Sunday Feb 4, 2018 Lee Taylor

Theme: "Right for the Job" - Each phrase is replaced by a sound-like given name & surname combo, corresponding to the job in each clue. 

27A. Aptly named therapist? : OPHELIA PAINE. I feel your pain.

39A. Aptly named dietitian? : EATON WRIGHT. Eating right. Then we have 112. Had a bite : ATE. Tough to spot this type of dupe.

93A. Aptly named easy chair salesman? : RICK KLEINER. Recliner.

108A. Aptly named gardener? : ALONSO GREENE. A lawn so green.

13D. Aptly named editor? : ADELINE MOORE. Add a line more.

24D. Aptly named sommelier? : MERL O'DALEY. Merlot daily.

59D. Aptly named barber? : LES OFFENBACH. Less off in back.

62D. Aptly named policewoman? : LAURA BIDEN. Law abiding. 

This seems to be Lee's LAT debut. Congratulations!

Did you all get the original phrases? Santa helped me get the set, then D-Otto confirmed Santa's answers.

There are eight theme entries, each Across one intersects a Down one. Very nice. This takes luck and skill. 

Across:      

1. Code __ : RED

4. "Rubáiyát" poet : OMAR

8. Regional UN headquarters since 1946 : GENEVA. The big headquarters is New York City. Wiki says the other two regional headquarters are Vienna & Nairobi.

14. Slather : SMEAR

19. Lead-in for carte or mode : A LA

20. "__ la France!" : VIVE

21. Brought up : RAISED

22. Jobs creation : APPLE. Steve Jobs.

23. Australian island state : TASMANIA. Great fill.

25. Mysterious : ARCANE

26. Capricious notions : WHIMS

29. Misfortunes : ILLS

31. Like many a tree at Christmas : LIT

32. __-friendly : USER. You can ask D-Otto anything except sports, he'll give you a very easy to understand answer.  He always gets into the core of things.

33. Self-described "King of All Media" : STERN (Howard)

34. Largest continent : ASIA

35. Frat party wear : TOGA

36. Electric car brand : TESLA. Hey, our Picard and his wife toured the factory.

38. One of the Gershwins : IRA

42. Capital with a Viking Ship Museum : OSLO. Would be a super exciting Super Bowl had our Vikings beat the Eagles.

44. With no exceptions : BAR NONE

46. Sharp : ACUTE

47. Pull a fast one on : HOODWINK. Another sparkling fill.

51. Small test : QUIZ

52. Mangabeys, e.g. : MONKEYS. I did not know the meaning of Mangabey.

54. Thought of but not shared : UNSAID

55. Goes back to the front, perhaps : RE-UPS. Oh the front line.

57. URL ending : ORG

58. King's domain : REALM

59. Ties off in surgery : LIGATES

61. Cats native to much of the Americas : OCELOTS

66. Unit on the set : TAKE. Movie set.

67. Mexican coin : PESO

68. Prominent Dumbo feature : EARS

70. Mine access : ADIT. Looks like this. I learned from doing crosswords.

71. TV's Buffy and Faith, e.g. : SLAYERS

73. Moral consideration : SCRUPLE. Consonant-rich.

77. Set of furniture : SUITE

78. Startling word : BOO

79. Shade-tolerant garden plant : HOSTA

80. Old schoolmaster's disciplinary tool : FERULE. Do you use Ferule or Ferrule?

81. Avoid trespassing on : STAY OFF

85. Turns sharply : ZIGS

86. Bowed, in Basra : SALAAMED. We kowtowed to elders during Spring Festival. Then we got the red pocket with money in.

88. Chocolate source : CACAO

89. Constitution VIPs : FRAMERS

92. Like hands without mittens, maybe : NUMB. In cold winter.

95. Big time : ERA

97. Works with flour : SIFTS

101. Pub pours : ALES

102. Green state? : ENVY. Gimme for regulars.

103. Puzzle part : PIECE. Boomer has tackled a few jigsaw puzzles this winter.

105. Leak : DRIP

106. Hip : MOD

107. Woodcutter Ali : BABA

111. Thorny plant : BRIAR

113. "MASH" director : ALTMAN (Robert). He also directed the movie "A Prairie Home Companion". Big deal for Minnesotans then. How things have changed in a short time.

115. Scotty on the Enterprise, e.g. : ENGINEER

116. Slowly, in music : LENTO

117. Spicy cuisine : CREOLE. Never had Creole food.

118. Kerfuffles : ADOS

119. Rowboat propeller : OAR

120. Brinks : EDGES

121. Many-sided evils : HYDRAS. Many-headed. Also 53. Monstrous Tolkien creations : ORCS

122. Fail miserably : TANK

123. Cook in a wok : FRY. I loved these fried rice balls. Often filled with sweet red adzuki paste or sesame paste. Most of Chinese/Japanese/Koreans desserts contain adzuki paste and sesame paste/seeds.

Down:

1. Snitch on : RAT OUT

2. Tick away : ELAPSE

3. Short races : DASHES

4. __ Office : OVAL

5. Knee revealers, and then some : MINIS

6. Earhart's art : AVIATION

7. Grim character? : REAPER. We've seen this clue before.

8. Tiny amount : GRAIN

9. Bring home : EARN

10. Word on Santa's checklist : NICE. What a blessing to have a Santa on our blog. He now has a new cat called Moaning Myrtle.

Moaning Myrtle

11. Former NHL forward Tikkanen : ESA. Unknown to me. Wiki says he's Finnish.

12. Hunter's meat : VENISON

14. Makes the cut : SAWS. Great clue.

15. Dashboard letters : MPH

16. Afterword : EPILOGUE

17. Supremely powerful : ALMIGHTY

18. Amends, as corporate earnings : RE-STATES

28. __ Spring : ARAB. Now Arab Winter.

30. USA Patriot Act, e.g. : LAW

34. Including everything : A TO Z

35. Check (off) : TICK

37. Take __: enjoy the pool : A SWIM

39. Lose one's temper : ERUPT

40. Ouzo flavoring : ANISE. I gather it tastes similar to star anise? I was surprised to find out that the five-spice powder made in Taiwan does not include Sichuan peppercorn. They have ginger root. I much prefer ours.

41. Mountain chain : RANGE

43. Pot top : LID

45. Greenish blue : AQUA

47. Elicits an "Ouch!" : HURTS

48. "Inside the NBA" analyst : O"NEAL. Shaq.

49. Japanese port : OSAKA

50. Kardashian matriarch : KRIS

56. They may be inflated : EGOS

60. Labor Day mo. : SEPT. Our flea market season here starts around Memorial Days and ends around Labor Day.

63. Loathing : ODIUM

64. Information on a spine : TITLE. And 72. Kindle download : E-BOOK

65. Spirited mount : STEED

67. TA's boss : PROF

69. Word of regret : ALAS

74. Relative of a knock : CHIME

75. "I copy" : ROGER

76. Gorbachev's land: Abbr. : USSR

77. Lines of clothing : SEAMS

80. Winter malady : FLU. So glad I beat it. Now I can eat pickles & Kimchi (mild) again. Both irritated my throat when I coughed.

81. Prepare, as eggs : SCRAMBLE

82. Fitted : TAILORED

83. Agreeing : ACCEDING

84. Himalayan pack animals : YAKS

85. Wacky : ZANY

87. World's largest snake by weight : ANACONDA. Another great fill.

90. Serious competition : RIVALRY

91. To be, in Bavaria : SEIN. Unknown to me.

94. "Glee" actress __ Michele : LEA

96. Move from window to aisle, say : RE-SEAT. Aisle for Boomer.

98. Done with : FREE OF

99. Tone deafness : TIN EAR

100. Boat shoe brand : SPERRY

103. Corn breads : PONES. These look like corn cookies.

104. Goad : EGG ON

107. Warner or Ringling follower : BROS

108. Don Juan's love : AMOR

109. In __ land : LA LA. Hi there, LaLaLinda!

110. Game of world conquest : RISK

114. Williams in Cooperstown : TED

Saturday, February 3, 2018, Pawel Fludzinski

DR. FLUDZINSKI IS ON CALL TODAY

After having Alex Bajcz Ph.D. as our constructor two weeks ago, our Saturday environs today are blessed with Pawel Fludzinski Ph.D (Pah' vel   Flu gin' ski). After some pleasant email exchanges I found  his doctorate and post doctorate work was in organic chemistry and he has just retired to Santa Fe, NM after 31 years of working for Eli Lilly in Pharmaceutical R and D. Eight of those years included stints in England and Japan. 
He had a friend who knew Will Shortz, introduced Pawel to Will and after that Dr. Fludzinski took up the challenge of constructing crosswords with his first one being a 9/18/11 Sunday LA Times puzzle. Pretty impressive.

Pawel's license plate tells you both where he lives and about what one of his passions is.

I earned a "got 'er done" in Pawel's challenging weekend offering but those of you familiar with The Family Circus, might recognize that the path I took resembled this circuitous route as the boys in the cartoon frequently take in getting from point A to point B. BTW, this also resembles my path in the grocery store.

Pawel's puzzle was anything but a, uh, bitter pill to swallow and I am going to start with his long fills which were so helpful once a few of their cells were filled.

19. Jesse Owens, e.g. : OLYMPIC ATHLETE - HOAX ALERT! Hitler never did congratulate Jesse for his 1936 Olympic wins, as Jesse expected, but this 2013 photoshopped image made the internet rounds. Jesse did feel snubbed in that FDR never contacted him in any way to acknowledge his tremendous accomplishments. 

50. Canine epithet : MAN'S BEST FRIEND - 'Nuff said! 😀

5. Real estate investment strategy : FLIPPING HOUSES - Tarek and Christina starred in Flip or Flop on HGTV. His job was negotiations and labor and hers was some decorating but mainly simply looking photogenic. They're divorced but are still on the show together.

16. Voting bloc term used by Nixon and Trump : SILENT MAJORITY - Howard Beale's fabulous call to arms for this group in 1976's Network

Now let's see what Dr. Fludzinski has prescribed for us in the balance of his puzzle:

Across

1. Bundles together, as wheat : SHEAFS - One SHEAFS wheat into SHEAVES

7. EPA concern : AQI - Air Quality Index Current air quality across the USA

10. Cab alternative : UBER - I've sung their praises here 

14. Field meeting : HUDDLE - "Okay guys, 3 OUT, SLOT HAT - 73 GHOST TOSSER ON SET. BREAK!"

15. Choral extreme : BASS NOTE - The E♭Paul Robeson hits in Old Man River on the word "jail" is listed as a "Notable low note"

17. Predestine : ORDAIN - ...do ORDAIN and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

18. Countermeasure : ANTIDOTE - Milking venomous snakes is the first step to producing an ANTIDOTE

21. Advance : SPOT - Look kid, I'll SPOT you 10 points

22. Part of NAFTA: Abbr. : AMER - North AMERican Free Trade Agreement

23. Rats along the Rhine? : ACH - ACH du lieber! Ich habe gerade eine Ratte gesehen! (Oh my God, I just saw a rat!)

26. Rage : IRE

27. Where snowbirds flock in winter? : SUNBELT

31. Feller's tool? : CHAINSAW - Here's a pretty good feller!

34. Cheap smoke : STOGIE

35. Stick : CLING

36. Hamm from Alabama : MIA - An all time great soccer player born in Selma, AL

38. Windows predecessor : MS-DOS - Tedious forerunner of icons (GUI - Graphic User Interface)

39. Five-book collections : TORAHS - The first 5 books of the Jewish Bible are such a collection

41. Serious betrayals : TREASONS - Here is a famous group committing TREASON

 43. Henry VIII's third : SEYMOUR - Jane SEYMOUR came between Anne Boleyn and Ann of Cleves but died with her head intact.

45. Kunal Nayyar's role in "The Big Bang Theory" : RAJesh Koothrapali - You either know this or don't care 

46. Ultra-secret org. : NSA - National Security Agency

47. River to the Seine : AUBE - In the same vein as Where's Waldo, can you find the AUBE?

48. Winged figure of myth : EROS

56. Monthly subtitled "The Magazine of Maine" : DOWN EAST - Ya gotta love this cover and the topics

57. Portugal's capital, locally : LISBOA - Easier to find than the AUBE

a

58. Having an accent : STRESSED - "CON flict" is mostly a noun while "con FLICT" is mostly a verb

59. Speedily : AT A RUN

60. Astronomical dist. : LT YR  - LighT YeaR

61. Slight opening? : ESS - Slight

62. End zone quartet : PYLONS - If the ball is inside or touches one of the PYLONS at the corners of the end zone, it's six points!

Down

1. Wave off : SHOO

2. Fling : HURL

3. Result of pulling the plug? : EDDY - Circling the drain

4. __ apple : ADAM'S  

6. Year-ending ceremony participants : SENIORS 

7. Quatrain rhyme scheme : ABAA - Dylan Thomas's final stanza

8. Airline with a kangaroo on its logo : QANTAS - QANTAS on the left and on the right...? *Answer at the bottom of the write-up.

9. Common canal site : ISTHMUS 

10. Position near the top of some organizational structures : UNDER BOSS - Sotto Capo

11. Spare tyre site : BOOT - A spare TYRE (tire) in a Land Rover BOOT (trunk). Oh so British!

12. Kitchen finish? : ETTE

13. "Pioneer Woman" cookbook writer Drummond : REE - Ree's show is a favorite of my wife's

20. Backups' backups : C-TEAM

23. Bank nos. : ACCTS

24. Techie on "24" : CHLOE - Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Jack (Kiefer Sutherland seem to be having a hard day on "24"

25. Hirsute : HAIRY

28. __ Heath: Thomas Hardy setting : EGDON - It is said that EGDON Heath was as much a part of The Return Of The Native as the characters

29. They have their pride : LIONS

30. Championship ice dancer __ Virtue : TESSA - Along with her partner Scott Moir 

32. So to speak : IN A MANNER 

33. Verbal deftness : WIT - A highly prized trait here

37. Rue stop? : ARRET - Here's an ARRET sign where Rue De Buade crosses Rue Jardins

40. Naval fortification : SUB BASE - The Nazi U-boat SUB BASE built in what was then occupied France

42. Winter cap feature : EAR FLAP - Found on a certain hunter of a "cwazy wabbit" 

44. Piece maker : REESES - M & M's turned down being in ET and REESES pieces cashed in 

49. Twine fiber : SISAL - 50# hay bales tied with SISAL twine - $6 apiece

50. Suffragist who co-founded Swarthmore : MOTT - A powerful trio

51. Off the mark : AWRY - Where best laid plans of men and mice can go

52. EPA issuances : STDS - STanDardS

53. Iberian river : EBRO - For 32€, you can be outfitted to do this on a five mile stretch of the EBRO River in northern Spain

54. Truth or consequences, e.g. : NOUN - Pretty tricky, Pawel!

55. Aykroyd and Patrick : DANS

56. Broadband choice, briefly : DSL - Digital Subscriber Line. Usually the slowest connection

If the puzzle made you uneasy, I'll bet Pawel can hook you up with an ANTIDOTE! 😀 Now tell us your symptoms by commenting:

DA GRID

*The logo on the right is from Alaska Airlines

Friday, February 2, 2018, Stu Ockman

Title: Bottom's UP!

We have another visual puzzle, with the theme fill presented updside down, so you need to read from the bottom to the top. All five themers are very popular cocktails, and to add to the degree of difficulty in constructing, Stu uses only mixtures beginning with the letter "M."  Oddly we don't see the inimitable martini. This is a wonderful CSO to Tinbeni and my bartending son who works at Poka Lola Social Club in Denver mixing up amazing yummies like the CLOVER CLUB. 2oz Plymouth Gin, .5oz dry vermouth, .5oz raspberry syrup and .75oz lemon juice. Also timely after we had the SAZERAC last Saturday.

This is our second puzzle from Stu who appeared here in 2014. He does have 10 NYT publications, the last two in 2017. There are as always on Friday, some challenging cluing and some very fun fill like A BIT ODD, BEATS IT, DELIVER, ONE MORE, SARANAC SESAMES, SLIM JIM (my favorite) SOLACES (James Bond)  TOPMOST, TWO PAIR and YES OR NO. He then puts these sparkly fills in the difficult triple stack pattern in each corner.





4D. Tequila, triple sec and lime juice : ATIRAGRAM (9). MARGARITA has become a favorite cocktail. ent

10D. Champagne and orange juice : ASOMIM (6). MIMOSA along with the Bloody Mary are the Brunch drinks here.

21D. Bourbon, water, sugar and garnish : PELUJ TNIM (9). MINT JULEP is the drink of choice at the Kentucky Derby. Anyone here follow the richest race in thorobred racing last Sunday at Gulfstream Park here in So Fla?

36D. Whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters : NATTAHNAM (9). MANHATTAN was the drink of choiceof my brother's f-i-l.

44D. White rum, sugar, lime juice, soda water and garnish : OTIJOM (6). MOJITO has become quite popular in Florida bars.
And the reveal:

59A. Bar exhortation ... and a hint to how to answer five puzzle clues : DRINK UP (7). The drink names are read UP, from bottom to top.

Across:

1. __ Lake, village near Lake Placid : SARANAC. There are advantages to growing in the Northeast with lots of relatives, some of whom went to this  LAKE .

8. Skedaddles : BEATS IT.

15. Somewhat off : A BIT ODD. Fridays usually have many multiple word fill.

16. "Choose!" : YES OR NO. See I told you.

17. Come through : DELIVER.

18. Poker holding : TWO PAIR. A dangerous hand.

19. A or O : ALER. This simple glue fill took longer than I like.

20. Easy pace : LOPE.

22. Clipper trio : MASTS. The ship not the basketball team. Now Blake Griffin is gone, too.

23. "Ninja Scroll" genre : ANIME. I did not know the movie, but my kids watched lots of anime.

25. Domain introduced in 2001 : BIZ.

26. Rod Stewart's "__ May" : MAGGIE.

29. Shuttle site : LOOM. You want to learn to WEAVE? Or play in the dirt? 40A. Fertile soil : LOAM.

31. Affirmative act : NOD.

34. Outlying community : EXURB. From about 1955, a region or settlement that lies outside a city and usually beyond its suburbs and that often is inhabited chiefly by well-to-do families. (MW).

35. Tesla, e.g. : AUTO. This also took way too long to parse.

36. "Not a chance" : NOPE.

37. "Zorba the Greek" Oscar winner Kedrova : LILA. I liked the movie, did not recall the actress.

38. Bottom of a food chain? : MCJOB. A new way to clue.

39. Abruzzi bell town : ATRI. This LINK starts
"At Atri in Abruzzo, a small town
Of ancient Roman date, but scant renown..."

41. Picasso output : ARTE.


42. Mar. honoree : ST PAT. March 17, St. Patrick's Day.

43. "r u kidding?!" : OMG. An exclamation of surprise.

44. Team that pulls for you : OXEN. Attempted sports misdirection.

45. Like an earworm : CATCHY.


46. Peugeot's 208 or 308, e.g. : GTI.

47. Tony winner Menzel of "Wicked" : IDINA. I had the pleasure of watching her perform as Elphaba on Broadway in July of 2005 with my sons. It was awesome. She is becoming very popular with all those vowels.

49. Feature of many a Hawaiian restaurant : LANAI. Defined: porch, veranda. We have many in SoFla.

52. Cast off : EMIT.

53. Olympian queen : HERA.

57. Lock-picking tool : SLIM JIM. It is two words. I am sure the car thieves love the fact that they can buy at Walmart with DIRECTIONS.

61. Highest : TOPMOST. It is one word.

62. Consoles : SOLACES. An encore appearance.

63. Bun seeds : SESAMES. Don't forget the special sauce.

64. Request at a bar : ONE MORE. Bonus alcohol fill.

Down:

1. Actress Thompson : SADA. The mother in the successful TV series Family.

2. Doomed shepherd : ABEL. Also a second 2018 appearance.

3. Irk : RILE.

5. Sweet Potato Awareness Mo. : NOV. Who decided this? Who cares?

6. Emperor relative : ADELIE. Great misdirection- Penguins. LINK.

7. Jewel box item : CD-ROM. Defined: a thin plastic case for a CD or DVD — called also jewel case. I only knew jewel case.

8. Eight bits : BYTE. Not a dollar in the modern world.

9. "Ick!" : EEW. I also prefer the EWW spelling.

11. Utah's state gem : TOPAZ. The Topaz became the State Gem in 1969 (Utah Code). It is a semiprecious gem found in Beaver, Juab and Tooele counties of Utah. But again, who cares.

12. Mmes. across the Pyrenees : SRAS. French to Spanish.

13. Down but not out : IN IT.

14. Rocky hills : TORS.

24. Bird's bill : NIB. and maybe 51D. Bites playfully : NIPS.

25. Bonehead : BOOB. Hmm, is this 31D. Sometimes offensive, briefly : NOT PC.

26. __ Yello : MELLO.

27. Assumed truth : AXIOM. I was actually a math major when I began college.

28. Soviet labor camp : GULAG.

30. Oklahoma tribe : OTOE.

32. Dr. Phil was her frequent guest before getting his own show : OPRAH. Even Oprah makes mistakes.




33. Eros or Eos : DEITY.

35. Real estate parcel : ACRE.

38. Dress style : MAXI.

42. __ Salvador : SAN. San/El what else is there?

45. Pomelo relative : CITRON.  My wife is on a big POMELO kick to help my body recover from last year. The CITRON is an part of Jewish ceremonies for Sukkhot. See below for Oo and the thick pomelo rind.

46. Beta follower : GAMMA. Α α alpha, άλφα; Β β beta, βήτα;
Γ γ gamma, γάμμα

48. Playground comeback : DID SO.

49. Amphibious assault transports, for short : LSTS. Landing Ship, Tank - LINK.

50. Botanical balm : ALOE.

52. 911 response gp. : EMTS.

54. Kitchen gadget brand : EKCO.

55. One with second thoughts : RUER.

56. Abbey area : APSE.

58. British author's conclusion? : ISE. As opposed to IZE.

60. Terre dans la mer : ILE. Frawnche, as Splynter would say.

A tight puzzle with some challenge. February is on the March. Thank you Stu and all of you who read and write. Lemonade out.


As I promised, here is the grid and Oo getting the most out of Pomelo...

I do not know why the "J" in mint julep or the "t" in St. Pat have been bleached out.

Thursday, February 1st 2018 Mark McClain

Theme: Price Hikes - Common phrases fall prey to inflation, as the reveal suggests:

59A. Economic factor that affects three puzzle answers : INFLATION RATE

So we get:

20A. Really cheap : QUARTER A DOZEN. Up from "dime a dozen". Apropos of Sunday's "Big Game" (shh, you can't say $üperßøw£ without getting sued by the NFL!):

37A. Precisely : TO THE NICKEL.Up from "to the penny." Accountants need to tie their books to the penny, especially in the corporate world.

44A. Worthless item : PLUGGED DIME. Up from "plugged nickel". A plugged nickel is a coin where the center disc has been removed, reducing the value of the metal in the coin. Used as a colloquialism for "worthless".

I liked this theme - "TO THE NICKEL" gave it away for me, so then it was a simple matter to backtrack and fill in 20A then I was off and running.

The puzzle is also a pangram today - all the letters of the alphabet appear. When you start to collect the higher-value Scrabble letters like X, Z, Q, K and J you know you're probably in for a full set.

A couple of nice longer downs kept things moving along nicely too. Let's see what else jumps out:

Across:

1. Rankles : IRKS

5. Go higher : CLIMB

10. Burgoo or ragout : STEW. Food! One of my favorite recipe sites Epicurious has a recipe for Kentucky burgoo with bourbon in it. Sounds worth a try to me!

14. Harvest : REAP

15. Speeder spotter : RADAR. Nice alliteration in the clue.

16. Dance for a lei person : HULA. I like the play on "lei".

17. Cornstarch brand in a yellow-and-blue container : ARGO. I've got a tub of this in my pantry but I had no idea what the brand name was! Thank you, crosses.

18. String in a kids' song : E-I-E-I-O. Old MacDonald earworm .... I'll spare you a link.

19. African antelope : ORYX. There's a few four-letter antelopes in Africa. You need to be careful before jumping in.

23. Baltimore's __ Harbor : INNER

24. Enjoy Vail : SKI

25. Podded plant : PEA

28. Fountain output : SODAS

32. Sully : TAINT. Because "Nickname of US Airways pilot who ditched in the Hudson" doesn't fit.

34. Rest area freebie : MAP. Do they still give these out? Gas stations stopped handing them out for free years ago.

40. Mother Nature's balm : ALOE

42. "The Glass Lake" writer Binchy : MAEVE

43. Trillion: Pref. : TERA- I have a 2 terabyte external hard drive for backups. When I started my computer career that kind of capacity was pure science fiction. The IBM mainframes I first worked on had disks with a capacity of 300MB. My external drive holds more than 6,500 times that much data.

47. "Mamma Mia!" number : S.O.S. Catchy stuff from from those Swedish pop-tastic greats Abba. The videos have a fantastic Seventies look too.

48. Slow movement : LARGO

49. Move through muck : SLOSH

51. Kennedy twins? : ENS. Two of 'em in the name. I wanted "EES" first. Was wrong.

52. Luthor of the comics : LEX

55. Infield fly : POP-UP

64. Naan relative : ROTI. Food! I had a couple of them with my first dinner in Delhi earlier this month.

66. Demand and obtain, as vengeance : EXACT. Or revenge. Nice clue.

67. Adopt-a-Pet pet : MUTT

68. "Dilbert" intern : ASOK. He's one of my favorite characters in the strip.

69. Comparatively friendly : NICER

70. Geek Squad client : USER

71. LGBT Pride Month : JUNE

72. 2017 A.L. MVP José Altuve, for one : ASTRO. Houston ball team. I was changing planes in Houston on Monday. I like the airport, it's one of the NICER ones I pass through.

73. Zip : ZERO

Down:

1. Kirkuk native : IRAQI

2. "Seinfeld" episode, now : RE-RUN. I could watch every episode all over again.

3. See 53-Down : KAGAN

4. Reproductive bodies : SPORES

5. Hudson Bay nation : CREE. Nailed it! Thank you, crosswords past.

6. Bear's home : LAIR. Tried CAVE. Obviously a bad idea.

7. One may be called bright when it isn't : IDEA. Lovely.

8. "Downton Abbey" figures : MAIDS. We recently binge-watched all six seasons of Downton on Amazon Prime. Totally got into it.

9. Forest babbler : BROOK

10. Christian Louboutin creation : SHOE. Barney's has a men's shoe with his trademark red soles for $850 a pair. I think I'll stick to the outlets.

11. Tolls are taken on them : TURNPIKES. Nice. Took me a while to see this one.

12. Bridge expert Culbertson : ELY

13. Candle stuff : WAX

21. Easy gait : TROT

22. Tubular pasta : ZITI. Food! My kind of puzzle today.

26. Summer month in Uruguay : ENERO. January, in the Southern Hemisphere. More of a tricky Thursday-level clue for this Spanish month.

27. Book with 11-Down : ATLAS. Another one a long time a-coming. Turnpikes, among other things, are represented in a road atlas.

29. St. Paul's feature : DOME. The famous cathedral in London designed by architect Sir Christopher Wren. As recently as 1967 it was the tallest building in the city. I'm off to London tomorrow, the flight path into Heathrow passes above St. Paul's. and the rest of Central London. You get a great view of all the landmarks if the weather is clear. The dome gets a little lost among the tall buildings, but I've outlined it here:

30. Minimally : A TAD

31. Drops, as pounds : SHEDS

33. Part of ACA : ACT. The full name is The patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, familiarly known as Obamacare.

34. Scott Joplin's "__ Leaf Rag" : MAPLE. I learned this on the piano when I was a kid. I loved Scott Joplin's music after first encountering it in the movie "The Sting".

35. Literary middle name : ALLAN

36. Goes all out : POURS IT ON. Took me a while to parse this.

38. Downright nasty : EVIL

39. "Finding Dory" character : NEMO

41. __ salad : EGG

45. Club sport : GOLF. Nice clue. Could refer to the institution or the equipment.

46. "Around the Horn" channel : ESPN

50. Strait of __: Persian Gulf outlet : HORMUZ

53. With 3-Down, justice since 2010 : ELENA

54. Graph line : X-AXIS. Could be Y- or Z- so wait for the cross to confirm it.

56. Hesitation : PAUSE

57. Unmitigated : UTTER

58. Chemical prefix? : PETRO-

60. Maker of LeBron 15 basketball shoes : NIKE. More expensive footwear. Foot Locker has them for $185/pair. Not bad for a pair of sneakers.

61. Delicate handling : TACT

62. Pastry prettifier : ICER

63. Other, in España : OTRO. Second Spanish reference today.

64. British rule in India : RAJ. "Raj" is the Hindustani word for "Rule".

65. The Cowboys of the Big 12 Conf. : O.S.U. Oklahoma State University.

And with that, I think I'm done. Here's the grid - and I'll see you all next week from Blighty!

Steve