Saturday, Dec 12th, 2015, Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: "Ol' Blue Eyes"

Words: 71 (missing J,Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 32

  Well, our Mr. Friday puzzle-constructor makes a rare appearance on Saturday, and carries on with a theme, too~!  A left-right symmetrical grid, with triple 7-letter corners and two "spanners" of 9-letters that are part of the theme.  I wonder if Jeffrey originally tried to work "blue eyes" into the lower left corner at 64a....A few proper names slowed me down, and some misdirection had me off to a slow start, but I did get the "ta-DA~!" - only after I went back and corrected one bad cell.  So, the theme answers;

1. 8-Across member born 12/12/1915 : SINATRA - Frank - his Wiki - I was born in NJ, too~!

Frankie calls the shots

8. Group formed in the '50s : RAT PACK

26. 1-Across hit : THAT'S LIFE

52. 1-Across hit : HIGH HOPES
 

Carry - on - ward ~!

ACROSS:

15. Threatening : OMINOUS

16. Friendly : AMIABLE

17. Super Bowl XXXIII team : FALCONS - I can never remember, and the Roman numerals don't help; waited on perps - I can hardly remember who played in last year's Stanley Cup, once the Rangers were eliminated....

18. New Amsterdam landowner : PATROON - ah, like those who once owned a part of upstate NY that Spitz and I know well....

19. 1958 Pulitzer-winning author : AGEE

20. Moves slowly : SEEPS - or OOZES~?  Had to wait, but the last "S" went in

22. Youngest of the musical Gibb brothers : ANDY - WAG; the others are Barry, Robin and Maurice - these three known together as the "Bee Gees" - the Wiki

23. Antarctica's __ Sea : ROSS - I knew this, but it took R--S for it to come to me

24. Popular side : FRIES - ah, side dish, got it

25. Road Runner cartoon background element : MESA

29. Keep down : OPPRESS - dah~!  Not SUpress or REpress

32. Show of condescension : SNICKER

36. Longtime CBS journalist Charles : KURALT - my one bad cell; don't know how I thought OCAY was OKAY

37. Lament : GRIEVE

38. Part of the Maldives : ATOLL - um, yeah, part....

39. AAA TripTik alternative : GPS - I don't care which one you use, just try not to be "lost" in front of me when driving....

42. Ameliorates : EASES

43. Diner's exclamation : YUM - had no clue at first; then I tried M M M - that's a mere 33%

44. Quick drink : SHOOTER - she didn't bartend where I used to drink....

47. "I feel thee __ I see thy face": Keats : ERE

48. Notice : SPOT

50. Vent emanations : ODORS - not GASES

51. Game in which the player is called the Stranger : MYST - I made it through some of the first game, but it takes a lot of mental concentration to figure it out - there's also a sequel, Riven

55. Woman's name meaning "heavenly" : CELESTE - pretty; I have three names I'd like to give my girls - if I ever have kids....

58. "Garbage in, garbage out" subject : BAD DATA

62. Rainy U.S. capital : OLYMPIA - Washington state - and a place I'd like to live, because it rains a lot

63. Equipped : ENDOWED

64. Innocent-looking : DOE-EYED

65. Dusk : DAY'S END - not EVENING....and not DAY SEND, as I first read it

DOWN:

1. Until now : SO FAR - argh~! Not AS YET

2. Insect stage : IMAGO - DaH~! Not LARVA

3. Longtime radio/TV announcer Wendell __ : NILES - perps and WAG

4. Inherited, perhaps : ANCESTRAL

5. Overly : TOO

6. Malfunctions, as a watch : RUNS FAST - I had GOES FAST, but I was fairly certain the theme was SINATRA

7. Makes a case for : ASSERTS

8. Alpine rescue maneuvers : RAPPELS

9. Getting together : AMASSING

10. Small songbird : TIT

11. Slide subjects : PARAMECIA

12. Have __ to pick : A BONE

13. Oafs : CLODS

14. One of its official languages is Swahili : KENYA

21. Bordeaux : glace :: Berlin : __ : EIS :: London : ice  (look away Tin~!)

27. "__ Kitchen": Gordon Ramsay show : HELL'S - I did watch it for the first season or two

28. Personnel manager, at times : FIRER

29. Approves of : OKAYS

30. Something to do with dukes? : PUT UP - "put up yer dukes~!"

31. PSA, say : PROMO

33. Nurse Ratched creator : KESEY - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - which swept the "big five" Oscars - there were only two other movies to do so, and I was shocked to find out about the 1991 winner

34. Activist Medgar : EVERS - perps and WAG

35. Go back to zero : RESET

39. Divinity : GODHEAD

40. "Oh, bother" speaker : POOH

41. Pulsed, as light show effects : STROBED

45. Restrict : HOGTIE

46. Miró's birthplace, to Miró : ESPAÑA - Spain, to us locals....is it me, or has the Frawnche dropped off~?

49. Motif : THEME - rarely found in a Saturday puzzle

51. Early PC system : MS-DOS

53. Traveling game : I SPY

54. Rapids feature : EDDY

55. Marine oil source : COD

56. Symphonic rock gp. : ELO

57. Pipe cleaner : LYE

59. Knock the socks off : AWE - this style knocks MY socks off

60. X, sometimes : TEN

61. Say further : ADD

Spot on yesterday, Lemonade - my condolences to you as well

Splynter

Friday, December 11, 2015, Kristian House

Theme: Hats off to Mr. Kristian.

Mr. House returns after a five year absence from the LAT during which he  has 14 or so NYT publications. The theme is rather simple with the second word of each theme fill being a form of 'headgear' but resulting in a phrase that has a very different meaning. No reveal needed. Only 8 three letter fill and some sparkle with  CRATERS,  LESSONS,  ORINOCO,  REDOUBT, AD BLOCKER, NAME DROPS. Overall not as hard as I expected when I saw the byline.

17A. Headgear not for amateurs? : PRO BOWLER (9). A CSO to Boomer.

27A. Headgear for a certain batting champ? : TRIPLE CROWN (11). The man with the most three base hits and a term for someone who leads the league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. Also a horse racing goal accomplished this year for the first time in 29 years.

47A. Headgear for some skaters? : ROLLER DERBY (11).

64A. Headgear for contract negotiations? : SALARY CAP (9).

Across:

1. Two of its members wrote the music for "Chess" : ABBA. Once again...this MUSICAL has not been a success in the US.

5. Angling trophy : BASS. Is the fish the trophy?

9. Not sour : ON KEY. Friday cluing.

14. Chillax : LOLL.

15. Horn accessory : MUTE. JzB?

16. Kitchen feature : RANGE.

19. Qualifying words : I MEAN. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

20. Bunk : HOKUM. Two made up words.

21. License-issuing org. : DMV. Department of Motor Vehicles. Driver's licenses.

22. They're not optional : NEEDS.

23. Weak : ANEMIC.

25. Career grand slam leader : AROD. His batting coach last year was Barry Bonds.

33. Princess friend of Dorothy : OZMA. In every book but the first one and in Baum's words, "Her eyes sparkled as two diamonds, and her lips were tinted like a tourmaline. All adown her back floated tresses of ruddy gold, with a slender jeweled circlet confining them at the brow."

37. Gibbon, for one : APE.

38. Dr. Howser of '80s-'90s TV : DOOGIE. I bet  most do not associate this series with others created by Bochco and Kelley 

39. Done __ : DEED. Deal seemed so right.

40. Sierra follower, in the NATO alphabet : TANGO.

42. Stiff : PRIM.

43. Facilitate : ENABLE.

45. Torque symbol, in mechanics : TAU. Please Fermat and Bill G, tell us more.

46. Utah state flower : SEGO.

50. Bologna bone : OSSO. Just the Italian word.

51. Work together : TEAM UP.

56. Spy plane acronym : AWACS. Airborne Warning and Control System,

59. Tolkien race member : ELF.

62. Poor treatment : ABUSE.

63. Breadcrumbs used in Asian cuisine : PANKO. Per wiki  Panko is made from bread baked by electrical current, which yields a bread without a crust, and then grinding the bread to create fine slivers of crumb. Come from Japan which learned about bread from Europeans.

66. A lot : OFTEN.

67. Camera that uses 70mm film : IMAX. Where I watched Avatar.

68. Junk, say : SHIP. Asian again, tricky. What you need to KNOW.

69. Shows signs of life : STIRS.

70. A mullet covers it : NAPE. Name the movie?

71. Xperia manufacturer : SONY. They make smart phones and tablets.

Down:

1. __-Bits : ALPHA. A crossword puzzle dream.

2. Element between beryllium and carbon on the periodic table : BORON.
Boring.

3. Chap : BLOKE. Nice Cuppa, Steve...

4. "Help!" is one : ALBUM. Beatles album and movie.

5. German import : BMW. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG  English: Bavarian Motor Works.

6. Word sung in early January : AULD.

7. Watch part : STEM.

8. Spotted wildcat : SERVAL. To me it looks like a leopard mated with a bunny  and then....

9. River under the Angostura Bridge : ORINOCO. Interesting. LINK.

10. Tries to impress, in a way : NAME DROPS. Like knowing someone famous makes you better; so silly. I remember saying that when I was in the elevator with John Lennon at the Continental Hyatt House...

11. Dummy's place : KNEE. So many come to mind

12. "Good heavens!" : EGAD.

13. Hankerings : YENS.

18. Insult in an Oscar acceptance speech, perhaps : OMIT. Don't forget the make up girl.

24. Significant depressions : CRATERS. Not mood swings.

26. Defensive fortification : REDOUBT. This was NEW to me, the perps brought it home.

28. Bar brew, briefly : IPA. India Pale Ale.

29. Board game using stones : PENTE. Sounds like a derivative GAME.

30. Fiend : OGRE.

31. "SNL" alum with Hader and Samberg : WIIG. Does she pass the Splynter test?

32. Fictional captain : NEMO. 20,000 reasons to remember.

33. River through Frankfurt : ODER. On my list of 4 letter European rivers to remember.

34. Philosopher known for his "Achilles and the Tortoise" paradox : ZENO. It is mostly speculation but he did influence Plato and Aristotle. LINK.

35. Ground grain : MEAL.

36. Pop-up prevention : AD BLOCKER. Nice new fill.

41. Sharp-toothed fish : GAR.

44. Course components : LESSONS. Sorry HG and BE, not a golf course.

48. Rubs out : DOES IN.

49. Oenophile's concern : YEAR.

52. Deep space : ABYSS.

53. Oodles of, in slang : MUCHO. Usually with dinero.

54. Bolt like lightning? : USAIN.

55. Raring to go : PEPPY.

56. Mil. mail drops : APOS. Army Post Office

57. Drift, as smoke : WAFT.

58. Fighting : ANTI.

60. Dharma teacher : LAMA.

61. Door in the woods : FLAP.

65. Tin Man's tool : AXE. An ending toast to our own de-icer and my favorite unknown band. LISTEN.

On that musical note, lemonade out. I hope you all have a great party weekend, our office starts today with the ugly sweater contest, problem, nobody owns sweaters here.

ah well.

Note from C.C.: 

I'm sad to let you know that Lemonade's brother passed away yesterday. Lemonade was very close to his two brothers, now both have left this world. Here is a "Hard to Believe" childhood photo Lemonade shared with our blog regulars in 2011. Lemonade is the one in the middle.

Thursday, December 10th 2015 Jerome Gunderson

Theme: Steve! This blogger's initials are added to the start of each theme entry to create a wacky new phrase.

17A. Airline seating for Mensa members? : SMART CLASS. I just took this online IQ Test out of curiosity. I'm not sure how accurate these things are, but I think I came out about where I expected.

65A. Mickey Rooney and Danny DeVito? : SMALL STARS. At 5'2", Rooney towered over DeVito by a mighty two inches. Danny's portrayal of Louie on "Taxi" is one of my favorites.

10D. Overly ingratiating little devils? : SMARMY BRATS

25D. "Hee-Haw" humor, but just a touch? : SMEAR OF CORN. And possibly an apt way to describe the theme entries?

Howdy, folks! Of course Jerome didn't construct this puzzle with me in mind, but I wasn't quite sure how to describe the theme so this seemed as good an explanation as any. Two theme entries across-wise and two downwards for a total of 42 squares leaves a lot of room for some nice fill, which is what we get. Very little in the way of crossword-ese makes for a smooth solve.

Across:

1. Mennonite sect : AMISH

6. Nasty bit of trickery : SCAM

10. Chopped side : SLAW. Food! I made some just the other day - both white and red cabbage and carrots.

14. Trunk full of organs? : TORSO. Fun clue.

15. "Casablanca" heroine : ILSA. Played by the wonderful Ingrid Bergman.

16. Speck : MOTE

19. Milne's Hundred __ Wood : ACRE. Based on the beautiful landscape of the Ashdown Forest in Sussex, England. Milne lived on the northern edge of the forest in a house subsequently owned by the Rolling Stones' ill-starred guitarist Brian Jones.

20. Fire dept. employee : E.M.T.

21. Many ages : AEON. Four of these in the Earth's geological history - Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic and Phanerozoic. We all knew that, right?

22. Out of the country : ABROAD

24. Subordinate's yes : AYE SIR

26. Jewish folklore creature : GOLEM. Nailed it! Cropped up enough times in crosswords to finally stick in my brain.

28. He's a horse, of course : MR. ED. I'll go right to the source.

30. Watched for the evening, say : BABYSAT

34. Bar in a shower : CAKE. SOAP went in, SOAP came out.

37. Mark of approval : SEAL

39. Justice Kagan appointer : OBAMA

40. WWII threat : U-BOAT. I caused myself a couple of do-overs in this area when I had *BO** and immediately saw "H-BOMB". Wrong.

42. Andy Capp's spouse : FLO

43. Preen : PRIMP

44. Mulligan, for one : RETRY. Named for golfer David Mulligan, a member of Winged Foot golf club in the 1920's.

45. Counting-out word : EENY

47. Natural balm : ALOE

48. Embarrassing mistake : BLOOPER

50. Antihero? : GOAT

52. Big spread : FEAST

54. Like Yogi or Smokey : URSINE

58. One of the haves : FAT CAT

61. Prefix with port : HELI-. Here's a particularly vertigo-inducing example at the top of the Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai.

63. Constrictive creature : BOA

64. Empty auditorium effect : ECHO

68. Management level : TIER

69. Electrified atoms : IONS

70. Like some reprimands : TERSE

71. Shangri-la : EDEN

72. Goddess of victory : NIKE. Adidas is the German god of victory, or did I make that up?

73. Resting places : OASES

Down:

1. On the main : AT SEA

2. Toddler's gleeful shout : MOMMY!

3. More than just annoyed : IRATE

4. Abbr. on old Eurasian maps : S.S.R. Plenty of these in this example:

5. Windbag's output : HOT AIR

6. Grain holder : SILO

7. Metallic sound : CLANG

8. Donkey : ASS

9. Tandoori __: South Asian spice mix : MASALA. Food! This is my tin - I go through  a lot of this stuff, so I get three or four at a time when I go to the Indian market. The tins are vacuum-sealed, so keep pretty well in the pantry.

11. Daft : LOCO

12. Gillette razor : ATRA

13. Location-dependent plant designation : WEED

18. First known asteroid : CERES. Discovered by one Guiseppe Piazzi in 1801, it was first considered a planet, then suffered a Pluto-style downgrade in the 1850's.

23. Coltrane genre : BEBOP

27. Billiard table shape : OBLONG. A hockey rink is an oblong also. Oblongs can have rounded or square ends.

29. Postpones : DEFERS

31. Advance using wind : SAIL

32. Big bang cause, sometimes : AMMO

33. Sticky stuff : TAPE

34. Street border : CURB

35. Explorer Tasman : ABEL. Whence Tasmania and the Tasman Straits.

36. Japanese relative of the zither : KOTO. The immensely-talented June Kuramoto appeared with her band Hiroshima at my local music venue earlier this year. She described her koto as "a surfboard with strings".

38. Sierra Nevada product : ALE. The brewing company, not the mountain range.

41. Very ambitious sort : TYPE A. I'm more of a "B".

46. "__ be sorry!" : YOU'LL

49. Cancels the reservation, maybe : EATS IN

51. Blue blood, for short : ARISTO. My last fill. Nice word! The letter sequence doesn't immediately give the game away, especially with the final "O".

53. Express gratitude to : THANK

55. Structural beams : I-BARS

56. Old language that gives us "berserk" : NORSE. Coming up against a berserker or two bent on marauding mayhem was pretty much guaranteed to ruin your day.

57. Moves with care : EASES

58. Big bash : FÊTE

59. Battery fluid : ACID

60. Passé pronoun : THEE

62. Otherwise : ELSE

66. Miss Piggy tagline : MOI

67. Bigelow's Sweet Dreams, e.g. : TEA

Here's the grid, and that's all from me!

Steve

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015 Kurt Krauss

Theme: DIVESTITURES, being the opposite of mergers, in which companies come together.  For today's theme, they come apart. To make sense of this, let's part with tradition and start with the unifier.

38 A. Went different ways ... or what each of six sets of circled letters literally represents : PARTED COMPANY.   Anyone who has an Ex or two can relate. But here, COMPANY means a profit oriented business organization.  In the grid, COMPANY names are bookends in the theme fill, PARTED by the central letters.   The letters in the names are indicated with circles in the grid.  If you didn't get them, then the whole thing was probably baffling.

18 A. WWI aircraft : TRIPLANE.  A fixed wing aircraft with three vertically stacked wing planes.  TRANE COMPANY makes heating and air conditioning units for homes.

20 A. They may coordinate with floor mats : SEAT COVERS.  Automotive interior accessories.  SEARS is a chain of department stores founded in 1886

29 A. Bedstead part : FOOT BOARD.  Bedstead is a word you don't see every day.  It is the framework that holds the box springs and mattress.  At a minimum, there will be a head board, FOOT BOARD and side rails of some nature.  FORD is a venerable maker of automobiles and light trucks.

45 A. In the opposite order : VICE VERSA.  Silly me.  I thought this was about DF poetry.  But no, it's a reversal.  You can call me collect and VICE VERSA the charges.  VISA is an American-based multi-national financial services company.  Per Wikipedia, they "do not issue credit cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers; rather, Visa provides financial institutions with Visa-branded payment products that they then use to offer credit, debit, prepaid and cash-access programs to their customers."   

58. Some deal closers : HAND SHAKES.  One of my musician friends just got stiffed on a HAND SHAKE agreement.  His advice, and I think our in-house legal staff would concur, is to always get it in writing.  HANES is probably best known for their undergarments, but they also make other types of clothing for men, women, and children.

62. Hit-by-pitch consequence : DEAD BALL.  Baseball.  DEAD BALL is a type of official time out, when the ball is not playable, and runners may not advance farther than they are forced.  In the hit-by-pitch situation, the hit batter is awarded first base.  A runner on that base advances to 2nd base, but no farther.  Runners on other bases stay put until play is again commenced.

Each company name consists of either 4 or 5 letters.  The 4 letter names are parted 2 and 2, while the 5 letter words are parted either 2 and 3 or 3 and 2 - as close to the middle as you can get.  The six theme entries are arranged symmetrically, with the unifier in the middle.  It's a pretty elegant construction.

Hi, Gang - Jazzbumpa here.  Let's see what else we can find.

Across:

1. Under the weather : LAID UP.  Ill and unavailable - probably in bed, laying down.  Thank you English language.

7. Like cotton candy : SPUN.  Cotton candy is spun sugar.

11. Fund-raising org. : PTA.  Parent Teacher's Association, with school fund raisers.

14. Provoke : INCITE.   From the Latin, in + citare, to arouse.

15. Subtle glow : AURA.

16. Trip segment : LEG.

17. Utopian : EDENIC.  Two versions of perfect, idealized existence.

22. Quarterback's target : END.   In American football, an eligible pass receiver.  Richard Rodgers is one for Green Bay.  I don't want to talk about it.

23. Payroll deduction : TAX.

24. Volcanic debris : ASH.  Last Thursday morning, crossword favorite Mt. Etna erupted, spewing ASH 10,000 feet into the sky.  The lava fountain was close to a mile high.  It was all over in less than an hour.

25. Big maker of chips : INTEL.   Computer innards.

27. Till compartment : ONES.   This had me scratching my head till I remembered that till was the cash register drawer, having separate compartments for different bill denominations.  Still seems a bit awkward.

33. MSN, for one : ISP.  MicroSoft Network is an Internet Service Provider.

36. Meander : ROAM.   Rove also fits.  Wander does not.

37. Under the weather : ILL.  Possibly LAID UP or laying down, and a genuine clecho.

42. Homer's path : ARC.  Where did Homer ROAM while writing the Odyssey?  Homer Simpson's path would likely take him to Moe's.  But the path of an air-borne struck baseball is an ARC, and a home run, aka HOMER, is one example.

43. Middle name on many patents : ALVA.   Thomas ALVA Edison [1947- 1931], holder of 1093 U. S. patents in a variety of technologies.  

44. BYU or NYU : SCH.  Brigham Young University and New York University are both Schools.

48. Modern address starter : HTTP.  HyperText Transfer Protocol, by which we communicate at The Corner and all over the net, represents the first 4 characters of a web-site address.

52. Tickle : AMUSE.  Have delightful fun.

53. __ in November : N AS.  Initially speaking.

56. Mama bear, in Madrid : OSA.  OSA, a bear, a female bear - En Español.

57. 1980s Peppard co-star : MR. T.  From the A-Team.

64. West Point students : CADETS.  At the U. S. Military Academy

65. Corner key : ESCape.  On our computer keyboard - but who would want to escape from The Corner?

66. Italian noble family : ESTE.  Dating from at least the 10th century, the elder branch produced German dukes, the British Hanover line, and Czar Ivan VI of Russia.  I read somewhere once that as early as the 12th century, European royalty was so inbred it was almost impossible to find someone to marry who wasn't a cousin.  These days if you're related to any European royalty, you're related to all of them.

67. Danish port named for a Norse god : ODENSE.  Denmark's 3rd largest city.  The name is derived from words meaning "Oden's sanctuary."  The site has been inhabited for over 4000 years.  The city celebrated its millennium in 1988.

68. Pen : STY.  For piggies.

69. Hammer-wielding god : THOR.  His name is derived from the same old Germanic root as our word thunder, and also gives us our name for the Day Thursday.

70. Got nervous, with "up" : TENSED.   In need of a massage or a stiff drink.  I like to relax by AMUSing myself with VICE VERSA. 

Down

1. Deliberately misinforms : LIES TO.  Why am I thinking of Pinocchio?

2. Like llamas : ANDEAN.   From the Andes mountains.  Though these new world humpless camel wanna-bes probably originated in the North American great plains 40 million years ago, they were gone from the homeland by the last ice age. 

3. Mountaineering aid : ICE AXE.  For chopping hand and foot holds.

4. Effort : DINT.  Originally a forceful blow, or the mark left by one, which does require some effort.

5. City in New York's Mohawk Valley : UTICA.    On RT. 90 between Syracuse and Albany.

6. Cowboy legend __ Bill : PECOS.   A fictional character of pseudo-folklore, invented by Edward O'Reilly and first published in Century Magazine in 1917.

7. Fill and then some : SATE.  Or simply filled to the maximum.

8. Run smoothly : PURR.  Like a well tuned engine.

9. "The Haj" novelist : URIS.  Leon.  This novel, published in 1984, relates the experiences of a Palestinian family caught up in the historical events of 1920's through the '50's.

10. Siesta : NAP.  En Español.

11. Often-fried tropical fruit : PLANTAIN.   Looks like an oversized banana.

12. With affection : TENDERLY.   Like this.

13. "Act your __!" : AGE.   Not me.  My motto is, "What I lack in youth, I make up for with immaturity!"

19. Fallon's predecessor : LENO.   Late night TV hosts.

21. TV channels 2-13 : VHF.  Very High Frequency.  Higher channels are Ultra High Frequency.

25. Computer debut of 1981 : IBM PC.  Needs no explanation.

26. Cholesterol initials : LDL.   Low Density Lipoprotein.   Lipoproteins transport lipids (fats, waxes, sterols) in the blood stream.  The High Density variety are more effective at moving cholesterol and fats.  The LDL's are more likely to allow these molecules to plate out onto the arterial walls causing atherosclerosis.  This gives rise to the confusing bad/good cholesterol concept.  You want to keep your LDL Low and your HDL High.   It's worth noting that - despite decades of misleading advertising - since cholesterol is produced in every cell of the body, there is absolutely no relationship between cholesterol in the blood stream and cholesterol in the diet.  Things that do matter are total fat intake, LDL (animal fat) to HDL (vegetable oil) ratio, and exercise.

28. Title for Noël Coward : SIR.   Like this flamboyant, witty English composer, playwright, singer and actor, I'd rather be knighted than benighted.

30. Seal-hunting swimmers : ORCAS.   Killer whales.

31. Valentine card hugs : O-O-O.  Symbolically speaking. ( O )

32. Flat hats : TAMS.

34. Barrel support : STAVE.

35. Soccer legend who turned 75 in 2015 : PELE.

38. Most like a schoolmarm : PRIMMEST.   It's "marm" that elicits the PRIM image, rather than a generic idea of a teacher

39. Precision : ACCURACY.  Sorry, but this is not ACCURATE.  ACCURACY is hitting the bull's eye. Precision is placing all your shots together, even if they miss the target.   A good shooter has both.

40. Device for binge-watching : DVR.  Digital Video Recorder.

41. "How relaxing!" : AHH.   Indulging in a 70A cure, perhaps.

42. Gardner of the silver screen : AVA.

46. Cornerstone abbr. : EST'D.   Established.

47. Furthermore : AND.  Also, too, additionally, to boot.

49. Arcade coins : TOKENS.  Did you ever present someone with an arcade coin of your esteem?

50. African threat : TSETSE.  Blood-sucking vermin and unpleasant carrier of sleeping sickness. It is refreshing to see the whole fly, though.

51. Got a C in, say : PASSED. Got by in a mediocre fashion.

54. Knotted neckwear : ASCOT.

55. Relief from the sun : SHADE.  Trees, umbrellas, tall buildings  .  .  .

58. Diner breakfast order : HASH.  With eggs, presumably.

59. Chorus line? : ALTO.    Alto is, of course, one of the voices.  A composer might write an ALTO part.  Line, though - that's a stretch, and I'm not fond of it.

60. Card or D'back : NLER.  National Leaguer in major league baseball.  One occasionally encounters NLER and it's counterpart ALER outside of crossword puzzles.  Though I love baseball,  I would like to not see them anywhere.

61. Yemeni seaport : ADEN.   On the gulf of Aden, the upper western arm of the Arabian Sea.

62. __ Moines : DES.   Originally, Fort DES Moines, the capital of Iowa and its largest city, nestled along the banks of the river for which it is named, possibly from the French for "River of the Monks."    

63. Wager : BET.

That wraps it up.  I had my nits, but overall, a pretty nice solving experience.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Cool regards!
JzB




P.S. Here's a bonus.  Since it's December 9th, and according to the song, it's OK to get that Christmas spirit into gear.   Happy Holidays!





Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Hahtoola, who has given us so many inspiring quotes on the days she visits the blog. How are you doing, Hahtoola? Traveled to any exotic places this year?

The Corn Poppy