Friday, February 24, 2017, Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: G, where shall you go? Of course, to the beginning!

JW returns with a simple add a letter to the start of a phrase to create a new one, with a humorous definition. As with any puzzle based on humor, YMMV. I was Greatly impressed at the inclusion of 2 grid-spanning fill that worked. I would guess one of the 15 letter fill popped in his head, and this puzzle followed. He also included some very sparkly fill: ROADSIDES,  I'LL GO NEXT,  RADIO DIAL and ONION DOME a term which I did not recall. I found a hidden treasure but that might just be a product of the pain killers. We will now examine all the evidence....

17A. Domestic shamelessness? : GALL IN THE FAMILY (15). The ground breaking TV SERIES (0:56) gets re-purposed with a an impudent definition clue.

26A. Near giveaway at the liquor store? : GIN FOR A PENNY (12). In for a pound...they do sell many of the airline size bottles at my local liquor store but no GIN and not for a penny.

41A. Fort Knox? : GOLD DOMINION (12). I doubt if Jeffrey had this BREWERY in mind when he chose Old Dominion as his seed phrase but I like the juxtaposition.

53A. Result of way too many leaves in the eaves? : GUTTER CONFUSION (15). This is my favorite themer, both the rhyme and the picture painted by the clue/fill. Maybe he started here?

Okay on to the rest...

Across:

1. Test in which contrasts are helpful, briefly : MRI. As this test  (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) has played an important part in my current disability, this was easy. I am allergic to the contrast dye.

4. __ stiff : SCARED. When words are derived from the sound we call it onomotapoeia. What should we call it when an  expression gives a great mental picture like this phrase?

10. Minor set-to : TIFF.

14. Huffington Post owner : AOL. This is true - since 2011 - but AOL was bought by Verizon in 2015 which last year bought Yahoo, also. 

15. Wedding offering : CANAPE. From the French word for SOFA.

16. Defunct food coating : ALAR. It was sprayed on apple trees to control the growth and color of the apples. Much debate about the 1989 scare.

20. Boundary : EDGE.

21. Legal tender with a torch : DIME, On the obverse? Reverse?

22. Dealer's offering : LEASE. Car dealer, not HIT ME for card dealer.

23. __ voce : SOTTO.

25. Body shop supply : SOLDER.

30. 2016 Billboard Top Artist : ADELE. She swept the Grammys as well.

31. Besides Linus, the only Nobel laureate in two fields : MARIE. Pauling: Curie. LINK.

32. Take badly? : ROB. Robbing requires use or threat of force. Nicely deceptive clue.

35. Alluring : SEXY.

36. Postgame staple : RECAP.

37. Candy __ : CANE.    



                                   








38. Feb. setting in Spokane : PST.

39. Artist at Giverny : MONET. This is where the ARTIST painted his most successful works. This is a very Friday type clue. I will always have a Monet/Manet block in my mind.

40. Opposite of 56-Across : NADIR. 56A Opposite of 40-Across : ACME.

13. Philosophers' group : SCHOOL. Similar to fish, but not as good for you.

46. "Cutthroat Kitchen" host Brown : ALTON.

47. Second name, perhaps : ALIAS.

48. "Zounds!" : EGAD. Two wonderful old words.

51. They're often tough to beat : ODDS. 45D. Request to a dealer : HIT ME. 50D. Forced bet : ANTE
.
57. Album contents : PHOTOS.

58. ENT's group : AMA.

59. Arcade trademark word : SKEE.

60. Part of many art museum names : MODERN.

61. Table support : LEG.

Down:

1. Ancient spell caster : MAGE.

2. Produce stand sites : ROADSIDES. We have a bunch in the Redlands is SW Miami-Dade, but all the ones in Broward are gone. Now they gather at farmers' markets.

3. "My turn" : I'LL GO NEXT.

4. Part of NSF: Abbr. : SCIence.

5. Telling it like it is : CANDOR.

6. Opposition leader? : ANTI. And later ANTE.

7. First name in Chicago politics : RAHM. Interesting - he was elected as Chicago's 44th mayor, while his mentor Mr. Obama was the 44th POTUS. LINK.

8. It's thrust in competition : EPEE. Love the soupçon of naughtiness in this clue. 

9. Phone button letters : DEF. Glue, I would prefer Mos.

10. Without aggression : TAMELY.

11. Zeus remains largely neutral during its narrative : ILIAD. A really odd way to get to these puzzle friendly letters.

12. "A dagger of the mind, a __ creation ... ": Macbeth : FALSE. Back with Macbeth for our Friday Shakespeare lesson.

13. Potatoes may be cooked in one : FRYER.  Pommes frites for Splynter.

18. Unloose : LET FLY. Quiz: Who said, "unloose the dogs of war?"

19. How stand-up comics usually work : ALONE. True but there have some great duos. I loved the Smothers Brothers.

24. Ring site : TOE.

25. Salon sound : SNIP,

26. [I'm shocked!] : GASP.

27. Enhance through change : AMEND. Big word in the law.

28. Showed impatience, in a way : PACED.

29. Poetry Muse : ERATO. You know all of the muses yet?

32. One moving with frequency? : RADIO DIAL. Another really fun clue, with the frequency pun.

33. Russian Orthodox church feature : ONION DOME. LINK. For our Cornerites.

34. City on the Aare : BERN.


36. Kaiser, for one : ROLL. Misdirection here is placement of the clue/fill.


37. Songs of Seville : CANTOS.




39. Maine road sign image : MOOSE.

40. Nothing : NIL.

41. Buffalo Bill feature : GOATEE. Oh yes!


42. Really loving : MAD FOR. My mental picture. LINK.


43. Generational tales : SAGAS.


44. Barnyard sound : CLUCK.

48. Verify the story of : ECHO. No idea what this clue/fill means.

49. Above the crossbar and between the uprights : GOOD. Not wide RIGHT!

52. Obstruction : SNAG. "Damn, our reno hit a snag!"  Do you watch Property Brothers.

54. Tach stat : RPM. Revolutions Per Minute.

55. SEAL's org. : USN. United States Navy.

Well we made it through another JW Friday and I had so much fun finding the never intended but exciting Buffalo mini theme. Call me crazy but call me. Thanks Jeffrey. Lemonade out.

Thursday, February 23, 2017 Don Gagliardo and C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Shh, I can hear you!  The reveal tells us what to look for in the circled squares ...

57A. Blog comment format usually interpreted as the word spelled by eight aptly circled puzzle letters : ALL CAPS

... and thus we find SHOUTING. I puzzled a little over the "aptly" in the clue, then realized that the eight circled letters each begin eight proper nouns, and thus are capitalized, even when we're not shouting.

The Dynamic Duo are back with a nice Thursday challenge, I struggled with the top-left and middle-left sections of the grid. The cluing was tricky and parsing out SANTA FE, AS EVER, MEANS IT and COUNTS ON was not easy. ARIOSOS was new to me too, but eventually the crosses brought it together for me, so it's all good.

Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1. Oldest U.S. capital : SANTA FE, New Mexico. It took me ages to see this - my mind was firmly fixated on the East or the South. It didn't help I couldn't stop seeing SAVANNA when I know it's not spelled like that and it was a capital during colonial times, before U.S. independence.

8. Spade creator : HAMMETT. Dashiel Hammett, author of the Sam Spade mysteries, most famously The Maltese Falcon.

15. Melodic movements : ARIOSOS. Thank you, crosses. I discover an arioso is a solo vocal piece in an opera or oratorio.

16. Ancient region now part of France : ALSATIA. So named when part of the Roman empire, now known as Alsace. The region has been subject to a fair bit of tug-of-war over the years, mainly between the French and the Germans. The food, wines and some of the customs have a distinctly Germanic feel.

17. Is serious : MEANS IT

18. Impulse conductors : NEURONS

19. Much toothpaste : GEL

20. U.S. neighbor : MEX. My neighbors to the south.

21. "Picnic" dramatist : INGE. William Inge won a Pulitzer Prize for drama for this play; Paul Newman's Broadway debut in 1953.

22. Letter between November and Papa : OSCAR. From the NATO phonetic alphabet. I always need to remind myself that it's ALFA, not ALPHA.

25. Singer's warm-up syllables : DOS

26. Indy-winning family name : UNSER. Al, Bobby and Al. Jr. have all recorded wins at the Indy 500.

27. Swears by : COUNTS ON

29. 66, e.g.: Abbr. : RTE. Get your kicks with the Rolling Stones.

30. Metaphor for jobs : HATS

31. Lav, in London : LOO

32. Singer Kitt : EARTHA

36. "... __ quit!" : OR I

37. Kind of bath : TURKISH

39. "Just like that!" : BAM! A certain television chef has made this something of a trademark. He says "Bam!", the audience claps. That's about all there is to it.

40. Sign-off words : AS EVER. I got fixated on some variation of OVER and OUT. Signing off, as a letter writer, not a radio transmission.

42. Director Lupino : IDA

43. Corny state? : IOWA

44. MSN, for one : ISP  Internet Service Provider. This seems to generate some discussion whenever the clue crops up, but MSN Dial-Up is still provided as a service to customers who cannot access broadband service.

45. "I'm good" : NO THANKS

47. Jazzy Jones : NORAH

50. Miracle Mets manager Hodges : GIL

51. Frozen fruit-flavored drinks : ICEES

52. Slanted piece : OP ED. Opinion pieces traditionally placed on the page opposite the editorials, hence the name.

53. Sounds at spas : AHS

54. 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee : ELO. Just now, really? I'd have assumed they'd been in for years. Accompanied this year by Yes, Pearl Jam and Journey.

55. Enchant : BEGUILE

61. Norse explorer : ERICSON. Waited for the cross to decide between a C and a K.

62. Daughter of Agamemnon : ELECTRA

63. End of a baseball game, usually : LAST OUT. If the home team scores the go-ahead run in extra innings, the game is over at that point. A game can also be called because of rain.

64. Like siblings : RELATED

Down:

1. __ Adams : SAM. Totally blanked on this one. Patch, Grizzly, Tony (you wouldn't know him, from English soccer) - all kinds of Adams. Finally, the penny dropped. Cheers!

2. "Who __ you kidding?" : ARE

3. Actress Vardalos : NIA. I've GOT to remember this one. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was wonderful.

4. Polynesian archipelago natives : TONGANS. Fixated on SAMOANS. 

5. State as fact : ASSERT

6. Impede, as a plot : FOIL

7. Guinness suffix : EST. Established 1759. Arthur Guinness was so confident of his business venture that he leased the land for his brewery on a 9,000 year term at 45 Irish Pounds per annum.

8. __ Her Way : HANES

9. "A Clockwork Orange" narrator : ALEX. Played by Malcolm McDowell in the movie version. Not everyone's cup of tea.

10. 2015 Big Ten champs: Abbr. : M.S.U. Michigan State football.

11. Siren's victim : MARINER

12. Waist-length jackets : ETONS. I stayed a night in Eton last year, home of the historic college. The students no longer wear the Eton jacket, they all wear tailcoats. The garment was dubbed a "bumfreezer" in school vernacular.

13. Faint trace : TINGE

14. Trademarked weapon : TASER

20. One-piece beachwear : MONOKINIS. Sneaky plural.

22. Former #1 golfer Lorena who hosts an annual Guadalajara LPGA event : OCHOA. She won the Women's British Open at the "home of golf", St. Andrews in Scotland. She retired to start an educational foundation in her home city of Guadalajara. 

23. Heads up : SOARS

24. Adorable one : CUTIE

25. Screen __ : DOOR

26. Four Corners state : UTAH

28. Openly enjoy, as soup : SLURP. Good manners in some Asian countries. I used to work with a Singaporean and I swear you could hear him eat soup two miles away.

29. Convened again : RESAT

33. Rib eye alternative : T-BONE. Food! My favorite steak is a bone-in prime rib with lashings of freshly grated horseradish.

34. Ethan of "Boyhood" : HAWKE. Never saw the movie, but didn't bat an eyelid here.

35. Gather up : AMASS

37. John who composed the "NBA on NBC" theme song : TESH

38. Much-followed star : IDOL

41. Gorge crosser : VIADUCT. This is the beautiful Ribbleshead railway viaduct on the Settle-to-Carlisle line in northern England.

43. Former Chrysler head : IACOCCA. I never know where to start spelling this one. Crosses help.

46. Early Jewish scholar : HILLEL

47. 116-year-old prize : NOBEL. We learned last week that the Pulitzer prize medal sports a profile of Ben Franklin (and according the the Pulitzer web site on the obverse, the reverse has "a husky, bare-chested printer at work, which sounds rather racy for such an august body). This eponymous medal has Alfred. And no "husky" printers to be seen.

48. Philip Glass' "Einstein on the Beach," e.g. : OPERA

49. Kelly's ex-partner : REGIS. Philbin and Ripa.

50. Belgian treaty city : GHENT

53. Jesus of baseball : ALOU. Nailed it! C.C. will be proud of me.

54. She, in Cherbourg : ELLE

56. Bar opening? : ISO- These weather-map contour lines. Had some lively weather in Los Angeles over the last couple of weeks.

57. __ Lingus : AER. Irish carrier. I'm flying United as usual this week. Quick out-and-back to Miami. It was a tad bumpy on the way into Denver and crossing Texas, those pesky isobars.

58. DIRECTV parent : AT&T. Grrr. AT&T and I have a difference of opinion over them switching me from uVerse to DirecTV.

59. Ante- kin : PRE-. Pre-boarding, ante-bellum, pre-screening, ante up - which to choose?

60. Bummed out : SAD

And bummed as I am, I think that just about does it for me. Here's the grid!

Steve

Note from C.C.:

Happy 78th Birthday to Keith Fowler (Ol' Man Keith), who has his own Wiki page. Keith has been with our blog since 2009,  I'll never forgot your Blue Tits story, Keith!

Wednesday, February 22, 2017 Jascha Smilack

Theme: THE COLOR OF ANGER.  Each theme fill entry is two words, the first of which is a color. Notably, one color is missing from this exposition, but shows up both in the unifier, and elsewhere, as we will see - in disguise.

20 A. *Fictional road material : YELLOW BRICK.   From the Wizard of Oz, of course.

57 A. *Cola flavor : BLACK CHERRY.

Sugary

10 D. *One with noble lineage : BLUE BLOOD.  Presumably because, since they never had to do manual labor and led an indoor existence, their pale skin allowed the blue of veins to show through.

14 D. *Floral papal ornament : GOLDEN ROSE.  Despite growing up Catholic, I know nothing of this tradition.

26 D. *Chard, by another name : SILVER BEET.  I knew this was a green leafy plant in the beet family, but didn't know about the silver part, which refers to the white stalk.

33 D. Angrily ignoring the first half of the answers to starred clues? : SEEING RED.  Well, ignoring all the other colors somehow equates to seeing RED, but not GREEN nor VIOLET.  But, OK, let's just go with it.  The color of Magic, BTW, is Octarine.

UPDATE: As Owen pointed out in comments, each of the 2nd words in the theme describes a shade of RED, a subtlety that I completely missed.  This, to hijack a phrase, really ties the puzzle together, and adds an element of elegance.  Well done, Jascha!

High gang, JazzBumpa here to guide you through a late winter color tour.  Let's see if we can get through it without too much rancor.

Across

1. Spot for an AirPod : EAR.   Wireless headphone parking place.

4. Chowder morsel : CLAM.  Soup ingredient.

8. Moscow currency : RUBLE.  The Russian monetary unit for the last 500 years.  Currently equal to about 1.7 US cents.

13. Slept like __ : A LOG.  I wonder how that feels?

15. Color in a Spanish rainbow : ROJO.  Red, of course.  Irritably missing from the theme, but we have it here.

No es un arco iris

16. Religion of Basra : ISLAM.  Basra is a city in Iraq whose local economy is largely dependent on petroleum.

17. Corn Belt tower : SILO.  Here's an example in Maumee, a suburb of Toledo.

Not for sale

18. Latin I verb : AMAT.  Do I love this entry?  No, I do not.

19. Riyadh resident : SAUDI.  The capital and most populous city in the country.

23. Bookshelf bracket shape : ELL.  The "L" you say!

24. Of a battery terminal : ANODAL.  Specifically, the positive one.  Would it be an anodyne to say I'm positive?

25. Necessity for a game of Ultimate : FRISBEE.  This is the trademark for a flying disc, owned by the Wham-O toy company.  Points are scored by passing the disc to a team mate in the opponent's end zone

27. History class assignment : ESSAY.  A written paper on a specific topic.

30. Elec. or water : UTILity.

31. __ a clue : HASN'T.  I tried HADN'T first.  HAVEN'T also does not work.

34. Slangy pounds : QUID.  British money.  Even before Brexit they opted out of using the Euro.

36. Financial help : LOAN.

39. End __ : USER.

40. Tomato product : PUREE.

41. Preference indicator : VOTE.

42. Religious prefix : THEO-.

43. Grub : EATS.  Unattractive sounding vernacular.

44. Brought about : LED TO.  Preceded and caused whatever then ensued.

45. Tenerife, por ejemplo : ISLA.  Spanish Island.

47. Take the helm : STEER.  Direct the movement of a vehicle, in this case a ship.

49. Surface layers : VENEERS.   Generally decorative, as a fine wood over a less elegant wood.

52. Clogs from France : SABOTS.  Each one hollowed out of a single piece of wood.  Hence the word sabotage, meaning to wreck something by kicking with sabots.   I read once somewhere that the Luddites sabotaged weaving machinery by throwing sabots into the works, but that might be apocryphal.

56. Neurologist's order, briefly : EEG. The ElectroEncephaloGram detects electrical activity in the brain.

60. Pop-up foul-up : ERROR.  Baseball boo-boo, dropping a short fly ball.

62. Stereotypical family spoiler : NANA.  Grandmother, or, as some in our clan say, "Grandmom."

63. Pulitzer-winning novelist Jennifer : EGAN.  In 2011 her novel A Visit From The Goon Squad won the Pulitzer prize for fiction.

64. Renaissance painter __ della Francesca : PIERO.  Many of his paintings are on religious themes.

Discovery and Proof of the True Cross c. 1466 (160 Kb)

65. Minute quantity : DROP.  A drib, a drab or a TRACE.

66. Fish __ : TACO.   I had one once.  It was OK.

67. Family car : SEDAN.  Typical 2 or 4 door auto with front and rear seats.

68. __-Coburg: former Bavarian duchy : SAXE.  Read all about it.

69. Homer's neighbor : NED.  Flanders from the Simpsons.  

Not Eddard Stark

Down

1. Class requiring little effort : EASY A.

2. Distant and then some : ALIEN.  Beyond the pale, perhaps.

3. Pal of Nancy, in comics : ROLLO.

Bushmiller

4. Barely advances : CRAWLS.  Makes slow, possibly steady progress. 

5. Big name in vision care : LOMB.  Along with Bausch.

6. Slightly open : AJAR. When is a door not a door?  When it is a jar.

7. Recurring theme : MOTIF.  As in music, literature or visual design.

8. Go out on a limb : RISK IT. Take a chance.

9. Stars and Stripes land: Abbr. : USA.  Mandatory.

11. Crock-Pot server : LADLE. For soups and stews.

12. French novelist Zola : EMILE. [1840-1902] Also a playwright, journalist and contributor to literary and theatrical realism.  Also a major figure in the exoneration of wrongly accused and convicted military officer Alfred Dreyfus.

21. Brewery kiln : OAST.  A drying oven.

22. Input for a refinery : CRUDE.  Petroleum.

28. Marine shade : AQUA.   Ocean blue - a hue tinged with green.

29. Portable Mongolian dwellings : YURTS.  Collapsable circular tents used by nomads.

31. Simple dwelling : HUT.  A simple, single-story dwelling, perhaps a step up from a YURT. 

32. Shade of gray : ASH.  Not all grays are created equal.  

35. Luck, pluck or duck ending : IEST.  Modifier degrees are positive, comparative, and superlative.  This illustrates the latter.

37. Part of D.A.: Abbr. : ATT.  District ATTorney.  Typically, a prosecutor.

38. Prefix with con : NEO-.  Referring to NEO-conservatism, which is distinguished by aggressively interventionist foreign policy, strong support for Israel, and hostility toward other middle-eastern regimes.

40. Shade of gray : PEARL.  A gray shade tinged with blue or green, having a pearlescent luster.

44. Jacob's wife before Rachel : LEAH.  Jake got snookered by Lebon, his mother's brother into marrying LEAH, Lebon's older daughter, when he was expecting to marry the younger sister Rachel, whom he loved.  Eventually he married Rachel as well.  Both of them bore him children, as did Zilpah, a servant that Leban had given to Leah.  

46. James with three NBA titles : LEBRON.  Not to be confused with Lebon, he was first loved and then hated by Cleveland fans.  Not sure what his status is now.

  

48. Tunnel out, maybe : ESCAPE.  As from prison or a PoW camp.

49. Many future presidents, as it turned out : VEEPS.   Vice Presidents.

50. Like "Stranger Things," e.g. : EERIE.  Weird and/or spooky.  The show is a Netflix original series concerning the searches for a 12- year-old boy who disappeared amid supernatural occurrences.

51. Metaphorical moments of time : SANDS.

53. Skin, but not bones : ORGAN.   A body part with a distinct structure that performs a specialized task.  From my brief on-line research, it seems that bones are considered to be organs.  Hmmmm  .  .  .

54. Kind of evidence : TRACE.  Some small incriminating quantity - only a DROP, perhaps.

55. Ecclesiastical council : SYNOD.  In modern usage, the governing body of a particular church.

58. Word of amore : CARA.  Italian term of endearment.

59. Fort with billions in bullion : KNOX.  Located near the Ohio River, south-west of Louisville.  

61. "... man __ mouse?" : OR A.  Challenging words.

That wraps it up.  We had some religion and politics in the fill, so please don't go there in the comments. Also, some colors outside the theme fill.  Did you color within the lines?  Hope after all this, you're not seeing RED.

Cool regards!
JzB

Tuesday, February 21 2017, Bruce Venzke & Gail Grabowski

Theme: Lend Me Your Ears.

17. High-tech bookmark : INTERNET ADDRESS

28. Office gossip : WATER COOLER TALK
 
48. Right granted in the First Amendment : PROTECTED SPEECH

62. "Et tu, Brute?," e.g. : FAMOUS LAST WORDS

Melissa here. Love the four grid-spanners. No reveal clue today, but it's hiding in the answer to 62A. Very clever.

Across

1. One in a bad mood : CRAB





5. Diplomat's asset : TACT

9. Vatican-related : PAPAL

14. Memorization method : ROTE. Repetition.

15. Patron saint of Norway : OLAF. Not Olav.

16. Nimble : AGILE




20. African language group : BANTU

21. Winter bug : FLU

22. Cupid's counterpart : EROS

23. Safari beast : RHINO

26. Mystery writer whose Baltimore home is preserved as a museum : POE

35. Moved quickly, old-style : HIED

36. Meat inspector's org. : USDA

37. "Awesome!" : ZOWIE. Stumped me.

38. Office coffee holder, perhaps : URN

39. Hard-rock link : AS A

40. "O Sole __" : MIO. "The sun, my own sun."

42. 1965 march state: Abbr. : ALA





43. Gold or silver : METAL

45. Rainbow flag initialism : LGBT

47. Gillette's __ II razor : TRAC

51. Bubbly prefix : AER. Aerate.

52. Clapton classic : LAYLA

53. Gem from Australia : OPAL

56. Private eye : TEC. DeTECtive.

58. Go around in circles? : ORBIT

66. Pat down : FRISK

67. Inbox clogger : SPAM. NOAA discovered this perfectly preserved can of SPAM resting at the bottom of the ocean (4,947 meters) on the slopes of a canyon leading to the Sirena Deep in the Mariana trench.





68. Pamplona parlor : SALA. Spanish, a large room or hall to entertain guests.

69. Sight or hearing : SENSE

70. Wine city near Turin : ASTI

71. River of central Germany : EDER





Down

1. Bed with sliding sides : CRIB

2. Author Jaffe : RONA

3. Mail-routing abbr. : ATTN

4. Obviously embarrassed : BEET RED

5. Weigh station unit : TON

6. Pub offering : ALE

7. Science Diet product : CAT FOOD

8. Nonstick kitchen brand : T-FAL. French cookware - portmanteau of TEFlon and ALuminum.

9. Sketching tablet : PAD

10. Shake hands on : AGREE TO

11. Harbor strolling spot : PIER

12. "One more thing ... " : ALSO

13. Not as much : LESS

18. Industrial area of western Germany : RUHR

19. Play for a sucker : DUPE

24. Post-op areas, briefly : ICUs. Intensive Care Units.

25. Margarita option : NO SALT

27. Ricelike pasta : ORZO

28. Sound of a tree falling, say : WHUMP

29. Broadcaster : AIRER

30. __-one: long odds : TEN TO

31. Kappa follower : LAMBDA

32. Informed (of) : AWARE. I wonder why the (of) is needed here - since of could also follow AWARE.

33. Pale purple : LILAC

34. Stacy who played Mike Hammer : KEACH





39. Out of the wind : ALEE
41. "The __-bitsy spider ... " : ITSY

44. Completely flummoxed : AT A LOSS. I often hear "I am lost for words," instead of "I am at a loss for words." Doesn't make sense to me.

46. Easy-to-swallow meds : GELCAPS

47. Flowering hybrid with thorns : TEA ROSE. Wikipedia: Hybrid tea is an informal horticultural classification for a group of garden roses. They were created by cross-breeding two types of roses, initially by hybridising hybrid perpetuals with tea roses.






49. Phased-out PC screens : CRTS. Cathode Ray Tubes.

50. Farm machine : PLOW

53. Does in, mob-style : OFFS

54. Whittle (down) : PARE

55. Idi of Uganda : AMIN

57. Big cat of film : ELSA

59. Actor Pitt : BRAD

60. Vegging out : IDLE

61. Many an Ivan, in old Russia : TSAR

63. Lute kin : UKE

64. Gained a lap? : SAT

65. "No more deets!" : TMI. "Too much information!" (Deets=details.)