Friday, March 29, 2019 David Alfred Bywaters

Insider Trading.  Each theme answer consists of two 4-letter words where the first and last letters are the same, but the two internal, or "inside", letters (in the pattern of A__ or __A) have "traded" places.  How very clever!

17-Across. Frantic activity at a clothing sale?: GARB GRAB.  The infamous Wedding Dress Garb Grab at Filene's Basement in Boston.  If you haven't experienced the original Filene's Basement, you don't know what you're missing.

26-Across. Wooden bird sculpture?: SAWN SWAN.  This was my Rosetta Stone.

52. Cereal maker's storage building?: BRAN BARN.  I couldn't find a Bran Barn, but here's the famous Bran Castle near Brașov, Romania, allegedly the home of Dracula.  Well worth the visit!

66. Dispassionate bivalve?: CALM CLAM.

40-Across. With 42-Across, white-collar crime ... and a hint to four Across answers: INSIDER.

42-Across. See 40-Across: TRADING.  Together these clues give us INSIDER TRADING, which is a big No-No with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This was a tough Friday puzzle.  It's never good when I can't get 1-Across/1-Down on the first pass.  Getting the gimmick early helped me today.

Across:

1. Result of littering, maybe: PUP.  Oh, not like the street after the parade has floated by,

but as in a dog with its babies.

4. Recipe direction: SIFT.  I remember my mother sifting flour before doing any baking.  I only occasionally used a sifter when baking.  Probably why my cooking is the way it is.

8. Round paths: ORBITS.  The orbits of the planets are elliptical .  The elliptical orbits are a subset of the round orbits.

14. Airport info: ETA.  As in Estimated Time of Arrival.  A crossword staple.

15. Minorca, por ejemplo: ISLA.  Today's Spanish lesson.  Minorca is one of the Balearic islands in the Mediterranean Sea.  The Islands belong to Spain.  Minorca is the tiny island on the far right on the map.

16. Promote: TALK UP.

19. How some insults are veiled: THINLY.  If someone ever says to you, "Oh, you lost 10 pounds?  That's a good start", then you have just been the subject of a thinly disguised insult.

20. Luster: SHEEN.  Not to be confused with Martin Sheen.

21. Electric guitar effect: WA WA.

23. Meh: SO-SO.  //  And 41-Down.  Meh: DRAB.

24. Comedy bit: GAG.

28. Recreational walk: STROLL.  My memory is a little rusty, but I think you can take a STROLL down ...

31. European relative of aloha: CIAO.  Today's Italian lesson

32. Financial claim: LIEN.

33. Heroic poetry: EPOS.  A long, narrative poem, such as Beowulf.  I was so disappointed when I learned that Beowulf was not actually about a wolf.

35. Scheming wife of Augustus: LIVIA.  Livia (58 BCE ~ 29 CE) was a Roman Empress.

44. Mongol invader: TATAR.  Probably the most famous Tatar was Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire.

45. "__ Tired": Beatles "White Album" song: I'M SO.  I don't remember this song.  //  And 71-Across: SLEEPY.

47. Long-gone time: YORE.

48. Plant with therapeutic sap: ALOE.  A crossword staple.

50. Ball VIPs: BELLES.

56. Longtime NBC hit: SNL.  As in Saturday Night Live.

57. Drive-in need: AUTO.

58. Ivan IV, from 1547 to 1584: TSAR.  Also known as Ivan the Terrible.  He is considered the first TSAR of Russia.  Previous rulers were known as Grand Princes.  The title of Tsar gave him gravatis in the eyes of the European monarchs. Once he appointed himself Tsar, he and Queen Elizabeth I carried on a long correspondence, which opened up trading between England and Russia.  It is said that Ivan proposed to Elizabeth, but she declined.  Probably just as well for her.

60. Passageway: AISLE.

64. Theater company: TROUPE.

68. Fairy tale sibling: HANSEL.  Brother of Gretel. The story of Hansel and Gretel is an old German fairy tale, recorded by the Brothers Grimm.  They were children of a poor woodcutter.  Their mother had died and their step-mother took them deep into the woods and left them to fend for themselves.  They came upon a beautiful gingerbread home, unaware that its owner was a cannibalistic witch.

69. Logician's adverb: ERGO.

70. "Really? Me?": AMI.  Hmm ...  Ami the transliteration for a Hebrew word meaning "my people".

72. Precious: DEAR.

73. Favorite: PET.  My late pet.

Down:

1. Coat holders: PEGS.  My first thought was a coat tree, but that didn't work well with the perps.

2. Wasatch Front state: UTAH.  This was totally unknown to me.  Apparently, the Wasatch Front is a metropolitan region in Utah, which includes such cities as Provo, Salt Lake City and Odgen.  Do any of our crossword friends live in this area?

3. Opposite of embiggen: PARE.  Embiggen is a perfectly cromulent word.  It's first known use was on a 1996 episode of The Simpsons.

4. Traffic stopper, perhaps: SIGNAL.

5. Leb. neighbor: ISR.  Israel is a neighbor of Lebanon.

6. Diamond concern: FLAW.  Can you spot the flaws in these diamonds?

7. Spicy sauce: TABASCO.  Made in Avery Island, Louisiana.  Did you know that Avery Island isn't really an island?  It's really a salt dome.  There are five such "Islands" in southern Louisiana.

8. Capital NNW of Albany: OTTAWA.

9. Cheer syllable: RAH.  //  And 25-Down. Cheer: GLEE.

10. Euphoria: BLISS.

11. "You don't need to tell me": I KNOW.

12. Home of the Drillers of Class AA baseball: TULSA.  The Tulsa Drillers are the double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

13. Watch surreptitiously: SPY ON.

18. Colorful tropical flower: BEGONIA.

22. Middle management issues?: WAISTS.  Another good clue.

27. Satchmo's birthplace, briefly: NOLA.  Louis Daniel Armstrong (Aug. 4, 1901 ~ July 6, 1971), also known as Satchmo, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

28. Narrow opening: SLIT.

29. Turner with numbers: TINA.  As in Tina Turner (née Anna Mae Bullock; b. Nov. 26, 1939).  Tina on her last birthday at age 79.  I hope I can look as good as she does when I turn 79.

30. Enjoy an easy chair: REST.

34. Monastic leaders: PRIORS.

36. Charmingly pastoral: IDYLLIC.

37. Member of a Baroque consort: VIOL.  A musical instrument used in Renaissance and Baroque music.  It is similar to a cello, is six-stringed, held vertically and played with a bow.

38. Memo heading: IN RE.

39. Survey range components: AGES.  On a survey form, there are often boxes to check one's age range.

43. Takes badly?: ROBS.  Nice misdirection.

46. Threatened: MENACED.

49. These days: LATELY.

51. Charm: ENAMOR.

52. Spa features: BATHS.  Here I am (way in the back) swimming in the pool at the Gellert Spa in Budapest.

53. Like much of Oregon: RURAL.

54. Make amends: ATONE.  This is becoming a crossword staple.

55. "I give up!": NO USE.

59. Uncommon: RARE.  Tanzanite is one of the world's rarest gem stones.  It is found only in Tanzania, hence its name.

61. Open-handed blow: SLAP.

62. Unconvincing, as an excuse: LAME.

63. Put out: EMIT.

65. Energy: PEP.

67. NY airport named for a mayor: LGA.  As in LaGuardia Airport, which is named after Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (Dec. 11, 1882 ~ Sept. 20, 1947).  He was only 5'2'', and interestingly, his first name means "little flower" in Italian.  He was the 99th Mayor of New York City.  He served as Mayor from January 1934 through December 1945.

Now here's the GIRD GRID:

QOD:  Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will make me go in a corner and cry by myself for hours.  ~  Eric Idle (b. Mar. 29, 1943)

Thursday, March 28th 2019 Timothy Schenck

Theme:

10D. *Italian pistols: BERETTAS. (Beret) In the early James Bond novels, his pistol of choice was a Beretta 418, but a firearm expert and a fan of the books wrote to Ian Fleming criticizing his decision as the weapon had no real stopping power. Fleming replaced the firearm with a Walther PPK in Dr. No.

11D. *A skeptic's wont: TO QUESTION (Toque) I was impressed that Timothy found a way to use the proper name for the tall chef's hat, among other styles.

28D. *Quaker Oats cereal with a naval officer on the box: CAP'N CRUNCH (Cap)

38D. *The Sunshine Skyway Bridge spans it: TAMPA BAY (Tam). The bridge was involved in a tragic incident in 1980 when a freighter collided with it during a thunderstorm and brought down a large section.

38A. Partners of tails ... and what's found in the answers to starred clues: TOP HATS. See the picture of the royals below.

Happy Thursday, everyone, and I'm thinking a particularly happy Thursday for the constructor, as I believe this is his debut for the LA Times. The theme is simple, but nicely done. The theme entries are all in the downs so that the hat can sit "on top." as the reveal suggests.

[Edit: It's actually Tim's second LAT).

Let's see what else we've got:

Across:

1. Ancient gathering place: STOA

5. Warm place to chill: HOT TUB

11. "Waterfalls" pop trio: TLC. I know the song, I had no ideal that was the name of the group.

14. Medical breakthrough: CURE

15. Revolt: UPRISE

16. "That looks good!": OOH!

17. Dict. label: ABBR.

18. Not as nice: MEANER

19. Sine __ non: QUA. An "essential condition or necessary component" for you non-ancient Romans out there.

20. Impressive vocal quality: RESONANCE

22. Spew: ERUPT

24. Have a feeling: SENSE

25. Reason for a warm eye compress: STYE

26. Race town near Windsor Castle: ASCOT. Gentlemen are encouraged to dress formally for the annual Royal Ascot meet in June. Here's some royals being, well, royal at Royal Ascot. Prince Harry looks like he just got off a horse.

29. Information to process: DATA SET.         

32. "Sounds fair": DEAL

33. Berth place: MARINA

36. Greek cross: TAU

37. ChapStick target: LIP

39. Doctrine suffix: -ISM

40. The Stratford, in TV's "Newhart": INN. Here's the Waybury Inn in Vermont which was used in the show "acting" as the Stratford.

41. Pupil surrounder: AREOLA. Quiet at the back.

42. Frost lines?: POEM

43. Flatters: BECOMES

45. Masculine: MANLY

46. Cheats, with "off": RIPS

47. "__ always makes it better": Anne Burrell: BACON. I never heard her say it, but didn't take long to figure this one out.

50. Throat dangler: UVULA

52. Aboveboard: ALLOWABLE

56. Solder component: TIN along with lead, or silver and copper for lead-free solders, and commonly with a flux core.

57. Caviar source: BELUGA

59. Morsel on a shellfish platter: CLAW. Depends how big your crustacean is. The biggest lobster caught on record was a 44lb behemoth off Nova Scotia in 1977. Those claws are certainly not "morsels"!

60. Anti-apartheid org.: A.N.C. The African National Congress.

61. Landfall for Noah: ARARAT

62. Word before and after sweet: HOME

63. Part of a snarky laugh: HEH

64. Approvals: YESSES

65. Terminal info: E.T.A.S

Down:

1. Emotional trauma consequence: SCAR

2. Skin cream holder: TUBE

3. Poetic spheres: ORBS

4. Spray starch dispenser: AEROSOL

5. Likely to err, eventually?: HUMAN. You can be divine, and forgive though.

6. Hits theaters: OPENS

7. Vestige: TRACE

8. Spork prong: TINE

9. Finish, with "up": USE

12. __-garou: werewolf: LOUP. First mentioned in 60 B.C. by Roman author Petronius, so they've been around a while. Before the invention of firearms and silver bullets, they pretty much had the run of the place at full moon time. Apparently you can bludgeon one to death with a blunt silver object, but I'd prefer to keep my distance.
.
13. Facebook option: CHAT

21. Safety feature at a trapeze school: NET

23. Scandinavian rug: RYA. Thank you, crosswords past.

25. Seasonal visitor: SANTA

26. Stage surprise: AD LIB

27. River with 37 bridges in Paris: SEINE. I was going to tell you how many bridges cross the Seine in total, but when I went to Wikipedia I realized I'd be here all day counting them. Just know, there's a lot!

29. Retro phone part: DIAL

30. Conference room stand: EASEL. For the flip chart. Still a fixture in these days of whiteboards and flat-panel TVs.

31. Tot's ache source: TUMMY

33. Social customs: MORES

34. Imitates: APES

35. Letter before sigma: RHO

42. Grand style: PANACHE

44. Safflower __: OIL

45. Cut grass: MOW

47. Gets fuzzy: BLURS. Gets fuzzy, not Get Fuzzy:

48. Diet for some aquarium fish: ALGAE. The Siamese Algae Eater is described on one website as "easy to keep, and will eat anything put in the tank". I hope not, they'd eat all the plants, the other fish and the treasure chest if that was the case.

49. Paint layers: COATS

50. Arches National Park state: UTAH

51. Hollywood crosser: VINE. Here's the iconic Capitol Records tower seen from the intersection. There's a flashing light on the top of the mast which spells out "Hollywood" in Morse Code.

52. "Oh dear!": ALAS

53. Ink smudge: BLOT

54. Revered Tibetan: LAMA

55. Farm females: EWES

58. "Blood hath been shed __ now": Macbeth: ERE. On seeing Banquo's ghost.

"...The time has been

That, when the brains were out, the man would die,

And there an end. But now they rise again

With twenty mortal murders on their crowns

And push us from our stools. This is more strange

Than such a murder is."

I don't have a lot of sympathy for Macbeth - he didn't just push Banquo off his stool, he pushed him off his mortal coil.

And with that thought, here's the grid!

Steve

Wednesday, March 27, 2019 Norfleet Pruden

Theme: On your Marx, get set  .  .  .  Three long answers are common, in-the-language phrases doubling as movie titles.  These movies star a band of brothers.

20 A. Shenanigans: MONKEY BUSINESS.  Mischievous or deceitful behavior.  Also, a 1952 movie staring Carey Grant, Marilyn Monroe and Ginger Rogers.

But more to the point, this 1931 movie featuring the aforementioned siblings.

In either case, you can find the entire movie on Youtube.

37 A. "Nonsense!": HORSE FEATHERS.  An expression of disagreement, disbelief or frustration. Also, another epic on the silver screen, this time from 1932.

53 A. Nabisco product whose package formerly displayed circus cages: ANIMAL CRACKERS.  Small cookies in the shapes of zoo and circus animals, available since 1902.

And, sure enough, yet another movie title, from 1930.

66 A. Surname of the stars of 20-, 37- and 53-Across: MARX.  Groucho [Julius,] Harpo [Arthur,] Zeppo [Herbert] and Chico [Leonard.]  A fifth brother. Gummo [Milton,] never appeared in any of their movies.  [Wikipedia]

Across:

1. Sow chow: SLOP.  Unspecified liquid or semi-liquid kitchen scraps as an alternative to Purina Swine Chow.

5. Sport with clay disks: SKEET.  The disks are propelled in the air as shooting targets.

10. "House Hunters" channel: HGTV.

14. Kind of curriculum: CORE.  A set of common courses required of all students, irrespective of their major.

15. Mural prefix: INTRA-.  Literally "within the walls," referring to sport or other competitions among students of a single institution.

16. Nécessité for a soufflé: OEUF.  French eggs.

17. Food thickener: AGAR. A gelatinous material extracted from red seaweed.

18. Anti-wrinkle option: BOTOX.  A drug prepared from botulism toxin used to treat certain muscular conditions, and to remove facial wrinkles.

19. Hearty bowlful: STEW.  A meal of meat and vegetables cooked together in broth.

23. Wrinkly little dog: PUG.  A small breed with a deeply wrinkled face.  Any irony with 18 A?

24. Gore and Green: ALS.  AL Gore is a Viet Nam war veteran, former Representative in Congress, Senator, Vice President and presidential candidate.  AL Green is a singer and ordained minister who has led a complicated and eventful life.

25. Defunct supermarket chain that once had nearly 16,000 stores: A AND P.  Originally the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company.  they went out of business in 2015, after 156 years.

27. Lines on a list: ITEMS.

29. Thick slice: SLAB. As bacon, concrete or marble.

32. Break bread: EAT.  Together with other people.  Evidently, the referent is the Last Supper.

33. Adds bubbles to: AERATES.

36. Tropicana Field MLB team: RAYS.  Last year they won 90 games and finished 3rd in the powerful AL East division, behind the Red Sox and Yankees.

40. Cry under a pop fly: MINE.  So that other fielders will back off and avoid a collision.  Except for a weird 2 games series that the Mariners swept from the A's in Japan last week, the regular season starts for the rest of MLB tomorrow.  The Tigers open at Toronto, 3:37 pm local time.

41. Shiraz resident: IRANIAN.   Shiraz is the 5th most populous city in Iran.  It has been a population center since at least 2000 B.C.  This week, torrential rains have lead to devastating flooding and several fatalities.

42. Find a job for: USE.

43. Organic compound: ENOL. More common in crosswords than in chemistry labs, probably.

44. Freeways and parkways: ROADS.  Thoroughfares.

48. Store in a queue for printing: SPOOL.

50. Like some pkgs.: PPD. Post Paid or Pre Paid.  [???]

52. India-born author Santha Rama __: RAU. [1923-2009]  Author of several books.

58. Soon, long ago: ANON. It can be traced back to the 11th century, meaning "in one" indicating "right away."

59. Baby's ailment: COLIC.  Frequent extended episodes of crying in small infants, with no identifiable cause.

60. Oodles: LOTS.  Non-specific large quantity,

61. URL connection: LINK.  Direction to an internet site, not to be confused with a sausage unit.

62. Tiny amount: TRACE.  Non-specific small quantity.

63. Beekeeper played by Peter Fonda: ULEE.

64. Deck quartet: ACES.  A deck of cards has four cards of equal rank, in each of four suits.

65. Underground home of the Ninja Turtles: SEWER.  Never watched them

Down:

1. Shrimp dish: SCAMPI.  Large shrimp sautéed in garlic and butter.

2. Leave a chat room, say: LOG OUT.  Or LOG OFF.  Need perps.

3. Grand Marnier flavor: ORANGE.  A blend of Cognac, essence of bitter orange and sugar.

4. Central __: "Friends" coffee house: PERK.

5. Female oracle: SIBYL. A so-named single prophetess in the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. located somewhere in Anatolia.  After that time SIBYL became a title and there were several found in various locations.

6. Drawer handles: KNOBS.  Suitable for pulling.

7. Words to a traitor: ET TU.  From when Caesar was sectioned.

8. Love god: EROS.  From Greek mythology, the son of Aphrodite, not to be confused with the too-cutesy, cherubic renaissance representations of his Roman counterpart, Cupid.

9. Roll to the runway: TAXI.  The motion of an airplane while on the ground.

10. Biblical prophet: HOSEA.  From the 8th century B.C.  He was often viewed as a prophet of doom.  Hence the expression: "No waya, Hosea!" But his messages often contained a promise of restoration.

11. Comes close to: GETS  NEAR.  Approaches

12. When general U.S. elections are held: TUESDAYS.  In November.

13. Ex-GIs' gp.: VFW.  Veterans of Foreign Wars.

21. Makes less difficult: EASES.  Alleviates, mitigates, assuages.

22. Catch red-handed: NAB.  This expression goes back to 15th century Scottish law, referring to catching a murderer in the act.

26. Qt. halves: PTS.  Mind your P[int]s and Q[uart]s.

28. Stable mother: MARE.  Horse mom.  Mental and emotional condition may vary.

29. Base runner's ploy: STEAL.  In baseball, attempting to advance a base while the ball is being pitched.  A risky maneuver that can be rewarding.

30. Like tough economic times: LEAN.  Indicating that there is little opportunity to improve the situation by trimming.

31. Wine province near Turin: ASTI.  Purveyor of bubbly spirits.

34. Free __: carte blanche: REIN.  Unfettered freedom of action or expression.  Kind of like what I have here.

35. Jackson 5 hairdo: AFRO.

Those were the days

36. City that aptly rhymes with "casino": RENO.  Casino city.

37. From Latin America: HISPANIC. Relating to country of origin in Spanish-speaking Central, or South America and the Caribbean, regardless of ethnicity.

38. Like a typical therapy session: ONE ON ONE.  A meeting or encounter between two individuals.

39. Capital of Canada?: HARD C.  If you can't say anything nice  .  . .

40. Juilliard subj.: MUS.  The Julliard School is located in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan.  In addition to MUSic, it also offers degree programs in theater and dance.

43. Shade tree: ELM.

45. Colorful ring: AREOLA.  A small, circular colored area.  I'll leave google image searching to the curious.

46. Quick mover: DARTER.

47. English Channel county: SUSSEX.  On the eastern part of the southern coast, along the English Channel, due south from London.

49. Sty chorus: OINKS.  The singing of swine.

50. Haggling focus: PRICE.  Negotiating a deal.

51. Indiana NBA player: PACER.  At 45-29, they are currently third in the Eastern Conference, behind the Raptors and 76ers.

54. Show parts: ACTS.  Acts are further divided into scenes.

55. Handed-down stories: LORE.  Historical knowledge, traditions and stories, generally passed from person to person by word of mouth.

56. Crab's grabber: CLAW.

57. "America's Got Talent" judge Heidi: KLUM.

Areola-free image

58. Miss. neighbor: ALAbama.  A southern state located mostly between Georgia and Mississippi.  From my observation, it's mostly forest.

Thus endeth another Wednesday.  Having left my Marx, I will now bid you adieu.

Cool regards!
JzB

Tuesday, March 26, 2019 Parikshit S. Bhat

18. *Evaluation by one's colleagues: PEER REVIEW.

24. *1984 Prince classic: PURPLE RAIN.

49. *Region bordering the world's largest ocean: PACIFIC RIM.

56. *Yellowstone VIP: PARK RANGER.

3. *Green Day genre: PUNK ROCK.

38. *Union demand: PAY RAISE.

37. Intensive goodwill campaign, briefly ... and a hint to the answers to starred clues: PR BLITZ.  A spate of PRs.

Across:

1. Captain Sparrow portrayer Johnny: DEPP.

5. Exam for jrs.: PSAT.   A wake up call for some.  I wonder how this joker did.

 
9. Indy 500 family name: UNSER.   I'll say.  Al Unser won there 4 times.  Older brother Bobby won 3 times.  Al Unser Jr. won 2 times.  Al and Bobby's older brother Jerry was in the 1958 Indy.  Jerry's son Johnny raced there 5 times.  Bobby's son Bobby Jr. ran there 2 times.  No family tree of racers even comes close to the legacy of the Unsers at the Indy 500.

  In Albuquerque: The Unser Racing Museum

14. Rio contents: AGUA.

15. Machu Picchu builder: INCA.

16. Loud salute: SALVO.

17. Beethoven's birth city: BONN.   His grandfather, also named Ludwig van Beethoven, moved from what is now Belgium to Bonn.  

20. Colorful carp: KOI.

22. "Born Free" lioness: ELSA.


23. Skin woe: ACNE.

27. Razz: JEER.

28. Like plagiarized work, say: STOLEN. 

29. Focus and Fiesta: FORDS.

 What's the Difference ?

30. Office asst.: SECY.

31. Spectacles on one's nose: GLASSES.    Katy Perry.

36. "That isn't nice": TSK.

38. Except for West Wendover, Nevada summer hrs.: PDT.  West Windover is in the Mountain Time Zone since October of 1999.

41. Sicilian seaport: MESSINA.  Did not know this.  Here's where it's at:

42. Hard to come by: RARE.

43. Glossy finish: SHEEN.

46. Harsh critic: FLAYER.   One who flays.   New word for me.

48. Very fancy: LUXE.

53. USA part: Abbr.: AMER.

54. Whirl around: SPIN.  LeBron James demonstrates the basketball spin move.

55. Drink from leaves: TEA.  When it comes to tea, Abejo only drinks Earl Grey.

59. French movie: CINE.

62. Like much bar beer: ON TAP.  “Beer, if drank with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit and promotes health.” - Thomas Jefferson.   Accidentally posted that quote in my Sunday comments.

63. Make, as money: EARN. 

64. "In your dreams!": AS IF.

65. Abodes for birds: NESTS.  Baby hummingbirds.

66. Liberal or martial things: ARTS.

67. Tenant's payment: RENT.

Down:

1. Pat softly: DAB.

2. Locker room issue: EGO. 

4. Impressive collection: PANOPLY.    I think we've only seen this word as an answer in Friday and Saturday crosswords.   Not in my vernacular.

5. Spot on a die: PIP.

6. Derisive look: SNEER.

7. Amtrak high-speed train: ACELA.   Amtrak says tilting trains are coming to the Northeast Corridor. 

8. Ankle bones: TARSI. 

9. Function: USE.

10. Four Corners natives: NAVAJOS.   And 25. Four Corners natives: UTES.

11. Sandwich maker's aid: SLICER.  "I've cut slices so thin, I couldn't even see them."

12. Smoothed: EVENED.

13. Sculls competitors: ROWERS.

19. Took off in a hurry: RAN.

21. Percent suffix: ILE.

24. Attention-getting sound: PSST.

26. Some MIT grads: ENGRS.

29. Tasseled hat: FEZ.

32. Scale units: Abbr.: LBS.  Libras. 

33. Baba among thieves: ALI.   Ali to his cohorts.

34. Confession disclosure: SIN.

35. Work support group: STAFF.

37. Cross product: PEN.

39. Eins und zwei: DREI.   Math in German.  One and two equals three.

40. Educational period: TERM.

41. Mongoose family member that uses its tail to stand erect: MEERKAT.  This little guy looks sleepy.

42. 9-Across vehicle: RACE CAR.  True.  The Unser's know about race cars.

43. Apply hurriedly: SLAP ON.

44. Showing compassion: HUMANE.  Pay it forward.

45. Applies, as pressure: EXERTS.

47. On fire: LIT. 

49. "Don't text and drive" ad, briefly: PSA.  Public Service Announcement.  This one from South Africa. 


50. Snorer's disorder, perhaps: APNEA.

51. Groucho's smoke: CIGAR.

 Groucho Marx One-Liners About Marriage

52. Like noble gases: INERT.

57. Rotation meas.: RPS.  Revs Per Sec.

58. IV league?: RNS.   IV as an abbreviation for intravenous,  league as a collection of people,  and RNs as abbreviation for Registered Nurses.   Nice clue for the answer. 

60. Diarist Anaïs: NIN.   Every clue I've ever read for NIN has been related to Anaïs in one fashion or another. 

61. Amphibian youngster: EFT.

Notes from C.C.:

1) Congrats on your 685 series, TTP!

2) Dear Anon-T (Tony) made a fun puzzle for his company's newsletter. You can click here for the PDF file, here is the puz file. Here is Answer Grid. Please let him know where your trouble spots are. Thank you!