Saturday, March 16, 2019, Samuel A. Donaldson and Eric Agard

Saturday Themeless Puzzle by Samuel E. Donaldson and Eric Agard

Today's celebration involves my passion for rockets and space flight - National Goddard Day. On March 16, 1926, Dr. Robert Goddard launched the first liquid fueled rocket. It burned liquid oxygen and gasoline to lift his crude rocket 41 feet into the air reaching a speed of 60 mph. This pre-flight picture is the only one taken on this historic day as his wife had run out of film in her camera before liftoff

Dr. Goddard paved the way for rockets to go into space, where there is no air to support oxidation, as they carry their own oxygen with them. 

My lesson on space flight always began with the difference between jet flight and space flight where jets need air in the atmosphere for combustion but the rockets carry their own oxygen with them for use in the vacuum of space.

This program shown here was signed on this day in 1965 by General Bernard A. Schriever, USAF, Commander of Air Force Systems Command and Dr. Goddard's widow Esther.

Today's constructors are Samuel E. Donaldson and Eric Agard whose last collaboration I blogged on Cinco de Mayo of last year.

You may remember that earlier this year I blogged a puzzle Erik created with Andy Kravis which had a picture of Erik  recoiling from a pie about to be thrown by Alex Trebek on the Jeopardy set. Erik had created a puzzle that had frustrated the host who is also a big crossword fan. 

The word play on this puzzle was devilish and amazing, e.g. 45. Montana team in the '80s: NINERS - It was Joe Montana not the state!

Triple 10-letter horizontal stacks in the corners (the upper stack more "gettable" than the bottom) and double vertical 10-letter stacks amaze me. 

For Dr. Goddard, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 blast off!

Across:

1. Some halftime performers: MAJORETTES - Talking heads have replaced them on TV

11. Galaxy array: APPS - APPS for your Android phone

15. Home to Gotham City, Metropolis, etc.: DC UNIVERSE - Fictional home for some big comic book characters

16. Persian for "king": SHAH.

17. Technology term from the Greek for "far sight": TELEVISION  “TELEVISION won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night,” Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox, 1946.

18. Rhode Island's motto: HOPE - Right on their State Flag

19. Factory problems: RECALLS 

20. Maintained: STATED.

22. Queen who sings, "The cold never bothered me anyway": ELSA - It takes seven seconds to say it

23. Holy one?: TERROR - I have never had a student I would call a Holy TERROR and they are all 54. Hardly a lost cause: CORRIGIBLE.

24. Church marriage notice: BANNS - These used to be in our church bulletin but not any longer

27. Red head of the 20th century: MAO - What? The Chinese leader and not Lucille Ball

29. Cut off: APART - "Isabel stepped away from Joanna and stood APART"

31. Fathom, e.g.: UNIT - Below is as low as you can go in the ocean in fathoms and feet

32. Old-timey proof of purchase: BOXTOP - 25¢ and one Grape-Nuts Flakes box top for this! 

34. Hawaiian for "long": LOA - Moana LOA (Long Mountain) runs for about 74 miles on the Big Island

36. Slangy "Please call": HIT ME UP - My use of this phrase is "It was not good when my relatives HIT ME UP for money"

37. Rough case: BUR - SaneBURS can be a challenge to remove

38. "The More You Know" segment, briefly: PSA - Public Service Announcement - Here's one

39. Tribute opening: A TOAST

40. Green roller: PUTT - Golf courses roll the greens with machines like this so your PUTT will roll nicely

41. "What a tragedy": SO SAD - This befits the horrible flooding that is going on in Eastern Nebraska right now

43. Messenger substance: RNA - Ribonucleic Acid is a frequent visitor

44. Play __: GAMES - Google Play GAMES Services

47. Subject of the 1975 film "Overlord": D-DAY - I better remember The Longest Day

49. Triangular pastry: SAMOSA - One of South Africa’s favorite treats, as popular as bobotie, boerewors and biltong. No, really!

50. Fair treat: CORN DOG - Featured at this Lincoln, NE eatery

53. Walk with effort: PLOD.

57. Pine product: CONE.

58. Jicama or rutabaga: EDIBLE ROOT - Them and more

59. Gets on: AGES.

60. Parts of a bigger picture: SUBSYSTEMS.

Down:

1. Colo. summer setting: MDT and 35. 1-Down part: Abbr.: MTN - MounTaiN Daylight Time

2. Dell alternative: ACER.

3. "Three Coins in the Fountain" composer Styne: JULE - Young Julius Kerwin Stein (he later changed the spelling of the last name and the pronunciation of the first to "Julie") 

4. The slightest change: ONE CENT - Very cute guys!

5. Watterson's Calvin and Susie, at times: RIVALS.

6. What Pandora released: EVILS.

7. Model X maker, before 2017: TESLA MOTORS - Samuel told me via email, 
"I think it’s because “Tesla Motors” formally shortened its name to “Tesla” in February, 2017."

8. "Divergent" heroine __ Prior: TRIS All you need to know

9. Spanish "that": ESO ¡ESO está en rompecabezas muy a menudo! (ESO is in puzzles very often!)

10. Contextual meaning: SENSE 

11. Note near B: A SHARP - A SHARP is a half step below B

12. Facebook upload: PHOTO ALBUM - Sometimes that album is TMI

13. One way to spread the news: PAPER ROUTE - This was a great way for me to learn about responsibility and capitalism

14. Lose: SHED

21. "The Sound of Music" name: TRAPP - These are the kids who played The Trapp Family Singers on Broadway in 1960 appearing on What's My Line. Arlene Francis correctly guessed who they were.

23. Squee-worthy: TOTES ADORBS - These three words will never pass my lips but here ya go: Squee is slang for squeal which is an expression of great joy, TOTES is Totally and ADORBS is Adorable. Thus something that is Squeal-worthy is TOTALLY ADORABLE. Constructor Samuel wrote, "Gary, For better or worse, I think I came up with this clue"

24. Goose __: BUMPS.

25. Snack that doesn't sound very appetizing: ANTS ON A LOG - There are several "ants" surrounding the log  here

26. "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" singer: NINA SIMONE Her Bio

28. Guitarist, slangily: AXMAN - A guitar is called an AX slangily thus... 

30. Wonderland trial evidence: TARTS - Of course, the Knave Of Hearts stole them!

32. Was fooled by the fake: BIT - Several defender "BIT" on these moves

33. Unsafe?: OUT - The baseball umpires decision 

36. Underworld: HADES.

40. Prospector's prize: PAYDIRT - Those 49er's looking for PAYDIRT in California mostly enriched only the suppliers 

42. Cell terminals: ANODES - An interesting way to connect an ANODE and a cathode

44. Sacred Indian river: GANGES.

46. Runs: RACES 

48. Deadpan: DRILY - 20 great ones from the master of deadpan

49. Spot saver?: Abbr.: SPCA - Here, Sally is saving Spot from Dick and Jane not the SPCA

50. Nursery item: CRIB.

51. Wind in a pit: OBOE - Fabulous clue! The OBOE is the wind instrument in the orchestra pit starts everyone off on with an A. (:23)

52. Grab (onto): GLOM.

55. Norfolk sch.: ODU - Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA

56. Search subjects for 100+ yrs.: ETS - Nevada has a good sense of humor about all this

Now you can rocket off to the comment section:

Friday, March 15, 2019, Susan Gelfand

Beware the Ides of March!

Title: I've heard that before.

Susan is back for her 10th LAT publication and second Friday. her first PUZZLE that I blogged also relied on ordinary phrases not tampered with, only redefined for humorous effect. This type can be difficult to get a foothold on because there are no tricks. You just need to let your imagination run free. The let a few perps get you started. The long fill is also varied and sparkly with ALTOONA, EMANATE, HASIDIM, ROACHES, BLUEMOON, and HYSTERIA all good. I may be a little brief today as I had my colonoscopy yesterday afternoon. I like to think of it as my spring cleaning, but enough of that let's solve.

20A. High-quality tennis venue?: SUPERIOR COURT (13). The TRIAL COURT in many states is repurposed.

34A. Well-known boxing venue?: FAMILIAR RING (12). This time an idiom is repurposed. To sound like something one has heard before. I must have read this before—the words in the opening paragraph have a familiar ring to them.

41A. Virtual golf venue?: ONLINE COURSE (12). My massage therapist got her Bachelor's of Alternative Medicine at this local UNIVERSITY. 

56A. Attractive soccer venue?: MAGNETIC FIELD (13). Do you what a MAGNETIC PERSONALITY is?

Speaking of personalities, this is my tenth year blogging with most of my work on Friday, and with a few new things in my life, I am going to be sharing the duties starting next week, but I will let C.C. fill in the details. I appreciate all the wonderful words and friendships from this venue. But let us go back to work.

Across:

1. No-way man?: JOSE. I was going to start week this with the old joke about the National Anthem at the ballpark but remembered the joke was recently used. "Jose, can you see?"

5. Shade-loving plant: HOSTA. Similar sound.

10. Brainiac: WHIZ. Often associated with "kid."

14. At Dodger Stadium, briefly: IN LA. Back to baseball. Hello, left-coasters.

15. Playwright Fugard: ATHOL. I already had him once this year.

16. London's __ Park: HYDE.  Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Central London. It is the largest of four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance of Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Green Park past the main entrance to Buckingham Palace. It was created by Henry VIII.

17. Walk, e.g.: GAIT.

18. Electrical problem: SHORT. Electrician talk for a short circuit, where the electricity is diverted from its intended path. One of my nephews is a master electrician who started his own business this year as Florida's building boom returned.

19. "Makes sense to me": I SEE.

23. Made amends: ATONED. Early days for me, as Yom Kippur is months away, but we are in Lent.

24. Fireplace shelf: HOB. This is a flat metal shelf at the side or back of a fireplace, having its surface level with the top of the grate and used especially for heating pans. Wiki, I think.

25. Noteworthy stretch: ERA.

28. Earned: WON.

29. Legal tender with an 8-Down: DIME. On the obverse. 8D. Statue of Liberty feature: TORCH.

32. Kind of network: NEURAL.

36. Udon cousin: SOBA. Not a cousin but a related FOOD. Oo uses both.

39. Texting format, briefly: SMS. Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service component of phone, Web, or mobile communication systems. It uses standardized communications protocols to allow fixed line or mobile phone devices to exchange short text messages.


40. Infatuated: GAGA. You want a song?

46. Early morning hr.: FOUR AM. Three thirty four AM here, now.

47. Catch sight of SPOT.

48. Maple output: SAP. We harvested the sap when I was at boarding school and made our own maple syrup. When I went back for my 50th reunion, they are still making it, but the bottles and labels are prettier.

51. Art nowadays?: ARE. Tricky three letter fill.

52. MLB player nickname since 2005: NAT. The Washington Nationals are a Major League Baseball team formed in 1969 as the Montreal Expos. In 2005, the Expos moved to Washington, D.C. and were renamed the Nationals. The franchise has never won a World Series or National League pennant but has won its division five times. We also have 68A. Trade shows: EXPOS.

54. Em, for one: AUNTIE. Go, Dorothy. We never learn Emily's last name, in the book or movie.

60. Declare: AVOW. Not AVER today.

62. Starting word containing five of the letters of what it starts: ALEPH. ALPHABET, and the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

63. Street __: CRED.

64. Fashionable Christian: DIOR. Cute clue.

65. Curt: TERSE.

66. Ship's spine: KEEL. We must have some music.

67. Like the Marx Brothers: ZANY.

69. Loudness unit: SONE. I know decibels, not Sone, which is a unit of loudness. Loudness is a subjective characteristic of a sound (as opposed to the sound-pressure level in decibels, which is objective and directly measurable). Consequently, the sone scale of loudness is based on data obtained from subjects who were asked to judge the loudness of pure tones and noise. Well, that cleared it up for me. Not!

Down:

1. Something to put together: JIGSAW. Not a puzzling clue at all.

2. Running by itself: ON AUTO. Pilot?

3. Comfy shoe: SLIP ON.

4. Polished off: EATEN.

5. Orthodox Jewish sect: HASIDIM. The plural of  Hasid - pronounced. Chas·sid  (KHä′sĭd). 

6. Emperor after Galba: OTHO. In the year of four emperors. I also get him often but I learned when my oldest was studying the classics.

7. Toots in a restaurant: SHOR. No doubt a soon to be forgotten figure, as baseball is no longer king. LINK. My brothers and I ate there a couple of time with my father when we were kids just to see who we would see.

9. Pennsylvania railroad city: ALTOONA. Home of the Railroader MUSEUM. I am not sure I knew it was called "railroad city", but with the A, I plunked in Altoona.

10. Spinning sound: WHIR. Onomatopoeia. Damn, I spelled it right!

11. Frenzied state: HYSTERIA. A good definition for a fun fill.

12. Suffix with ox-: IDE.

13. Middle of Venezuela?: ZEE. The Middle of Venezuela is not a place I would want to be.

21. "The Scarlet Letter" letter: RED A.

22. Means of getting around town: UBER. I prefer Lyft.

26. Summoned, in a way: RANG. From last week.

27. Pond growth: ALGA.

30. Odds-and-ends abbr.: MISC.

31. St. __ Fire: ELMOS. We have this often.

33. Craving: URGE.

34. More susceptible to sunburn: FAIR. I have been blessed with skin that does not burn unless I really overdo it.

35. Bats: IS UP.

36. Sectional __: SOFA. We had one in our house after my father re-did the living room.

37. Words before before: ON OR. I like the clue clue.

38. Very long time: BLUE MOON. A blue moon is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: either the third of four full moons in a season or a second full moon in a month of the common calendar. The phrase has nothing to do with the actual color of the moon, although a literal "blue moon" may occur in certain atmospheric conditions: e.g., if volcanic eruptions or fires leave particles in the atmosphere of just the right size to preferentially scatter red light. Wiki.

42. Da __, Vietnam: NANG.

43. Spring (from): EMANATE.

44. Raid targets: ROACHES.

45. Word after Double in a cookie name: STUF. The Alabama defensive lineman who ran the fastest 40-yard dash for a 300+ pound person at the NFL combine ate 4 as part of his prerun breakfast.

48. Assembly with speakers?: STEREO.

49. Quinn of "Annie": AILEEN. I could not find anything but a two-hour link, so I chose this clip.

50. Hawk: PEDDLE. "to sell in the open, peddle," late 15c., back-formation from hawker "itinerant vendor" (c. 1400), agent noun from Middle Low German höken "to peddle, carry on the back, squat," from Proto-Germanic *huk-. Related: Hawked; hawking. Despite the etymological connection with stooping under a burden on one's back, a hawker is technically distinguished from a peddler by use of a horse and cart or a van.

53. Fax ancestor: TELEX. I still remember my first office fax machine in 1984.

55. Steals, in British slang: NICKS. A gimme for this lover of British fiction and BBC TV, A backhanded shout out to Steve and our other uncommon Commonwealth people. A good DISCUSSION of its history.

57. Out of kilter: AWRY.

58. Md. athlete: TERP. Back again.

59. __ facto: IPSO. A law term.

60. Wood shaper: ADZ.

61. Routing term: VIA.

So there you have it, another puzzle and another Friday. Nobody was stabbed in the Senate and I withstood another colonoscopy. I will avoid all the bad puns and wish you all a quick solve and great weekend. Lemonade out. Thank you Susan G.

Thursday, March 14th 2019 Alan Olschwang

Theme: Scrambling - the four theme entries contain scrambles of the word "EIGHT", as the reveal succinctly explains:

63A. Simple card game, and what's hidden in the answers to starred clues: CRAZY EIGHTS

17A. *Like power lines: HIGH-TENSION. There's some debate around whether living close to power lines is bad for your health. They can look pretty in the right setting though:

24A. *End an engagement?: GET HITCHED. The best way to end an engagement.

38A. *Teddy kin: NIGHTIE. I'm not sure I knew the difference between the two, but arduous research over an extended period of time on various lingerie websites reveal that a teddy combines a top and panties. The things I go through for this blog.

51A. *Feature items in some annual sales: WHITE GOODS. Refrigerators and the like, although sometimes used to describe linens.

I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, it was quite a challenge. I didn't check my time, but I know it took longer than most Thursdays. I like having to slowly work through, unpicking as I go. The theme reveal definitely helped with a couple of the white spaces which were left. Some smart cluing, nothing in the fill I'd call a clunker, some nice longer entries - definitely an "A" today. One of my favorite puzzles of the year so far, Alan checked all the boxes. Let's see what else:

Across:

1. Grammy category word: ALBUM. Album of the Year at this year's Grammys - Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves

6. "And here it is!": VOILA!

11. Pickup spot, perhaps: BAR

14. Take a break: PAUSE

15. "Return of the Jedi" forest moon: ENDOR. The moon Endor is forested, and the home of the Ewoks.

16. Fashion or sense preceder: IN A

19. Band booking: GIG

20. Conspiring (with): IN LEAGUE

21. Cake invitation Alice accepted: EAT ME. The grow-tall cupcakes.

23. Does, say: DEER. The noun, not the verb. I like these kinds of misdirections.

27. Alternative rock genre: EMO

29. "Come on in!": ENTER!

30. Any member of ABBA: SWEDE

33. What a birdie beats: PAR. Golf, one under par.

34. Aromatic herb: DILL

37. '90s game disc: POG

42. One of the fire signs: LEO

43. Pull a fast one on: FOOL

45. Served, as time: DID

46. Brilliance: ÉCLAT. From the French éclater - to burst out.

48. One-footer, e.g.: TAP-IN. I've seen them missed. I've missed one (at least!) myself.

50. Gray shade: ASH

55. World-weary words: AH ME!

59. Up: RISEN

60. Babe __, only woman in ESPN's Top 10 North American Athletes of the 20th Century: ZAHARIAS. Quite the athlete. She won gold at the 1932 Olympics in the 80-meter hurdles with a world-record time, and also won Javelin gold with an Olympic record throw. She won silver in the high jump with a world-record equaling effort. She then moved on to professional golf where she won 10 LPGA major championships, which ranks her 4th all-time.

62. Life-saving pro: E.M.T.

66. __-disant: self-styled: SOI. From the french. The French also use it in the "so-called" sense, e.g. a so-called improvement.

67. Ancient Aegean region: IONIA

68. "The Wreck of the Mary __": DEARE. I read the book by Hammond Innes when I was young and I was rapt - I went on to read quite a number of his novels. The movie is probably better-known. I love the tag line in the center of the poster, rather dates it!

69. Channel that airs many RKO films: TMC. Turner Classic Movies. The one above doubtless shows up from time to time.

70. __ closet: LINEN

71. John of "The Addams Family": ASTIN. He's also Sean Astin's father - Sean played Samwise Gamgee in "The Lord of the Rings" and Rudy in the eponymous movie of the Notre Dame football walk-on.

Down:

1. Agricultural pest: APHID

2. "Rawhide" singer: LAINE. Let's have us some Frankie.

3. Taps player: BUGLE

4. Brought (in): USHERED

5. Like a footnote that explains footnotes: META. The crosses filled this in for me. I'm sure some of you are familiar with "meta" crossword puzzles which feature a hidden (often very hidden) theme and unifier.

6. Locale: VENUE

7. Early stage: ONSET

8. Dictator played by Forest: IDI. Amin, as portayed by Whitaker.

9. Leicester toilet: LOO

10. Journalist Peter: ARNETT. The ex-CNN reporter was one of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists for his Vietnam war reporting for the Associated Press. He, David Halberstam and Neil Sheehan were all contrarian members of the press corps who repeatedly questioned the official line.

11. Time of one's life: BIG THRILL

12. Cartoon genre: ANIME. It has a very distinct style.

13. Continued unabated: RAGED

18. "The one who makes it, takes it" breakfast brand: EGGO

22. Breezed through: ACED

25. Recipe verb: HEAT

26. Crucifix letters: INRI. From the Latin "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum" - "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews".

28. Fellows: MEN

30. Beach letters: SPF. Sun-tan lotion's protection factor.

31. Try to attract: WOO

32. Lacking humility: EGOTISTIC

33. Third deg.?: PH.D. I like the clue, I think it was used recently if I recall correctly.

35. Verdant patch: LEA

36. Auction unit: LOT

39. "Gotcha!": I DIG!

40. Singer Vannelli: GINO. Canadian singer from the 70's & 80's. He had some big hair!

41. Some RIT grads: E.E.S. I'm guessing Electrical Engineers from Rochester Institute of Technology?

44. After-hours: LATE

47. Supplies power to: CHARGES

49. #2, for one: PENCIL. I know them as "HB" pencils from the European grading system.

50. '60s-'70s tennis great Arthur: ASHE

51. Extract forcibly: WREST

52. Bleachers sign: HI MOM!

53. David and Ricky's dad: OZZIE. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, as I'm sure you all know.

54. Israeli hero Moshe: DAYAN. "He would wake up with a hundred ideas. Of them ninety-five were dangerous; three more had to be rejected; the remaining two, however, were brilliant." Ariel Sharon

56. Drum kit part: HI-HAT

57. Motherly introduction?: MATRI-. Matriarch, for example.

58. German steel center: ESSEN. I learned this from school German classes. Our textbook Mr. Müller and his family lived in Essen. You never know when this stuff is going to come in handy.

61. Operatic princess: AIDA

64. Versailles monarch: ROI

65. Taylor of fashion: ANN

I didn't come across anything "terribble" this week, but then again, I didn't last week either, that was the problem!

Just let me double-check I've got the correct squares highlighted ...... yup, all's good .... and I'm done!

Steve

Wednesday, March 13, 2019 Ed Sessa

Theme: Well, there was this guy  .  .  . and this other guy  .  .  .   Or - What's in a name? Famous men's names are linked across and within theme entries, from the generic to the specific.

First the generic:

18 D. Generic guy: TOM.
34 D. Generic guy: DICK.
50 D.  Generic guy: HARRY.
These are generally considered as a collective, referring to any guy you're likely to run into.  So to encounter every TOM, DICK and HARRY separately here made it a little hard to suss.  Of course, these given names could have been clued in a variety of other ways.  But with this theme, it's important to clue them this way, leaving them, in a sense, open ended.

67 A. 18-, 34- __ 50-Down: AND.  To bring them all together

As an aside, the most common names for boys born in 2018 were Jackson,  Liam, Noah, Aiden, Caden, Grayson, Lucas, Mason, Oliver and Elijah.  The old expression might need to be reconsidered, because nowadays, every Tom Dick and Harry is named Jackson, Liam or Noah.

Then the specific:

20 A. After 18-Down, actor/golfer combo: ARNOLD PALMER.  So we get the actor TOM ARNOLD [b 1959] and the golfer ARNOLD PALMER [1929-2016].  Tom's first wife was the now increasingly unhinged Roseanne Barr.  He is currently getting divorced from his fourth wife.  At some point you might just as well quit.  ARNOLD PALMER was, and remains, an icon in the world of golf.  Once, at his Bay Hill golf club, I had lunch with him.  Granted, we were at different tables, at opposite ends of the room, but we were eating together.  Or at least at the same time. His name could also have been clued as a soft drink made by mixing lemonade and iced tea.

37 A. After 34-Down, crime writer/poet combo: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.  Here we have DICK FRANCIS [1920-2010], a former steeplechase jockey whose novels focus on crime in the world of British horse racing, along with FRANCIS SCOTT KEY [1779-1843] who composed the poem Defense of Fort M'Henry in September, 1814, after witnessing the battle there.  It was soon set to music, and became our unofficial national anthem.  This was made official by an executive order from President Wilson in 1916. There are good reasons why the third verse is never sung.

55. After 50-Down, president/novelist combo: TRUMAN CAPOTE.  This gives us the 33rd President [1945-1933] of the U. S., HARRY TRUMAN [1884-1972] and author TRUMAN CAPOTE [1924-1984.] President Truman implemented the Marshall Plan, benefiting Western Europe after WW II and was involved in establishing NATO.  TRUMAN CAPOTE was a novelist, playwright and actor.  At least 20 of his works have been made into movies.  The best known are probably Breakfast a Tiffany's and the non-fiction murder story In Cold Blood.

Hi Gang.  JazzBumpa here.  As you can probably tell, I had a hard time figuring out how to characterize and deal with this clever and unusual theme.  Proper names, in general, are not top notch fill.  But when they become the theme, it's a whole new ball game.  And Ed has given the idea - quite literally - a new dimension.  So - kudos for that.  Let's see what else we have.

Across:

1. Cascades peak: SHASTA.  A currently inactive [but who knows?] volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Northern CA,  with a max. elevation of 14, 179 ft.

7. Cap'n's aide: BOS'N.   A contraction of boatswain, also known as the chief petty officer.

11. Classic British sports cars: MGs.  The Initials of Morris Garages.  MG is the marque for vehicles marketed as such by its parent company, Shanghai based SAIC Motors.

14. Character builder?: AUTHOR. A writer, in this case of fiction stories, where each character ought to be built of relatable human characteristics. Unless that character is Ramsey Bolton.

15. __ Domini: ANNO.  Latin for "in the year of our Lord," designating the most recent 2019 years of human history.  This idea has its own complicated history which the interested reader may perhaps pursue at one's leisure.

16. Vein contents: ORE.  Mining for minerals

17. Not yet proven: THEORETICAL.  Sometimes the theoretical can yet be proven.  All it takes are extraordinary capability and decades of single-minded devotion.

19. __ drop: MIC.  I have a mental block about pronouncing mic as Mike.  Anyway, the expression refers to a literal or figurative gesture at the end of a speech or performance indicating triumph.

22. Wrestling duo: TAG TEAM.  A two person wrestling team, only one of which is in the ring at any given time.  A replacement can only be made if the one in the ring can physically touch, or TAG, his partner.

25. Innocent: NAIVE.  Due to lack of experience with all the pitfalls, travails and villains one encounters in the real world.

26. Charlottesville sch.: UVA. University of Virginia.

27. Like a cool cat: HEP.  From Wikipedia: Hipster or hepcat, as used in the 1940s, referred to aficionados of jazz, in particular bebop, which became popular in the early 1940s. The hipster adopted the lifestyle of the jazz musician, including some or all of the following: dress, slang, use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic humor, self-imposed poverty, and relaxed sexual codes.

30. Edible root: BEET.  When it comes to borscht, you can't beet soup!

31. Depended (on): RELIED.

35. Sunlit lobbies: ATRIA.  Entrance areas or central courts of buildings or complexes that are either open roofed or glass covered.  I once had the opportunity to crawl around on one with a glass roof.  And, yes, I am acrophobic.  Good times.

42. Worthy of a standing O: SOCKO.  Stunningly effective or successful.

43. Pay for one's crime: DO TIME.  Go to prison.

44. Suisse peak: ALPE.  Une montagne en Français.

47. Sisters, say: KIN.  It's all relative.

48. Spam holder: TIN.  A metal can containing [presumably] food stuffs.

49. "American Horror Story" actress Paulson: SARAH. Never watched it.

From season 1

51. Contents of a teacher's key: ANSWERS.

59. TV buying channel: HSN.  Home Shopping Network

60. Host of a Friars Club event: ROASTMASTER.  Portmanteau of ROAST and MASTER, modeled after "toastmaster, " to designate an MC at a comedy roast, in which a person is honored by being the butt of pointed jokes.

64. One of a comic trio: MOE.  Along with Larry, Curly, and Shemp.  I know - that makes 4.  Sometimes life ain't easy.

65. Invite feedback?: RSVP.  Formal request to respond to an invitation.

66. Nissan sedan: ALTIMA.  A mid-size sedan.

68. Votes for: YEAS.  All opposed say Nay.

69. Oppressive ruler: DESPOT.  A ruler with absolute power.  Power corrupts.

Down:

1. Minded the kids: SAT.  As in baby sat.

2. "What the?!": HUH.  Eh?

3. Pigged out, say: ATE.  Too much.

4. Little pig: SHOAT.  Especially one who was newly weaned.

5. Yankee manager before Girardi: TORRE.  Joe [b 1940] ranks 5th in MLB history with 2326 wins as a manger.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015.

6. __ rock: Queen genre: ARENA.  I did not know this was actually considered a genre of pop music.  Music designed to be played in large spaces before large audiences.

7. Attend to a leaking boat: BAIL.  Scoop water out of the boat with buckets.  Might be a losing battle.

8. How some data is stored: ON CD.  Increasingly less likely these days.

9. Sound made using two fingers: SNAP.  There's more than one way to do it.

10. "The Dark Knight Trilogy" director Christopher: NOLAN. [b 1970]  An English film director, screen writer and producer who holds duel British and American citizenship.

11. Family nickname: MOMMIE.

12. Mourn: GRIEVE.  Emotional distress.

13. It's not for everyone: SECRET.  Keep it under your hat.

21. Canadian brewery: LABATT.  Founded in 1847 by John Kinder Labatt in London, Ont.  Now part of international conglomerate Inbev.

22. Steak metaphor seen on menus: TURF.  Along with SURF.  What wine goes with that?

23. State with conviction: AVER.  Or AVOW.  Always need perps.

24. Charity event: GALA.  A social event with entrtainmnet.

27. Wears: HAS ON.  Is clothed with.

28. "There's more" letters: ETC.  List shortener.

29. Jab to keep them dogies rollin': PROD.  For cattle.

32. Slacks measure: INSEAM.  The seam from the crotch to the bottom of a pant leg, or its length.

33. Prefix with car: ECO.  ECoCAR is a competitive event in which engineering students design and build advanced vehicles with leading edge technologies.

36. "How was __ know?": I TO.  Somebody tell me.

38. Maneuver through moguls: SKI.  This short video shows how to do it.

39. Flier on a string: KITE.

40. Mideast mogul: EMIR. A clecho, and a different sense of the word mogul, here meaning an important or powerful person.

41. Strong desires: YENS.  Urges.  I thought about going to Japan, but didn't have he YEN to travel.

44. Bronchial disorder: ASTHMA. A chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways.

45. "The Far Side" cartoonist Gary: LARSON.  [b.1950]  Seeking to avoid what he termed "the graveyard of mediocre cartoons, he retired at the beginning of 1995 at age 44.

Found here

46. Tended to topiary: PRUNED.  Selected trimming away of branches from trees or shrubs.

51. Germane: APT. Appropriate or suitable to the situation.

52. Desert wanderer: NOMAD.  One with no permanent home, traveling from place to place to find fresh areas for livestock grazing.

53. Like many bad jokes: STALE.  Old and used up.

54. Bridge positions: WESTS.  Positions at the bridge table are named for the four main cardinal directions.

56. Bridge position: NOSE.  Another clecho, and another sense of the word bridge.

More here, if you're nosy

57. Vena __: major blood line: CAVA.  Either of two veins returning deoxygenated blood to the heart.

58. Sacred symbols on pyramid walls: ASPS.  The depiction of an Egyptian cobra.

61. Reward for waiting: TIP.  Not for Godot, unless he has arrived and is at the table where you are serving.

62. Confessional music genre: EMO.  Similar to punk, but having more complex arrangements, typically dealing with angst and other deep emotions.

63. Maze scurrier: RAT.  In a laboratory.

That wraps it up for another Wednesday. Good puzzle.  I didn't have any nits.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Cool regards!
JzB

Tuesday, March 12, 2019 Gary Larson

SIDE BY SIDE


17. *Wall-hidden sliding portal: POCKET DOOR.  Side pocket and door side. 

39. *Serve, as stew: DISH OUT.  Side dish and outside.

11. *Fixture on a ceiling rail: TRACK LIGHT.  Sidetrack and sidelight.

28. *Google Maps option: STREET VIEW. Street side and sideview.

60. Together, and a hint to both parts of the answers to starred clues: SIDE BY SIDE.

I guess we could also have side door, track side and side street.  Any others ?

Across:

1. "We burger as good as we pancake" chain: IHOP.   The International House of Pancakes' publicity stunt of changing their logo to IHOb and using social media to create the buzz turned out to be marketing magic.  Hamburger sales quadrupled and same-store sales increased nearly 1 percent.


5. Ring-shaped reef: ATOLL.

10. www code: HTML.   An initialism for Hypertext Markup Language.   Click the blue hypertext link to read the Wikepedia article on the co-inventor of the concept of markup languages.

14. The "M" of MSG: MONO.  Monosodium glutamate.  The flavor enhancer.   The MSG Symptom Complex - No definitive evidence.

15. Greek played by Anthony Quinn: ZORBA.


16. Badly damaged Asian sea: ARAL.

19. Food truck snack: TACO.  and 5d,  Ancient Mexican: AZTEC.   Aztec Dave's is a popular rolling cocina Mexicano in Chicago.

20. Prepared (oneself), as for a difficult task: STEELED. 

21. Planned with little detail: SKETCHY.

23. Thanksgiving Day Parade sponsor: MACY'S. 

25. Pedaled in a triathlon: BIKED.   Swim, cycle and run.

26. Trowel wielder: MASON.  My friend enlisted in the Air Force and signed up for electronics.  Testing revealed he was shade blind, so they made him a mason instead.  After the Air Force he became a programmer.  He still denies that he is shade blind.  The colors clash on the walls in his home.

29. Remove the rind from: UNPEEL.


32. Letter-routing abbr.: ATTN.

33. "The Bathers" painter: RENOIR.  Easily perped.  Wouldn't have known it from the clue.

35. Suppositions: IFs.  A few IFs in this Easy Listening song:


38. Feb. follower: MAR.

40. Old Prizm maker: GEO.  Under the trimmings, the Prizm was basically a Toyota Corolla

41. Sports drink suffix: ADE.

42. Wedding venues: ALTARS.  According to Wikipedia, the aforementioned song by Bread, If, became very popular at weddings and receptions.

43. Back in the day: THEN.

44. Writer Hemingway: ERNEST.

46. Like craft shows: ARTSY.  Etsy is full of artsy creations.  You knew that.

47. Sean who played a hobbit: ASTIN.  He played Samwise Gamgee.  Wilbur Charles probably knew that. 

49. Reef explorer's gear: SCUBA.  My first exposure to scuba was on the TV program Sea Hunt, starring Lloyd Bridges. 

52. Split, as the loot: DIVVY UP.  Chicagoans and her suburbanites know Divvy as the bicycle sharing program.

55. Oyster season, so they say: R MONTHS.  Months that have the letter R.

59. "Would __ to you?": I LIE.   The Eurythmics.  Annie Lennox and David Stewart.  Synthopop and R&B.   Jinx referenced another hit song for the Eurythmics yesterday in his comments.  That was their "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" song.  


62. Above: OVER.

63. Gladden: ELATE.   Dan Gladden of the Minnesota Twins elated fans with his Game 1 Grand Slam in the '87 World Series, and with his aggressive base running that led to the only run scored in Game 7 of the '91 World Series.   The Twins won both World Series, besting the Atlanta Braves each time in 7 games.   The 1991 World Series has been hailed by ESPN as the Greatest World Series of All Time.

64. "My treat": ON ME.

65. Wood cutters: SAWS.

66. Meal with matzo: SEDER.

67. "Downton Abbey" employee: MAID.

Down:

1. Rascals: IMPS.

2. Laugh-a-minute: HOOT.

3. __ and for all: ONCE.   Expressed using other words...  "Now, and for the last time."

4. Critters hunted in a 2016 mobile app: POKEMON.  Pokemon Go was an augmented reality game that launched in 2016.  Wildly popular among gamers,  it was much criticized by authorities as trespasses, accidents and fatalities ensued.

6. Hot spiced drink: TODDY.   Irish Whisky, Honey, Lemon and a dash of Cloves.

7. "__ y Plata": Montana motto: ORO.

8. Wall St. deals: LBOs.  Leveraged Buyouts at Investopedia.

9. Small songbird: LARK.

10. McDaniel of "Gone With the Wind": HATTIE.  No idea. Perps.

12. Papier-__: MACHE.  Fun for children and the artsy-crafty people that sell on Etsy.

13. Frank __ Wright: LLOYD.

18. Panache: ELAN.  As exhibited by the 2019 Supra that will be coming to showrooms later this year.

22. Movie critic Roger: EBERT.

24. Broad-brimmed beach bonnets: SUN HATS.    I don wide-brimmed straw hats when mowing the lawn and gardening.  Yeah, that sounds awkward.  "I wear " sounds better.   Just don't forget to doff your hat to the ladies.

26. Cry from a crib: MAMA.

27. Just barely: A TAD.  

30. American-born Jordanian queen: NOOR.  Queen Noor of Jordan at Biography.com

31. Name of 12 popes: PIUS.  The list is copied from Wikipedia.

There have been 12 Roman Catholic Popes named Pius.  Click the links if you want to learn about each papacy.

• Pope Pius I (c. 140–154; officially listed as 142/146 – 157/161)
• Pope Pius II (1458–1464)
• Pope Pius III (1503)
• Pope Pius IV (1559–1565)
• Pope Pius V (1566–1572)
• Pope Pius VI (1775–1799)
• Pope Pius VII (1800–1823)
• Pope Pius VIII (1829–1830)
• Pope Pius IX (1846–1878)
• Pope Pius X (1903–1914)
• Pope Pius XI (1922–1939)
• Pope Pius XII (1939–1958)

 33. Really anger: RILE.

34. Appraisal amts.: ESTS.  Amounts / Estimates.

36. Professional charges: FEES.

37. PlayStation maker: SONY.  Is this the the original ?

39. "__ Boy": Irish song: DANNY.  

43. Narrow window: TRANSOM.   Typically over doors and windows, as shown here with a pair of sidelights adjacent the door.

45. Mississippi and Missouri: RIVERS.  A couple of ems, and a lot of esses and ies.

46. "It's __!": nursery cry: A BOY.

47. Pablo's parting: ADIOS.  Actually,  Pablo was bi-lingual, and had crossed the Pyrenees to visit friends in France.  Upon leaving, he bade his friends adieu.   That's my excuse for having to change the answer when the perps didn't fit.

48. Thriller writer Daniel: SILVA.  No clue for me, but the perps were solid.   Daniel Silva Books: The Complete Listing

50. Minos' kingdom: CRETE.   It's all Greek (mythology) to me.   Only a passing interest.

51. "Raw" pigment: UMBER.  Originally from the region of Umbria, Italy.  

53. Applications: USES.

54. Heap: PILE.

56. Singer Turner: TINA.  Here with Ike singing Proud Mary:


57. Port on many TVs: HDMI.   High-Definition Multimedia Interface.   The proprietary digital implementation replacing analog video signals.

58. Start of a flower: SEED.

61. Family man: DAD.