember, my crayon box only had 8 colors. Turquoise and AQUA were not one of them
52. Low state: FUNK. FUNK is also somewhat related to 1-down (BOPS) as an African-American music genre. Video below gives snippets of the Top 25 FUNK songs of all time
53. Shape of some chicken nuggets, briefly: DINO. Meh. This was a reach, IMO
54. First course, often: SOUP. "No SOUP for you!"
55. Generous offer: ON ME. As in picking up the tab
57. Young'__: UNS. The future of crossword puzzles depends on these folks
58. Long or short measure: TON.
Well this concludes another recap from the Chairman. I won't be visiting the board today (other than briefly seeing that it published) as I will be at my mom's memorial service. Today would have been her 96th birthday. My sister and I felt that holding the service on her birthday was a no-brainer. In her list of wishes to us (for the service) she wanted an ice cream social afterward as opposed to a sit-down lunch. Flavors will be Moose Tracks (her favorite!) in addition to good old Chocolate and Vanilla
She was really quite a lady and lived a good, long life. It'll be hard to speak of her in the third person but I'll find something appropriate (and amusing) to say. Do me a favor and call your mom today (if she's still alive) if just to say "hi"
Gary Larson's theme for this puzzle was service animals, which all happen to be dogs. But let's face it -- have you ever seen a seeing eye cat? 😀.
Jimmy Stewart's famous Ode to Beau was probably my best option for a splash screen -- Old Shep is a bit maudlin (but a favorite of my Dad's) and Who Let the Dogs Out is positively manic. No asterisks, no circles, no reveal -- just 5 punny clues that fill to a two word in the language phrase, the second word being a wet-nosed canine (see also 15A for a slobbering comic Easter Egg). The fills are illustrated here with definitions of the full phrase, followed by the canine ...
17A. Service animal for a heavy-metal musician?: ROCK HOUND. Someone who collects rocks and minerals. For anyone with a passing interest in this subject I cannot recommend enough the Golden Nature Guide to Rocks and Minerals by Herbert Zim. This brief book is beautifully illustrated and chock full of info ...
25A. Service animal for a neighborhood cop?: BEAT BOXER. Beat boxing is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. Here French Beatboxer/Singer MB-14 wins the Golden Buzzer on Britain's Got Talent 2023! Check out curmudgeon Simon Cowell's stunned expression ...
The American Kennel Club lists fewer variants of the BOXER breed and cites their loyalty, affection, intelligence, work ethic, and good looks:
Boxer
50A. Service animal for the Energizer mascot?: BUNNY CHOW. Surprise -- this actually turns out to be a South African street food made with aromatic spices, meat, chickpeas and potatoes served in hollow bread. Here's a recipe ...
Bunny Chow
The Chow Chow, often shortened to CHOW, is one of the oldest dog breeds, according to the Chow Chow Club. Historians have pinpointed the Chow Chow’s origins to China’s Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE). They later gained popularity in Europe and, eventually, the U.S.
Chow Chow
35A. Service animal for an airline pilot?: JET SETTER. Entertainers and politicians mostly -- but aren't they the same thing -- people who distract us from what's really going on? 😀
There are many breeds of SETTER, but my favorite is the Irish Setter, a high-spirited dog known for grace, swiftness, and a flashy red coat. They are famously good family dogs: sweet-tempered companions for the folks, and rollicking playmates and tennis-ball fetchers for the children.
Irish Setter
59. Service animal for a swindler's victim?: MARK SPITZ. MARK being slang for the victim of a scam. Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is of course an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, each in world-record time.
Mark Spitz and Suzy Weiner on their wedding day in May 1973
This lively Finnish SPITZ, the flame-colored, foxy-faced breed from the “Land of 60,000 Lakes,” is a small but fearless hunting dog whose unique style of tracking and indicating quarry has earned him the nickname the “Barking Bird Dog.”
Finnish Spitz
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Cheerless: GRIM.
5. Expression: TERM.
9. Language of "The Rubáiyát": FARSI. The Rubáiyát is a poem written by Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia". It is a religious work and is 178 pages long, but the stanza you hear most often is
This passage reminds me a bit of the Song of Songs from the Old Testament.
14. "Mazes and Monsters" novelist Jaffe: RONA. Rona Jaffe (June 12, 1931 – December 30, 2005) was an American novelist who published numerous works from 1958 to 2003. During the 1960s, she also wrote cultural pieces for Cosmopolitan. In 1981, Jaffe published Mazes and Monsters, which depicted a Dungeons & Dragons-like game that caused disorientation and hallucinations among its players and incited them to violence and attempted suicide. In 1982 the book was adapted by CBS into a made-for-TV movie of the same name, featuring a 26-year-old Tom Hanks in one of his earliest appearances.
Rona Jaffe
15. Yellow-and-brown comics dog: ODIE. Definitely not a service dog, but he is a Beagle. Odie is a frequent foil for Garfield the comics cat ...
Odie
16. Folding words: I'M OUT.
17. [Theme clue]
19. Club rule: BYLAW.
20. Courtroom event: TRIAL. Purportedly the most famous criminal trial in U.S. history was The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Former NFL player and actor O. J. Simpson was tried and acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, who were stabbed to death outside Brown's condominium in Los Angeles on June 12, 1994. The trial spanned eight months, from January 24 to October 3, 1995.
21. Family girl: SIS.
23. Esports event with fighting games, familiarly: EVO. The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as EVO, is an American annual esports event that focuses exclusively on fighting games. The tournaments are completely open and use the double elimination format. Here's an Evo 2022 trailer 24. Legitimate-looking facade: FRONT. One of the most famous false fronts was the World War II Allies' elaborate disinformation campaign in the run up to D-Day 1944, codenamed Operation Bodyguard. It was a multi-faceted ruse designed to convince Hitler that the invasion would take place across the English Channel to Pas-de-Calais in Northwestern France rather than the Normandy beaches, and that it would be later than the intended date of June 6th. The plan relied on coordinated deceptions aided by fictitious reports by flipped German double-agents feeding false information back to Hitler; Allied general look-alikes appearing in unexpected places; radio reports of British troops massing in Scotland; dummy aircraft and an armada of decoy landing crafts, composed only of painted canvases pulled over steel frames; and even inflatable tanks that could be easily moved during cover of darkness ...
Dummy Sherman Tank
When the Normandie invasion actually began the Germans were convinced that it was a diversion and that the short route across the Channel was still the intended invasion route. As a result they maintained their formidable Panzer divisions in Calais for at least 48 hours before realizing that they were needed far South of there.
25. [Theme clue]
28. Setting for climbing hills: LOW GEAR. IN A VALLEY was too long.
30. Portable writing surface: LAP DESK. As a modern form the lap desk is meant primarily for use in bed and other similar circumstances, and is also known as a bed desk. There are a variety of forms available, but as a rule it is much smaller and simpler than the antique lap desk, having at the most a small drawer or holding area for a ballpoint pen and a pencil. Lap desks have been around for a while -- here is one dating from the 18th or early 19th century ...
Antique lap desk
31. Income statement abbr.: YTD. Year To Date.
32. Browser subwindow: TAB.
34. Settles in for the night: ROOSTS.
38. One who may be up a creek with a paddle: CANOER. Without one you'd be outta' luck. 😀
41. Part of BTW and FTW: THE. By The Way and For The Win.
42. Minor player: COG. An easily replaceable component?
45. Theologian Thomas: AQUINAS. St. Thomas Aquinas OP (Order of Preachers; c. 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest, an influential philosopher and theologian, and a jurist in the tradition of scholasticism. He devoted himself to synthesizing Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity and he has been described as "the most influential thinker of the medieval period". English philosopher Anthony Kenny called Aquinas "one of the greatest philosophers of the Western world".
St. Thomas Aquinas Altarpiece from Ascoli Piceno, Italy, by Carlo Crivelli (15th century)
47. Event where sculptures move?: ART SALE. All these poor folks were trying to do was take a wefie ...
Moving sculpture
50. [Theme clue].
52. Chipmaker: INTEL. Intel was incorporated in Mountain View, California, on July 18, 1968, by Gordon E. Moore (known for "Moore's law"), a chemist; Robert Noyce, a physicist and co-inventor of the integrated circuit; and Arthur Rock, an investor and venture capitalist. Intel supplies microprocessors for most manufacturers of computer systems (albeit not the one this review is being written on!), and is one of the developers of the x86 series of instruction sets found in most personal computers (PCs).
Intel Headquarters Santa Clara, CA
53. Outlaw: BAN.
54. Make use of: TAP.
55. Service order?: SEALS. A very clever clue. The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting small-unit special operation missions in maritime, ju😟ngle, urban, arctic, mountainous, and desert environments. SEALs are typically ordered to capture or kill high-level targets, or to gather intelligence behind enemy lines. It was Seal Team Six who took out 911 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Navy Seals Insignia
56. Bumbling: INEPT.
59. [Theme clue].
62. Unsettling: EERIE. That scary lake just north of Cleveland, Ohio.😟
63. Aweather's opposite: ALEE.
64. Some pickled pods: OKRA.
65. Jule who composed many Streisand show tunes: STYNE. Jule Styne (December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994)[2] was an English-American songwriter and composer widely known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became successful films: Gypsy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Funny Girl. Here's Barbara Streisand singing People from Funny Girl ...
66. Inappropriate at the office, briefly: NSFW. Not Suitable For Work.
3. Exclusive group: IN CROWD. No COGS in this group.
4. Bringing in: MAKING.
5. 49-Down product: TOOL. E.g. a ratchet wrench ...
6. UPenn's domain: EDU.
7. Hose off: RINSE.
8. In the center, in anatomy: MEDIAL. The practice of medicine requires precise terms for the location of anatomical entities. Here are some of the main terms.
9. White lie: FIB.
10. "Vice" Oscar nominee Adams: AMY. Vice is a 2018 American biographical political satire black comedy film directed, written, and produced by Adam McKay. The cast of this film include Christian Bale as former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, with Amy Adams as his wife Lynne. The film follows Cheney on his path to becoming the most powerful vice president in American history.
11. Pricey watches: ROLEXES. This one can be yours for only $117,399 ...
12. Most sophisticated: SUAVEST. ... and you'll be the SUAVEST person in your neighborhood.
13. "I guess that's acceptable": IT WORKS. In my experience IT often doesn't work! 🙄
24. Fruit __: FLY. Who knew that the lowly FRUIT FLY, AKA Drosophila Melanogaster, the tiny pest that shows up in the Fall when fruits start to ferment, would turn out to be a lynchpin of modern genetics. In 1910 Thomas Hunt Morgan began using fruit flies in experimental studies of heredity at Columbia University in a laboratory known as the Fly Room. Several factors make them ideal for studying genetics:
their simplicity -- they have only 4 chromosomes, compared with 23 in humans;
their reproduction rate -- a single pair of flies can produce hundreds of offspring within a couple of weeks, and the offspring become sexually mature within one week;
the large size of the chromosomes in their salivary glands -- making them easy to study with a microscope.
Morgan and his students eventually elucidated many basic principles of heredity, including sex-linked inheritance, epistasis, multiple alleles, and gene mapping, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for his discoveries elucidating the role that the chromosome plays in heredity.
25. Garments with cups: BRAS. Or 236.59 ccs when measured with the metric system. 😀
26. Fraternal gp.: BPOE. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City. Remember, like the word deer, ELK is never pluralized.
BPOE Logo
27. Smell: ODOR. The dark side of the other crosswordese term AROMA.
29. Draw in: ATTRACT. E.g. fruit ATTRACTS 24Ds.
33. Stake: BET.
35. Enlist: JOIN.
36. Li'l: EENY. Like 24Ds.
37. Become friendlier: THAW.
38. Taxi drivers: CABBIES.
39. Hair spray brand: AQUA NET. Use it to playfully nag your locks ... 😀
Aqua Net
40. Convent: NUNNERY. A cloister where NUNS live and pray. SISTERS pray, but live andserve in the secular world.
42. Gracefully stealthy: CAT LIKE. Garfield is a CAT (see 15A),sometimes stealthy, but never graceful.
43. Fat substitute: OLESTRA. Olestra (also known by its brand name Olean) is a fat substitute food additive that adds no metabolizable calories to products. It has been used in the preparation of otherwise high-fat foods, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content.
Olestra 3D structure
Starting in 1996, an FDA-mandated health warning label reads "This Product Contains Olestra. Olestra may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools. Olestra inhibits the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients. Vitamins A, D, E, and K have been added". YMMV.
44. Set: GEL.
46. High priest who heals the sick: SHAMAN. A practitioner of Shamanism.
Buryat (Mongolian) shaman on Olkhon Island, Siberia
48. Knots: TIES. Both words can be a verb or a noun.
49. Wisconsin manufacturer founded as a wrench company in 1920: SNAP-ON. Snap-on Incorporated, headquartered in Kenosha, Wisconsin is an American designer, manufacturer, and marketer of high-end tools and equipment for professional use in the transportation industry including the automotive, heavy duty, equipment, marine, aviation, and railroad industries. Snap-on was founded as the Snap-on Wrench Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1920 by Joseph Johnson and William Seidemann -- the business manufactured and marketed ten sockets that would "snap on" to five interchangeable handles (see 5D). Anyone who tinkers with car engines or other machines finds socket wrenches indispensable.
51. Milky gems: OPALS.
55. Misrepresent, as data: SKEW. The misrepresentation of data by skewing is common in the advertising industry and is taken for granted. Misrepresentation of data in science is much more serious and may be the result of either unintentional error or outright fraud.
57. ATM code: PIN. Personal Identification Number.
58. Comfy top: TEE.
60. Field worker?: REF. As in the REFEREE on a football field.
61. Nuke: ZAP.
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
I do not recognize the constructor of today's puzzle, and congratulations are in order if this be their LA Times debut~! I am not entirely sure I grasped the theme - can't be sure I get how it connects with two of the "*" starred clues exactly. Add to that over a dozen proper names, and I have to give this a mere "⭐⭐" rating, despite the fact that it's a shout-out to yours truly, Splynter, who in the "real" word is "Rich". The theme answers;
17. *Layered dessert with coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache: OPERA CAKE - pretty much THE definition of a RICH cake
25. *Evergreen used to make incense: SANDALWOOD - the plant wood is RICH in fragrant oils, and highly aromatic - also used in perfumes, and expensive
I not sure I even know what the scent smells like. . . .
36. *Silicon Valley success story: TECH BILLIONAIRE - my last fill was the "B", which I had as "M", so a Natick of a theme crossing a name. . . . "BOO~!" - the better use of this 14A. word
The "original" tech billionaire, IMHO, Bill Gates, $106.1B-worth RICH
46. *Triangular landform: RIVER DELTA - A river delta is RICH in sediments; a river is rich because it has TWO BANKS~! Ba-dum-tiss
Kachemak Bay, Alaska
56. "You're one to talk!," or what can be said about the answers to the starred clues: THAT'S RICH - THAT'S RICH (Splynter) on the left in the picture above, with Seamus, loading a pipe organ case in Glens Falls NY
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. All the rage: HOT
4. "Same here": "DITTO." - from the Latin dictus, "said"
9. "CBS News Sunday Morning" correspondent Mo: ROCCA - name #1, but I do know of him
14. Sweetie: BOO - not a fan of this type of "abbreviation". Period.
15. Strike caller?: UNION - I read that the East & Gulf coast Dockworkers went on strike, but then suspended it until January - which seems to defeat the purpose of a strike, but it means our economy won't collapse before the upcoming Christmas season. . . .😜
31. Cooped (up): PENT - I would not mind being cooped up in a PENT house
33. Network that airs many MGM and RKO films: TCM - Turner Classic Movies
40. CIA forerunner: OSS - crossword staple; the Office of Secret Strategic Services
41. Mountain route: PASS
42. Eatery with its own lingo: DINER - A Greasy Spoon List from Wikipedia
43. Bridge: SPAN - I love the architecture of bridges; this one is in Frawnche Bordeaux
Longest Lift Bridge in Europe, the Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas
45. Cashless exchange: BARTER
51. Game with a rhyming name: I SPY
52. Performs penance: ATONES
53. Wheelchair-bound "Glee" teen: ARTIE - name #3, had him once this past year, so I "64A." knew it
55. Up: RAISE - meh. Give me a sentence with a one-to-one swap of these two words
60. Discovery astronaut Ochoa: ELLEN - I knew this one, but still a name, #4
61. Pigpens: STIES
62. Shade of green: PEA
63. Map lines: ROADS
64. Rather, informally: KINDA - Sorta like, you know, slang
65. Outside the mainstream, genrewise: ALTernative - I like the Vevo video channel Alternative 80s
DOWN:
1. "House of the Dragon" network: HBO - shoulda known this; my buddy insisted that I watch "Game of Thrones" because I like castles and dragons, but that's not the only thing going on in the series
I don't have HBO, and I've only seen scenes of GoT
2. Alley-__: OOP
3. Low digit?: TOE - crossword comedy
4. Binary: DUAL
5. Carve: INCISE - dah~! not SCULPT
6. Disney princess voiced by Anika Noni Rose: TIANA - Disney's The Princess & The Frog - name #5
7. Arcade coin: TOKEN
8. "Best Song Ever" singers __ Direction: ONE - name #6, don't know this 'boy band'
9. Without thinking things through: RASHLY
10. Canadian capital: OTTAWA - CanadianEh~!, hockey is here~! ( name-ish)
11. Spanish "Of course": CLARO - Filled via perps; I really should learn a second language
12. __ shorts: garment with lots of pockets: CARGO
THATS NOT "RICH"
13. Inquired: ASKED
18. Peppery salad slice: RADISH - Ah. Took me two passes before I got it
21. Poem division: CANTO - A long subsection of an epic or long narrative poem, such as Dante Alighieri’s Commedia (The Divine Comedy)
22. Muse for poets: ERATO - crossword staple, still a name #7
26. "Dune" and "Dune: Part Two" director Villeneuve: DENIS - name #9 - I cannot get into "DUNE"
28. DOI head Haaland: DEB - name #10 - Dept of the Interior - her website
31. Jet: PLANE
32. Raised trains: ELs - Seamus, in the Pipe Organ picture above, is from Chicago, known for its ELevated trains
33. Shades: TINTS - as in color tones, not window treatments
34. Advance slowly: CREEP
35. "__ Christmas!": "MERRY~!"
37. Apple tablets: iPADS - I am PC
38. Confidentiality contract, for short: NDA - Non-Disclosure Agreement - I have three board games I have "invented", and would like to get published/produced, but I cannot go to any company without having some sort of 'theft protection' - and a patent costs about $3K
39. Less stuffy: AIRIER
43. Had a feeling: SENSED
"I've A Very Bad Feeling About This"
44. Primps: PREENS - good for "PR" - get it~?
45. Went for a run?: BATTED - baseball reference for C.C.
46. Less common: RARER
47. Novelist Calvino: ITALO - name #11
48. "Behold!": "VOILA~!" - Frawnche
49. Christine of the Paramount+ series "Evil": LAHTI - name #12 - her IMDb
50. Coach: TRAIN - ooh, I got this; I guessed at the 'verb' definition
54. Rae of "Barbie": ISSA - crossword staple, still a name #13
56. Sound of shame: TSK
57. Hoppy brew, for short: IPA - every other crossword
58. Cartoon frame: CEL
59. Pillbox, for one: HAT - standard uniform item in the 60s, for most airlines
