Friday, June 21, 2019 Bruce Venzke & Gail Grabowski

THAT'S A WRAP !

17. That's a wrap: GIFT BOX COVERING.

27. That's a wrap: TERRY CLOTH ROBE.

44. That's a wrap: ROLLED SANDWICH.

60. "That's a wrap!": END OF A FILM SHOOT.

Bruce and Gail tossed us a softball today, wrapped in a tight little package.    That's ok by me.  

Across:

1. It's sold in bars: SOAP. 

5. D-Day invasion city: ST LO.   Saint-Lô

9. Live: DWELL.

14. Willing follower?: ABLE.   Often preceded by Ready.

15. Forked over: PAID.  Remitted.

16. Certain Ivy Leaguer: YALIE.

20. Make more flavorful: SEASON.    There's a right way, and a wrong way.   Too little and too much are subjective.   I tend to be a little heavy handed with seasoning.   When things go wrong,  the fine folks at Cook Country offer the following suggestions:

• If your food is too salty, add an acid or sweetener such as vinegar; lemon or lime juice; canned, unsalted tomatoes; sugar, honey, or maple syrup.
• If your food is too sweet, add an acid or seasonings such as vinegar or citrus juice; chopped fresh herb; dash of cayenne; or, for sweet dishes, a bit of liqueur or espresso powder.
• If your food is too spicy or acidic, add a fat or sweetener such as butter, cream, sour cream, cheese, or olive oil; sugar, honey, or maple syrup.

21. Poet's preposition: ERE.

Ere I salted, I brined.

What was I thinking ?

My blood pressure was up,

Was I out of my mind ?

(I'd better leave the verse to Owen).

22. Fascinated by: INTO.

23. Opposite of hence: AGO.

25. Gym shorts go-with: TEE.   We always played shirts and skins in gym class.  That was before co-ed.

Speaking of high school, I read the other day that my high school recognized five valedictorians in the graduating class.  I understand that having more than one valedictorian would be a school decision.  But is it common now to have more than one ?  Doesn't five seem excessive ?

35. Bushy-tailed canines: FOXES.  A neighbor posted this picture of this fox family on her deck.  She captured them at just the right moment.  Mama knows exactly where to look.

36. Eat-on-the-street places: CAFES.  Dining Al Fresco.  The Filling Station in St Charles, IL.

37. What an amateur may turn: PRO.

38. Like some audiobooks: ON CD.

39. Goes from site to site: SURFS.  Web surfer.  Hand up.

40. School for a prince: ETON.  Prince William and Prince Harry are but two of the many famous Etonians.

41. Beehive State athlete: UTE.  Utah Ute.   In honor of the American Indian tribe.

42. Start a court contest: SERVE.    It took a moment on Saturday to realize that Craig Stowe's answer ACERS for the clue "Great service providers" was in the context of tennis.   I agreed with Jerome's observation in the comments,  "... willing to bet that no tennis player has ever used the word."

43. Radiates: EMITS.   "Who glows ?  Just say ____ "

47. Ike's WWII arena: ETO.   European Theater of Operations.

48. Italian god: DIO.   Ronnie James Dio was a New Hampshire born guitarist and vocalist that became the lead singer of Black Sabbath after they fired Ozzy Osbourne.   Prior to that, he and Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple fame formed the heavy metal band Rainbow.


49. Made it up: LIED.  Prevaricated.

52. Find fault to a fault: NAG.

55. Evades: SKIRTS. 

63. Frequent genre for composer John Williams: SCI-FI.   Science Fiction.   I paused after filling the answer.   I knew Schifrin (Lalo) from doing crosswords.  But I had never heard of a composer named Scifi.    Then I read the clue again and saw "genre for" instead of "frequent composer for John Williams."

64. Bay, play or gray follower: AREA.

65. Kurylenko of "Quantum of Solace": OLGA.  Starred opposite of Daniel Craig in the movie.


66. Identity __: THEFT.  Reduce your risk with these tips.

67. Provoke: ROIL.

68. Mulching material: PEAT.

Down:

1. Loses elasticity: SAGS.   Physics. 

2. "Hamilton" award: OBIE.    Off Broadway awards.  The 2015 Obie Award for Best New American Theatre Work. 

3. Opposite of Zulu?: ALFA.  The opposite ends of the phonetic alphabet.

4. They're often adopted: PETS. 

5. Like angel food cake: SPONGY.   Light and airy.

6. Strain: TAX.  Burden.

7. Bothersome bugs: LICE.  

8. Reason to use Febreze: ODOR.  The science behind why it works, according to the manufacturer.

9. Salon supply: DYE.

10. Not as trusting: WARIER.

11. Author Hilderbrand: ELIN.    Romance novelist.

 You can read about her at her website.

12. Dust bunny component: LINT.   Dust bunny is such a pleasant name.   Makes you not want to vacuum. 

13. Danish brick: LEGO.  Clever clue for a favorite toy across the world wide.   In case you too  thought Bruce and Gail were looking for the Danish word for a brick, and then wondered what is was, it's mursten.

18. Male razorbacks: BOARS.  I can't help but think about the University of Arkansas when I see Razorbacks.  It's the mascot of their sports teams.

19. Iconic Chevys: VETTES.   The debut model was in 1953 and had 150 horsepower.  The only options were an AM radio and a heater.    The new eighth-generation Corvette was seen in camouflage in April in Times Square.    Formal announcement is next month on July 19th.

   Here's a recent slideshow of the iconic car through the years:

America’s Sports Car: The History of Corvette

24. Goes down, so to speak: OCCURS.

26. Reactions to missing things: EHs.   In the US, eh is sometimes vocalized when you would like something repeated, as in # 6 in the chart below.

In Canada, eh is a versatile interjection added to the ends of sentences and "... is a distinctive part of Canadian English":

EH IS CANADIAN, EH?: USAGE, FUNCTIONS AND THE IDENTITY CRISIS OF EH

Canadian Eh, that looks like a pretty good summation,  eh?

27. 2013 role for Johnny Depp: TONTO.   Controversy ensued.

28. Get all A's: EXCEL. 

29. Common hummingbird feeder color: RED.    The birds are attracted to the bright color.

30. Cocoon dweller: LARVA.


31. Cause resentment: OFFEND.

32. __ disc: eye part: OPTIC.  

33. Stock: BROTH.

34. Quite a stretch: EONS.

35. Common par: FOUR.  Because on the typical 18 hole golf course, there are 4 par 3s,  4 par 5's, and the other 10 holes are par 4s.

39. Resort near Flagstaff: SEDONA.

40. Former Radiohead label: EMI.    Electric and Musical Industries until 1971.   Radiohead is an English rock band   

42. Financially secure: SET.

43. "Star Wars" critters: EWOKS.

45. Started: LED OFF.  On June 13th,  leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber led off the game against the Los Angeles Dodger's ace Clayton Kershaw with a first pitch home run.


46. Dreary: DISMAL. 

49. Out of concern that: LEST.

50. Rainfall measure: INCH.

51. Singer Brickell: EDIE. Notably of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. She is the spouse of Paul Simon.


53. Miles away: AFAR.

54. Copter's forerunner: GIRO.

56. 2007 Applebee's acquirer: IHOP.

57. Part: ROLE. Fred VanVleet played his part superbly in the Toronto Raptors NBA Championship run, and hit a clutch 3 pointer in the waning minutes of their game 6 championship clinching victory. Fred is from nearby Rockford, IL, and, as PK noted Tuesday,  played four years of college ball for the Shockers of Wichita State.  He was a basketball force in his college days, leading the Shockers to an undefeated season and deep into the NCAAs, but remained undrafted.  Toronto took a chance on him.  Wise move.

58. Costume made from a sheet: TOGA.  "Was it over when Dean Wormer put the Deltas on probation ?"  TOGA, TOGA !

59. Sports page entry: STAT.

61. Require no alteration: FIT.

62. Honolulu Airport wreath: LEI.

 That's a wrap:  END OF REVIEW.  

Thursday, June 20th 2019 Peter A. Collins

Theme: Seasonal Scrambles - each theme entry has a scramble of one of the seasons hidden in it, as the reveal explains:

59A. What happens tomorrow ... and a hint to this grid's circled letters: CHANGE OF SEASONS. We move from spring to summer on Friday.

17A. Brief CV: SHORT FORM RESUMÉ. Summer.

24A. Make music with one's mouth closed: HUM A TUNE. Autumn.

36A Dessert potables : PORT WINES. Winter.

52A. Some facial decor: LIP RINGS. Spring.

Cool theme, I like how the seasons follow each other rather than just appear randomly. My daughter has a LIP RING which I was rather startled by the first time I saw it, but it's grown on me. PORT WINE is my favorite go-to with the cheese plate after dinner. SHORT-FORM RESUMÉ I'm not so sure about, but I did like the overall challenge here. Solid crosses for a lot of proper names. I wonder if Peter suggested to Rich when to run this puzzle and changed the reveal clue accordingly.

Across:

1. Hogwarts professor played by Rickman: SNAPE

6. Monk style: BEBOP. Nice misdirection. I was trying to think of another word for "tonsure" when I saw the light. Thelonious Monk.

11. "It's __-win situation": A NO

14. Groovier part of a 45?: SIDE A. How many grooves are there on a standard 45? Two, one on each side.

15. Achille __: hijacked liner: LAURO

16. Baseball commentator Darling: RON. New to me. Crosses solved it for me.

20. Ristorante rice dish: RISOTTO. I can just hear Gordon Ramsay say "Two Wellingtons, one spaghetti and one perfect risotto".

21. Votin' no on: AGIN

22. The geographic center of the 48 states is in it: KANSAS. I need to look this up. I'd like to know exactly where. In the UK, it's somewhere in Leicestershire, I think, 70 miles from the sea. For a reasonably large country, 70 miles from getting wet is not a long way away.

27. Decide that one will: ELECT TO

29. Cargo unit: TON

30. Spanish article: LAS

31. __ deck: cruise ship feature: LIDO. There's a Lido pool in Paris on the Seine. I've swum in it. Not sure that was the best idea I've ever had.

32. System starter?: ECO

34. "Paper Moon" pair: O'NEALS. Ryan and daughter Tatum.

39. Quarterly Nielsen ratings periods: SWEEPS. The sweeps are getting less important. Nielsen survey a week's worth of watching broadcast TV every quarter to set the price of advertising for the next three months on any given show. The problem is - cable. Nielsen don't survey cable, so if you are watching ESPN or HBO you don't count. Have you been watching the World Cup? Fantastic soccer.

42. Wind up: END

43. Free of charge: COMP

47. Ranch nickname: TEX

48. French pronoun: TOI. The 

50. They may hold rosés: CARAFES. I hope you spotted the E-ecute in the clue. I missed it at first, and was off on the VASE trail, Then I looked again.

55. Katmandu native: NEPALI

56. Hard to watch: UGLY

57. Indentations: NOTCHES
. I
64. "Lord, is __?": IT I

65. Under-the-sink fitting: P-TRAP

66. Get ready to refinish: STRIP

67. Writer Rand: AYN. We've had Ayn Rand and Anne Rice today. Completely different writers, but I've enjoyed reading both of their work. I think "Interview with the Vampire" was one of the most stunning novels I've ever read.

68. Some globe users: SEERS

69. With great passion: HOTLY

Down:

1. Old conscription agcy.: S.S.S.

2. Bethesda-based medical org.: N.I.H. I had to look this one up after I solved the puzzle, I think this might be a tad obscure?

3. Gussied up: ADORNED

4. Sub need: PERISCOPE. Hard to steerwithout one. You tend to bump into things.

5. Preoccupies a lot: EATS AT

6. Moral flaw: BLOT

7. Terra firma: EARTH

8. Disappoint, in slang: BUM OUT

9. 1967 NHL Rookie of the Year: ORR. One of the most famous photo in sports is Bobby Orr scoring the Stanley Cup-winning goal being tripped while celebrating the win. It is quite wonderful.

10. "The Tell-Tale Heart" writer: POE

11. Salad green: ARUGULA. Called "Rocket" in England, if you ever get a menu and wonder.

12. Insignificant: NOMINAL

13. Zen harmony: ONENESS. There's a spooky commercial running now about ginger beer and oneness, not sure if I like it.

18. Boy who may be adopted: FOSTER SON

19. Took a load off: SAT

22. Kenan's Nickelodeon pal: KEL. Completely clueless about this one.

23. "Green Book" Oscar winner Mahershala __: ALI

25. Van Morrison hit with the line "A fantabulous night to make romance": MOONDANCE. Let's hear from Van the Man.

26. Writer Rice: ANNE

28. Thanksgiving mo. in Canada: OCT. I have a Canadian friend here in LA who hosts a Thanksgiving Dinner in October. It's great, we get to eat turkey twice in two months. I cook turkey at Easter too - it's not particularly traditional, but our family always had an Easter turkey.

33. Fall behind: OWE

35. Reaches after getting away, as a safe haven: ESCAPES TO

37. __-FREE: contact lens solution: OPTI. Thank you crosses, no clue.

38. Forbes rival: INC Well good luck to INC's circulation numbers. Never heard of you.

39. Lesser Antilles isl. country: ST. LUCIA. A beautiful spot in the Caribbean.

40. Ponderous: WEIGHTY
.
41. Clarify: EXPLAIN. I used to work with a guy who would say "Let me 'splain you". it got to be quite a joke.

44. Qualifying phrase: OF A SORT

45. "Hacksaw Ridge" director Gibson: MEL

46. Tire letters: PSI. I think my tires are 32/24 on the front and back,

49. Brush aside: IGNORE

51. Go over again: REHASH. Usually no point. Accept and move on.

53. Rembrandt van __: RYN. Why do I always want to fill in RJN?

54. As of yet: SO FAR

58. Cookbook amts.: TSPS. I messed up yesterday smoking chicken. The cookbook called for 1 tbsp on wood chips, I decided more is better, and used two. Bad idea. All you can taste is smoke.

60. Modern rte. finder: G.P.S. Not Google Maps? I use my Garmin GPS sailing, but on-the-road navigation is firmly in the hands of Google.

61. Tour de France time: ÉTÉ I love the TV coverage of the Tour de France. This year will be bittersweet as Paul Sherwen, one of the the co-commentators and one of the voices of the Tour passed away this year from heart failure at the young age of 62. I was shocked when I heard the news.

62. Zilch: NIL

63. Make like a mole: SPY

And the grid:

Steve

Wednesday, June 19, 2019 Lewis Rothlein

Theme - WORD LADDER.  This is a word game invented by Lewis Carroll, in which a starting word is transformed into a target word by changing one letter at a time.  The challenge is to accomplish this in the fewest steps.  Here all the ladder words have circled letters, and are stand alone fill.  Let's see how this works.

1. Strong drink, and part 1 of a word ladder: DOUBLE.  A DOUBLE is a drink with 2 ounces of liquor.  It is also our starting word.  Looking ahead, our target word is SHIFT.  So, one can work a DOUBLE SHIFT.  I've never done that, and let's hope we don't have to.  But hold that thought.

20. Tabloid item (part 2): COUPLE.  A COUPLE in a tabloid is often referred to as an item.  Usually they show up because of some scandal, rumor, or bit of personal news involving them.  None of this is anybody's business, of course, but inquiring minds want to know.  The changed letters are highlighted in red.  Hang on a sec - letters!?!  Two of them? Should I call foul on this?  Let's defer that answer for the nonce.

28. Two-door cars (part 3): COUPES.  Cars with fixed roofs, two doors, and sloping rears.  Two letters changed.

36. Brunch order (part 4): CREPES. These are thin pancakes, usually rolled and wrapped around a filling.  My favorite is apricot.  Again, two letters have changed.

Poloscinta

42. Underground tombs (part 5): CRYPTS. I can't improve on that definition.  Nor on the consistent changing of two letters.

48. Arts' partner (part 6): CRAFTS.  The skills involved in making things by hand.  Or craftally changing two letters at a time.

56. Wanders (part 7): DRIFTS.  Travels aimlessly.  Or changes by two letters at a time, with a specific aim in mind.  Hmmm  .  .  .

68. Work assignments ... and, preceded by 1-Across, the key to creating the word ladder (and part 8 of it): SHIFTS.  You can work several kinds of SHIFTS - day, night, third, or swing.  But, back to the puzzle, now all becomes clear.  Putting the first and last words together, we get DOUBLE SHIFTS - thus the alteration of two letters at a time.  Tadah!

That's a bit meta, but certainly clever, and I'll give some extra credit for that.

Hi, Gang.  It's JazzBumpa, not feeling at all SHIFTY.  So let's double down and see what the rest of this puzzle has to offer.

Across:

7. Kiss: BUSS.  From the Latin basiare, probably via French and late Middle English.

11. Injured, as a knee: BUM.

Kneezles is even worse

14. Damage: IMPAIR.  As, for example, a knee.

15. Private tutoring session: ONE ON ONE.

17. Theater walkways: AISLES.  Or in churches.

18. Injured, as an ankle: SPRAINED.  When the ligaments are stretched or torn.  We are having a rather bad leg day.

19. Cancels a dele: STETS.  Editor's marks for delete and let it stand, respectively.

21. The "S" of CSNY: STILLS.  I was stuck on NY as being New York.  That was a complete dead end.  This "S" is Steven Stills of Crosby, STILLS, Nash and Young.  Remember them?

24. "No more sharing," briefly: TMI.  Too Much Information - not on my need-to-know list.

25. Genetic material: DNA. Deoxyribonuclaic acid.  We all took biochemistry - right?

30. 1975 Tony-winning play about a stableboy: EQUUS.  About which I know nothing.

32. Former Boston commuter org.: MTA. Municipal Transit Authority.

35. Small, chirpy bird: WREN.  Several varieties.

37. "It can't be!": OH NO.  Dang!

39. Unsuccessful Ford: EDSEL.  But now a cult classic.

41. Personal care brand with a bird in its logo: DOVE.

Peace and Well-being

44. Mining hauls: ORES.  Rocks containing useful metals.

46. Circus safety feature: NET.  To catch a falling star.

47. Owl sounds: HOOTS.  Do you give one?

50. Piercing tool: AWL. For puncturing leather, not owls.

51. Japanese assent: HAI. Means yes.

53. Sandal parts: STRAPS.  Keeps them on your feet.

59. Taxpayer's option: E-FILE.  Electronic submission.

61. Neckwear that makes a statement: POWER TIE.  It's all nonsense, in my humble opinion.

63. Older, as bread: STALER.  Not that I've ever made that specific comparison.

64. Like the print version of an e-book, say: DEAD TREE.  Paper pulp source.

65. Abrasion: SCRAPE.  Damage due to friction - more pain. Ouch!

66. Cook in oil: FRY.

67. Insolence: SASS.  Impudence and rudeness.   Thad says, don't do it.

Down:

1. Days in Quito: DIAS.  In Ecuador, they speak Spanish, todos los días.

2. Drops: OMITS.  Leaves out or excludes.

3. Hot and bothered: UPSET.  Disturbed, or - if you prefer - excited.

4. Like Estonia and Latvia: BALTIC.   Also Lithuania - refers to countries on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, across from Sweden.

5. Stays out of sight: LIES LOW.  Avoiding attention and detection, generally for the purpose of staying out of trouble.

6. Trauma ctrs.: ERS.  Emergency Rooms.

7. Pear variety: BOSC.  Unique in shape and color.

Distinctive russet color

8. Removes for transplanting: UNPOTS.  Out of one pot, and into another - or, perhaps, the ground.

9. Antitoxin: SERUM.

10. Having more lather: SOAPIER.

11. Took a refresher course in: BONED UP ON.  You can BONE UP ON it here.

12. Half of deux: UNE.  Two divided by two is one.  This looks suspiciously like French to me.  Numbers in French go hilariously wonky, as you will soon see. My granddaughter Alexa, who has studied French, assures me that every bit of this is true.

13. __ school: MED.  Where one learns to be a doctor.

16. Zero, in soccer: NIL.  Exactly nothing.  Probably the same - or something [that is to say: "nothing"] close to it - in French.  I hope.

22. Angling needs: LURES.  Things that attract the fish.  In another puzzle I worked recently the answer to this clue, in the singular, was LINE.

23. Went like the wind: SPED.  If I do that, I get winded. 

26. Béisbol team complement: NUEVE.  A baseball team has 9 players, in any language.  Spanish numbers, if I recall correctly, make some sort of sense.

27. Desirable trait: ASSET.

29. Belgian painter James: ENSOR. [1860-1949] Read about him here.

31. Logician's "as was proven": QED.  Quod Erat Demonstrandum - loosely, that which was to be demonstrated.

32. Coffee flavor: MOCHA. A coffee-chocolate combination.

33. Host, as a party: THROW.

34. With no discernable pattern: ANY OLD WAY.  Whatever.

36. Chin indentation: CLEFT.

Chin divot

38. Back (out): OPT.  Choose to not participate.

40. Labeled times: ERAS.

43. Warm-weather wear: T SHIRTS.

45. Warm up before a run: STRETCH.

48. Boston and Chicago: CITIES.  Large municipalities.

49. "Green Hills of Africa" journey: SAFARI.  From the Arabic word safara - to travel.

52. Union that merged with SAG in 2012: AFTRA.  Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

54. Rice dish: PILAF.  Cooked in broth with spices and vegetables or meat.

55. Snoozed: SLEPT.

57. See 58-Down: RED.  The color of anger.

58. With 57-Down, loses one's cool: SEES.  To see red is to become suddenly enraged.  From an earlier expression "To see things red," from ca. 1900.  Probably not related to a bull fighter's red cape.

60. Part of a Spanish "to be" conjugation: ERES.  I'll leave this to a Spanish speaker to explain.

61. Adobe doc suffix: PDF. Portable Document File.

62. Atop, poetically: O'ER. As, for example, ramparts.

63. Griddle sound: SSS.  Onomatopoeia, I suppose.

That wraps up another Wednesday.  I'll add this, just because I can - a big trombone [and tuba] choir I participate in once a year.  This year it was on June 9th.

Cool Regards!
JzB

Tuesday, June 18, 2019, Jeff Stillman

Something's Rotten in Puzzledom!  The last word of each theme answer can describe something that has SPOILED, or gone bad.

20-Across. *  Do something in a whole new way: BREAK THE MOLD.

While we don't want mold on our food or in our houses, Penicillin mold actually has therapeutic benefits.

34-Across.  *  Clever twists in a story: NEW WRINKLES.

41-Across *  Depressed, colorfully: IN A BLUE FUNK.

51-Across.  Movie reviewer's warning ... or what the last words of each starred answer can be?:  SPOILER ALERT.

Across:

1. Gallery event: SHOW.

George Rodrigue (Mar. 13, 1944 ~ Dec. 14, 2013)

5. 24 Hours of Le __: auto race: MANS.  The Le Mans is an auto endurance event.  The 87th race took place just this past weekend ~ Saturday, June 15 to Sunday, June 16, 2019.  Fernando Alonso's  Toyota team won for the second consecutive year.

9. Out in front: AHEAD.

14. __ Field: Mets' ballpark: CITI.

15. Frantically: AMOK.  Amok also a style of steam cooking in southeast Asia.  It is a traditional dish in Cambodia.

16. Prom queen's crown: TIARA.  Also the headgear of married royals, or maybe not.

17. Geological age: AEON.  A long, long time.

18. 10-Down princess: RANI.  //  And 10-Down: Diwali celebrant = HINDU.  Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights and is a very important celebration.

19. Chipped in a chip: ANTED.  Think of playing a game of poker.

23. Chinese-born architect I.M. __: PEI.  I.M. Pei (né Ieoh Ming Pei; Apr. 26, 1917 ~ May 16, 2019) died just last month at age 102.  He was a very innovative architect.

24. Semisoft cheeses: GOUDAs.  Gouda is a mild cheese from the Netherlands, often wrapped in red wax.

28. Accomplish: ATTAIN.

31. Fish caught in pots: EELS.

33. Mont Blanc, e.g.: ALP.  Also the brand of a very expensive, luxury pen.

36. Sched. uncertainty: TBA.  As in To Be Announced.  It could just as easily have been TBD, which stands for To Be Determined.

37. Club used for chipping: IRON.  As in a golf club, not to be confused with a Flat Iron, which could help with today's WRINKLES.

38. Narc's org.: DEA.  As in the Drug Enforcement Administration, which is housed within the United States Department of Justice.

39. "Beauty __ the eye ... ": IS IN.

40. Line of work: Abbr.: OCC.  As in an Occupation.

45. Teachers' org.: NEA.  As in the National Education Association.

46. Like dried soil: CAKY.  More often this would be spelled as Cakey, but both are acceptable.

47. Dictation takers: STENOs.  Short for Steographer.  This is probably an occupation that is pretty much obsolete now.  There are still court reporters, but even they used electronic recordings.

48. Bourbon __: STREET.  New Orleans' most infamous street.

50. Summer in Lyon: ÉTÉ.  Today's French lesson.

58. "Prince Valiant" queen: ALETA.  Prince Valiant was a comic strip created in 1937 set in the days of King Arthur's England.  Apparently, Aleta was the love interest of Prince Valiant.

61. Most burger meat: BEEF.  Non-beef burgers are becoming trendy.

62. Scottish hillside: BRAE.  Today's Scottish lesson.

63. Trig function: COSEC.  Raise your hand if you remember all the trig functions from high school geometry.  Cosec is the abbreviation for Cosecant.  It's the reciprocal of sine.  I'm sure that clears things up.

64. Slight advantage: EDGE.

65. Not supportin': AGIN'.

66. Smooth and glossy: SLEEK.

67. Shock, as a perp: TASE.

Anatomy of a Taser®.

68. Doofus: DOLT.  Anyone else remember the old Goofus and Gallant cartoons instructing children on manners?  Goofus was a Doofus.

Down:

1. Natural wound protection: SCAB.

2. Yesterday, on the French Riviera: HIER.  More of today's French lesson.  Today is aujourd'hui, and tomorrow is demain.

3. Native Nebraskan: OTOE.

4. Capture the first piece in chess, typically: WIN A PAWN.

5. Bond order: MARTINI.  Shaken, not stirred.

6. Indian nurse: AMAH.  This word used to be a crossword staple.

7. __ of the above: NONE.

8. Take off the top: SKIM.

9. Completely flummoxed: AT A LOSS.

11. Consume: EAT.

12. "We __ Marshall": 2006 football drama: ARE.  Matthew McConaughey was one of the stars in the movie.

13. Pop: DAD.

21. Actor Dullea of "2001" films: KEIR.  The name Keir Dullea (b. May 30, 1936) did not immediately come to mind, but he played the astronaut Dave Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

22. Look at creepily: OGLE.

25. Nissan brand relaunched in 2013: DATSUN.

26. One lacking pigment: ALBINO.  When I was in grade school, we learned about Snowflake, the albino gorilla.  He lived in the Barcelona zoo from the time he was a youngster until his death in 2003.  He was believed to have been about 40 years old at the time of his death.

27. Swats on the rear: SPANKS.

28. Negatively charged particles: ANIONS.

29. Half a sestet, in an Italian sonnet: TERCET.  According to Webster, a Tercet is "one of the two groups of three lines forming the sestet in an Italian sonnet".  All clear?

30. Like a good-sized garage: TWO CAR.  Is your garage attached to your house, or a stand-alone?

31. Barely manage: EKE BY.

32. Airline to Tel Aviv: EL AL.

35. Fargo's state: Abbr.: N. DAK.  As in North Dakota.  The 1996 movie, Fargo, however, actually took place in Minnesota.

39. Words of regret, perhaps: I FEEL BAD.  The opposite of how James Brown felt.

41. Treatment for swelling: ICE PACK.

42. Defense acronym: NATO.  As in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

43. Highway toll, e.g.: USER FEE.

44. Soul singer James: ETTA.  Etta and I have become good friends.  This is the third time she has been my guest when it's my turn to provide blog commentary.

49. Lauder with fragrances: ESTÉE.  Estée Lauder (née Josephine Esther Mentzer; July 1, 1906 ~ Apr. 24, 2004), was the founder of the cosmetics company that bears her name.

52. "Fat chance": I BET!

53. Mother of Castor and Pollux: LEDA.  They're all Greek to me.

54. Hosp. brain tests: EEGs.  As in the ElectroEncphaloGraphs.  These tests can detect electrical activity in the brain and are useful in diagnosing such things as brain tumors, strokes, and sleep disorders.

55. "Logically, then ... ": ERGO.

56. Train wheel guide: RAIL.

57. Camp shelter: TENT.  Roughing it in the wilderness.

58. Window cooling units, briefly: A/Cs.  As in Air Conditioners.  

59. "Gr8 joke!": LOL.  Textspeak.

60. Legal conclusion?: -ESE.  As in Legalese.

Here's the Grid:

I'll leave you with a QOD:  Every great film should seem new every time you see it.  ~ Roger Ebert (né Roger Joseph Ebert; June 18, 1942 ~ Apr. 4, 2013)