Monday, February 22, 2016 Janice Luttrell

Theme: Magician's Trick - Pulling a coin out of thin air.

1A. Nickel or dime : COIN and 65A. After 1-Across, pregame football ritual, and what's literally found in this puzzle's circles : TOSS

16. "You almost had it" : "CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR"

24. "Mork & Mindy" or "Mike & Molly" : SITUATION COMEDY

42. Event where many dress as Stormtroopers or Klingons : SCI-FI CONVENTION

57. What polar opposites have : NOTHING IN COMMON

Argyle here. The lack of circles shouldn't have barred you from getting this Monday mega-theme filled gem. Four grid spanners! Nice fill. Great way to start the week.

Across:

5. Zenith : ACME

9. Toboggan, e.g. : SLED

13. Fairy tale villain : OGRE and 2D. Look at wolfishly : OGLE. If ogled by an ogre, RUN.

14. Visitor from space : ALIEN

15. Soft drink nut : KOLA

19. 2016 Hall of Fame inductee __ Griffey Jr. : KEN. For those that didn't get enough baseball Sunday.

20. Weighty books : TOMES

21. Curved fastener : U-BOLT

22. Flabbergast : STUN

23. UPC-like product ID : SKU. (stock keeping unit)

32. Beef cut : LOIN

33. Reason for a cold sweat : FEAR

34. GI chow : MRE. (Meal, Ready-to-Eat)

35. Writing fluids : INKS

36. Parking __ : METER

38. Gaucho's weapon : BOLA

39. Dental suffix with Water : PIK. WATERPIK is a brand of water flosser. I'm not thrilled with PIK clued as a dental suffix.

40. Slim racetrack margin : NOSE. N.Y. Daily News picture of yesterday's Daytona 500 finish.

41. Slightly open : AJAR

47. Question : ASK

48. Grandson of Eve : ENOS

49. Malice : SPITE

52. Sans serif font : ARIAL.  not ARIAL

54. Hawaiian tuna : AHI

60. Tiny pasta used in soup : ORZO

61. Washington's __ Sound : PUGET. The near-by San Juan Islands.

62. "Agreed!" : "AMEN!"

63. Smile ear to ear : BEAM

64. Enjoy a novel : READ

Down:

1. Tilt to the side, as one's head : COCK

3. Small laundry room appliance : IRON

4. Nintendo's Super __ : NES. (Nintendo Entertainment System)

5. Homecoming attendees : ALUMNI

6. Refer to in a footnote : CITE

7. Clothing store department : MENS

8. Music producer Brian : ENO

9. Slopes fanatic : SKI BUM

10. Letterhead emblem : LOGO

11. Israeli airline : EL AL

12. Missile in a pub game : DART

14. Regarding : ABOUT

17. Singer James : ETTA. Just a taste; a little sip...of Etta James.

18. "My Fair Lady" director George : CUKOR

22. The "Star Wars" planet Tatooine orbits two of them : SUNS

23. Lasting mark : SCAR

24. Mishaps : SLIPS

25. Greek column style : IONIC

26. Kipling mongoose Rikki-__-Tavi : TIKKI. A short story in The Jungle Book.

27. Many times : OFTEN

28. Bridal bio word : NÉE

29. Texting icon : EMOJI

30. 1964 Tony Randall title role : DR. LAO

31. Thirst (for) : YEARN

36. Lampoon : MOCK

37. Spanish "that" : ESO

38. Array on a dugout rack : BATS

40. Japanese-American : NISEI

43. Get to the bottom of : FATHOM. The meaning "take soundings" is from c.1600; its figurative sense of "get to the bottom of, understand" is 1620s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

44. Marked with streaks, as cheese : VEINED

45. Put into law : ENACT

46. __ contendere: court plea : NOLO. "I do not wish to contend"

49. Stuffed shirt : SNOB

50. Peruse, with "over" : PORE

51. Chichén __: Mayan ruins : ITZA

52. Fever and chills : AGUE

53. Capital of Latvia : RIGA

54. Bullets and such : AMMO

55. Soil-shaping tools : HOEs

56. Wayside lodgings : INNs

58. "Talk of the Nation" airer : NPR. (National Public Radio)

59. Yoga class need : MAT

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

Ray Hedrick (Rainman) and I made today's Wall Street Journal crossword. You can click here to print out the PDF file. Congratulations on your debut, Ray. Thanks for the theme, the inspiration and fun.