Friday, August 5, 2016, Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: Music please JzB, use your

JW returns quickly and gives us another CSO puzzle, this one for our own Ron and his talented trombone. The use of a single clue for all theme answers is not uncommon, but Jeffrey brings it home with 4 themers that are all grid-spanners! He injects some nice 8 letter fill in the corner with two stacked long ones crossing a single down fill.  APPRISED,  SHUT OUTS, PARISHES,  RING TOSS,  IN SPIRIT and CASSETTE are the 8s, with triple 6s intersecting double 6s in the other corners. A very nice grid with very few short fill.

17A. Slide : MICROSCOPE MOUNT (15). Obviously sussing the theme is not an issue, but how the fill was going to become four different types of slides was the fun. We begin in the lab.

30A. Slide : PLAYGROUND CHUTE (15). Next we go back to our childhood.

45A. Slide : RUNNER'S MANEUVER (15). Of course the slide in baseball is an integral part of the game, reminding me of Dizzy Dean who said of Phil Rizzuto in the 1938 world series, "He slud into third."

59A. Slide : TROMBONE SECTION (15). How about the entire orchestra.

Across:

1. Without markup : AT COST. The big lie in the car business.

7. Informed : APPRISED. A big word in the law, as judges are fully apprised of the premises.

15. Like the Godhead : TRIUNE. Definition: consisting of three in one (used especially with reference to the Trinity).

16. Where flocks assemble : PARISHES. Parishes are flocks, or they are part of a parish, but they assemble in churches, chapels...

19. "Defending Liberty Pursuing Justice" org. : ABA. American Bar Association.

20. Org. for Sharapova and Kournikova : WTA. Women's Tennis Association...a dupe for you purists? Tricky using two Russian Tennis Pros.

21. Base or case closer : MENT. A suffix clue.

22. Exaggerates, as a résumé : PADS.

24. Follow : ENSUE.

27. Ref. with quarterly online updates : OED. Oxford English Dictionary.

34. Respond to a failed delivery : RESEND. A Friday tortured clue.

35. Not your average joe? : LATTE. A really fun clue, especially if you know coffee is know as joe, as in a really good cup of joe. You ask WHY?

36. Video game hero with a kart : MARIO. I played and lost often when my boys were growing up.

39. "To wrap up ... " : IN SUMmation.

40. Epic including the Catalogue of Ships : ILIAD. The Catalogue of Ships (Ancient Greek: νεῶν κατάλογος, neōn katalogos) is an epic catalogue in Book 2 of Homer's Iliad (2.494-759), which lists the contingents of the Achaean army that sailed to Troy. WIKI.

41. Willing to take risks : DARING.

50. Shocked letters : OMG.

51. Colleague of Ruth and Sonia : ELENA. The three lady justices, again!

52. Trillionth: Pref. : PICO. Learn the history of the nomenclature. International System of Units

53. Kit Carson House site : TAOS.

                                                                          LINK.

56. Texter's "Keep the rest to yourself" : TMI. Too Much Information.

58. Moo __ pork : SHU. The dicitionary says the name comes from the Mandarin mùxū, the fragrant flowering shrub Osmanthus fragrans (because the scrambled eggs in the dish resemble the shrub's blossoms in shape and color. It is a Northern Chinese dish, how about this RECIPE C.C., Barry G.?

64. Way to be there when you can't be there : IN SPIRIT.

65. Looked for a school, perhaps : SEINED. What a break that this word appeared in yesterday's puzzle; of course with a Friday twist in the clue.

66. Tape container : CASSETTE.

67. Jousting mounts : STEEDS. Not...

Down:

1. Bank smartphone offering : ATM APP. I had no idea there was an APP to find ATMs....

2. Type of chief or custom : TRIBAL.

3. Noisy bug : CICADA.

4. "In __ Time": Hemingway story collection : OUR.  An interesting HISTORY for Papa.

5. White fall : SNOW.

6. Quality control personnel : TESTERS.

7. Mil. mail drop : APO. One of three special Postal Addresses Army/Air Post Office (APO), Fleet Post Office (FPO), Diplomatic Post Office (DPO).

8. Unchallenging reading material : PAP. Comes from bland soft or semiliquid food such as that suitable for babies or invalids. This led to "reading matter or entertainment that is worthless or lacking in substance."

9. Specialized undergrad track : PREMED.

10. Frosty film : RIME.

11. Will go ahead as planned : IS ON.

12. Walter Johnson's career-leading 110 : SHUTOUTS. More baseball.

13. Yet, poetically : EEN. I am also confused by this meaning. Yet higher - even higher? I guess.

14. Summer hrs. : DST. Daylight Savings Time.

18. Boat better not rocked : CANOE.

23. Many a recent refugee : SYRIAN. No politics.

25. "Arise, fair __, and kill the envious moon": Romeo : SUN. Shakespeare is back with JW with one of my favorite scenes...
"But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she."

26. Sturm __ Drang : UND. And in German, It was a literary MOVEMENT.

28. Incredulous rebuke : ET TU. And you too, Brutus?

29. Believe : DEEM. Another favorite word in judicial orders.

31. Amethyst source : GEODE, The inspiration (maybe?) for geodesic dome made famous by Buckminster FULLER.

32. "I Fall to Pieces" singer : CLINE.

33. Inhibition : HANG UP.

36. Catalan surrealist : MIRO. When I was little my uncle had a Miro print in his office. I thought it was silly.

37. Fund-raising target, often : ALUM. Go for it nitpickers, I know you want to be told to look for an abbreviation, rather than an accepted expression.

38. Fair game : RING TOSS. An unfair game at the fair. "The Ring Toss: The rings are just a hair wider than the neck of the target bottle or spike, ...and are made of hard plastic to facilitate extra bouncing. If the carny shows it can be done, you should suspect he's using a larger ring than you're given or that he scores by dropping it from directly overhead, a move that, like the Basketball Shoot, is virtually impossible from the player's position." LINK.

41. Broadband letters : DSL.

42. Gallic soul : AME. It would be better if you saw ÂME. 62D. Août season : ETE. We are in August, and it is summer. See how much easier it is with the accent.

43. Agitated blog posts : RANTS.

44. Muddled : IN A MESS.

46. One often has a golf course : RESORT.

47. Clear Eyes rival : VISINE. Eye drops and a CSO to one of the ones who are gone.

48. Seconded : ECHOED.

49. Hospital routines : ROUNDS. An important function at the hospital where a doctor goes round and visits his in patients. Also, part of grand rounds when the doctor has other doctors and medical students along to learn.

54. Tour gear : AMPS. Rock and roll tour.

55. Drama prize : OBIE. Off Broadway.

57. TV co-star of Hargitay and Belzer : ICE T. Again.

59. Spasm : TIC.

60. Usually single-stranded molecule : RNA. RiboNucleic Acid as opposed to the double helix of DNA.

61. Trivial thing : NIT. I wonder how he picked that clue?

63. Draw : TIE. Correct me if I am wrong, Steve or NC, but I believe in Cricket a tie and a draw are different.

Well another JW Friday; the long fill really helped leading to a fairly quick Friday. Hope you all had as much fun as I did. lemonade out.

Thursday, August 4th, 2016 Mike Peluso

Theme: Cross-Referenced Circle Chicanery

The reveal:

33A. With 43-Across, acting like an unscrupulous contractor ... and a hint to this puzzle's circles : CUTTING

43A. See 33-Across : CORNERS

Clockwise from the northwest corner, we find the nicely alliterative SEVERS, SHAVES, SLICES and SHEARS highlighted by the circles. If you don't get circles in your publication and you don't like cross-referenced clues, then this puzzle won't win your personal popularity contest.

With O'ER, E'ER and E'EN I was looking for EBON to complete a poetic quad-fecta (Yay! New word!) but we capped out at three. I have to say that there did seem to be a preponderance of bitty three-letter fill today. Let's see what else we've got going on:

Across:

1. Retro photos : SEPIAS. Suitably stern-looking gentleman in this one:

7. Condescends : STOOPS

13. Tympanic membrane : EARDRUM

15. Half a notable San Francisco intersection : ASHBURY. Hippie central at the corner of Haight.

16. Heavy marble : STEELIE. We called 'em something different in England - "dobber" springs to mind but it was many years ago that I last used one.

17. Worried about : SWEATED

18. Brandy letters : VSO. Very Superior Old. Often followed followed by "P" for "Pale".

19. Some grad students : TA'S. Apparently in middle school you are now a "paraprofessional".

21. P.O. boxful : ENVS. Envelopes stuffing your post office box. Most of the mail I get stuffed into my mailbox is junk.

22. One of a divided trio? : DEE. Three "D"s in "divided".

24. Like some room fresheners : PINEY

26. Anthem contraction : O'ER

28. Lucid : SANE

30. Tony winner Martin in the 2013 "Pippin" Broadway revival : ANDREA. No clue. Thank you, crosses.

32. Cargo wts. : TNS. Tons. I'm not sure if I've seen this abbreviation before - "t" is more common.

35. Prom dress material : TAFFETA

37. They may be crunched : ABS

38. Bollywood star Aishwarya __ : RAI. No clue. Thank you, crosses. Here she is:

39. Curaçao cocktails : MAI TAIS. Rum, curaçao and lime juice. Cheers!

47. RR schedule listing : STN.

48. Land on a lake? : REEL IN. Nice clue. Landing a fish.

50. Psyche's beloved : EROS

51. Letters on old TV dials : UHF. Ultra-High Frequency. I remember these things. I recall UHF was where the local channels lived, VHF was where the other stuff was. We only had four channels in England for the longest time. I grew up with two, went to three when the BBC introduced color TV on VHF and finally Channel Four added the second commercial channel. You didn't really need a remote - there was not much channel-hopping between the two primary channels (the publicly-funded BBC and the commercially-funded ITV).

52. Strainer : SIEVE

53. For time eterne : E'ER

54. "Girls" creator Dunham : LENA. Dug up from the deep recesses.

57. "There's __ in ... " : NO I

58. XL squared : MDC 40 x 40 = 1600. I still can't figure out how the Romans did math. "Borrow X and carry VII". Hopeless.

60. Old Buick : LE SABRE

62. Indian spiced drink : CHAI TEA

66. Wearing, with "in" : ATTIRED

67. Lots of shots : SALVOES

68. Juiced-up Roadsters? : TESLAS. A colleague of mine owns one. He lives in Texas, I thought he'd get some stick from the oil industry folks, but he says no-one's been mean to him yet.

69. Breastbones : STERNA. Really? I've never, ever had the need to use this word.

Down:

1. French possessive : SES. His, her or its plural possessive. Parisians love to tell you that you should use "son" instead of "ses" when the vowel begins with a consonant. I love to tell them that all their vines are grafted onto Californian rootstock after the phylloxera virus devastated their vineyards in the 1860's.

2. Take in : EAT

3. Hinder : PREVENT

4. Ominous date : IDES. March got a bad rap. The other nine ides didn't have such an ominous cloud looming over them.

5. Patron of Alice's : ARLO. Arlo Guthrie's song. If you can put up with 18 minutes of it, here's your link.

6. __ generis : SUI. Unique. Why use one English word when two Latin ones will do?

7. Louisville-to-Nashville dir. : SSW

8. Fare-well bridge : THEE

9. Scottish resort town known for its whisky : OBAN. In 2011, about $10,000's worth of fireworks were ignited all at once due to a computer glitch. The show was originally planned to last 30 minutes, it was all over in less than 60 seconds. Classic!

10. Defeat at the polls : OUTVOTE

11. Gift : PRESENT

12. Barrett of Pink Floyd : SYD

14. Doling (out) : METING

15. Declare : ASSERT

20. Furthermore : AND

22. Mil. bravery medal : D.S.C. Distinguished Service Cross. One notch down from the Medal of Honor.

23. Evian, par exemple : EAU

24. Colorful flowers : PANSIES

25. The very beginning, figuratively : YEAR ONE

27. Pretoria's land: Abbr. : R.S.A. Republic of South Africa.

29. Virginie, to Eugénie : ÉTAT. State.

31. A long way away : AFAR

34. Support beam : I-BAR

36. Penalty for wrongdoing : FINE

39. The Bulldogs of the SEC : M.S.U. Mississippi State University.

40. Game player : ATHLETE

41. Overruns : INFESTS

42. Fished with a net : SEINED. Fished with a seine net, like this:

43. Study of government : CIVICS

44. Meccano construction set : ERECTOR. The "Erector" brand is now being retired after the company was purchased by Meccano in 2000.

45. 1973 Court decision alias : ROE vs. Wade.

46. Old map abbr. : S.S.R. Soviet Socialist Republic

49. One of the fire signs : LEO

55. Attach, in a way : NAIL

56. Magical opening : ABRA-cadabra

58. Beer ingredient : MALT

59. Act like a loon? : DIVE.

60. Map coordinate: Abbr. : LAT. Latitude.

61. Legal thing : RES. More Latin.

63. Possesses : HAS

64. Poetic dusk : E'EN. More poetry.

65. Simile center : AS A. As happy as a clam in the sand where no-one's digging.

I'm back in LA this week. I was asked last week how many miles I fly each year - it varies, but never less than 50,000; usually quite a bit more. I'm up to about 45,000 so far in 2016. United puts your name on a plane if you hit the 10 million mile lifetime mark, I'm a LONG way from that milestone, thank goodness. I'd rather have my sanity and my home life than a 777 called "Steve".

Aaaand - here's the grid.

Steve

Wednesday, August 3, 2016 Joel Elkins and Andrea Carla Michaels

Title: Faster, Higher, Stronger - The Olympic motto. It is my desire to be as idealistic as I can about the Olympics, even given all we know about their seamier side.

Joel and Andrea have brought us a very entertaining and timely puzzle as we approach the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Their puzzle incorporates the six U.S. venues utilized for these quadrennial events.

Theme Reveal:

65. Event whose only six U.S. hosts are answers in this puzzle : THE OLYMPICS - Three U.S. host cities for both Summer and Olympic competition. Three are in the horizontal fill, two in the vertical fill and one city with three words is split between two horizontal fills and one vertical fill. 

Theme answers with notable events for each (fully realizing your recollections may be very different):

17. California ski resort (1960) : SQUAW VALLEY - Figure skating champion Carol Heiss cashed in her celebrity as quickly as she could

25. Peach State capital (1996) : ATLANTA - Perhaps best remembered for "The Greatest" being revealed as the secret torch lighter

27. With 39-Across and 61-Down, metropolis near the Wasatch Range (2002) : SALT 39. See 27-Across : LAKE 61. See 27-Across : CITY - A tattered flag from the World Trade center bombing which occurred only five months previous was a prominent part of the opening ceremonies.

52. Home of the Blues (1904) : ST LOUIS - The first Olympics in the U.S. was awarded to ST. LOUIS because it was also having a World's Fair and threatened to stage AAU track competition simultaneously if Chicago was selected. Only 12 countries showed up and the U.S. had 523 of the 630 athletes.

11. Home to the NFL's Rams (1932, 1984) : LOS ANGELES - Many consider Babe Didrikson Zaharias to be the finest female athlete of all time and she won 3 gold medals at the '32 olympics. She was limited to 3 events and won or tied for the win in all three but was eliminated from the high jump for "illegal technique" of her head going over first which is widely used today.

The '84 games were boycotted by the U.S.S.R. and 13 other aligned nations. Carl Lewis set the goal of winning the same four gold medals that Jesse Owens had won in front of Hitler in 1936 and did just that.

29. New York resort in the Adirondacks (1932, 1980) : LAKE PLACID - Like Carol Heiss, our crossword friend also cashed in on 1932 figure skating Olympic gold

Here is my most memorable Olympic moment: The U.S. amateurs defeating the highly favored and very experienced Soviet hockey team in the '80 hockey semifinals that led to Al Michaels' famous "Do you believe in miracles?" call. This is my favorite amateur sports memory that didn't involve Huskers!

Despite all the issues I will watch some of the Rio coverage but wouldn't travel down there for anything. Let's see what other events Joel and Andrea have for us:

Across

1. TV workers' union : AFTRA - The Screen Actors' Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists merged in 2012

6. "We Create Music" org. : ASCAP

11. "__ It Go": hit song from "Frozen" : LET - Easier advice to dispense than take

14. Smallish iPods : NANOS

15. Eucalyptus eater : KOALA

16. Daily Defense skin care brand : OXY - Quite an arsenal

19. Weaken : SAP

20. Stellar : ASTRAL

21. Some cameras : SLR'S

22. Master : ACE

23. Sci. subject : ANAT

30. Quick drink : SIP

32. Participate in karaoke : SING - What all these machines need...

33. 60 minuti : ORA -  37. Capital SSE of Firenze : ROMA - "A ROMA ci sono 60 minuti in un'ORA (In Rome, there are 60 minutes in an hour)" 68. Pisa place : ITALY completes the mini-theme trifecta

34. "Really?" : IT IS

36. Jetties : PIERS - Jetties extending out into new Lake Wanahoo behind the dam by Wahoo, NE

41. Actress Sevigny : CHLOE

43. Pebble-in-puddle sound : PLOP

44. Thumbs-up critic : EBERT - Of this movie, he said, "I had a colonoscopy once, and they let me watch it on TV. It was more entertaining than 'The Brown Bunny.'"

46. That señorita : ELLA

47. Revealing rock genre : EMO

48. Look closely (over) : PORE

50. Stockholm airline : SAS

51. Exam for many sophs : PSAT

55. Tilt-A-Whirl, e.g. : RIDE - Do the people who set up and maintain these instill confidence in you?

57. Starbucks order : TEA

58. Mil. ranks : SGTS

60. Subsidiary of Fiat : LANCIA - Brigitte Bardot in a LANCIA Flavia. Nice lines!

64. Curved path : ARC

67. Calendar col. : FRI

69. Bloke's buddy : MATEY

70. G-man : FED

71. Synthetic fabric : NYLON

72. "Family Ties" mom : ELYSE


Down

1. Ancient jug handle : ANSA - We had this recently but it didn't stick in my brain box

2. Online help pgs. : FAQS

3. Letter-shaped fastener : T-NUT

4. Obviously enjoy, as a joke : ROAR AT

5. Nile dam : ASWAN

6. Blotter letters : AKA

7. Mars days, in "The Martian" : SOLS - During his SOLS on Mars, Watney grew potatoes using a unique fertilizer

8. __ lily : CALLA

9. "Fore!" et al. : ALERTS

10. Stub with withholding info : PAY SLIP

12. Better than estimated : EXACT

13. Far from laid-back : TYPE-A - One take on this idea

18. Big name in pickles : VLASIC

24. Sunday contribution : TITHE

26. "There's __ in the air" : A NIP

27. Part of a shoe : SOLE

28. Speedy steed : ARAB

31. Medicinal units : PILLS - My double transplant recipient golf partner takes 39 PILLS/day, 14,235/yr

35. __ eclipse : SOLAR

38. Windex target : SPOT

40. Buck chaser? : EROO

42. With little effort : EASILY

45. Rely on : TRUST IN

49. Interstate through Cheyenne : EIGHTY

51. Foreign correspondent? : PEN PAL 

52. Employees : STAFF

53. __ Haute : TERRE 

54. Rickey Henderson specialty : STEAL

56. Actor Jean-Claude Van __ : DAMME

59. Diva's offering : SOLO

62. Finishes, as cupcakes : ICES

63. "__ sow, so shall ... " : AS YE

66. Former White House adviser Nofziger : LYN - "The executive branch has grown too strong, the judicial branch too arrogant and the legislative branch too stupid."

Now let's race on to see your comments on this fun puzzle and perhaps an Olympic memory as well.  Please stay in your own lane!

The Grid

Notes from C.C.:

1) Congratulations on Joel Elkins on his LA Times debut! He also teamed up with dear Andrea Carla Michaels for his NYT debut last month.

2) Happy Birthday to our sweet Melissa B, who's going to become a first-time grandma soon.  Her daughter is expecting her first daughter on August 13th.

Left to Right: Melissa's daughter, Melissa's mom Barbara B, Melissa

 

 

Tuesday, August 2, 2016 Patti Varol

Theme: O

20. *Many a smartphone download : FREE RINGTONE. Ring

29. *Beef cut : TOP ROUND STEAK. Round

44. *Traction aid for off-road vehicles : ALL-WHEEL DRIVE. Wheel

53. Influential groups, and what each of the answers to starred clues contains : INNER CIRCLES

Argyle here. Three theme entries are unique to LAT puzzles(used for the first time) and Patti should know, she is the assistant to Rich. Two tall climbers and strong corners complete this tough Tuesday. Quite a few CSO's, too.

Across:

1. Stare in astonishment : GAPE

5. Phased-out jets : SSTs. (SuperSonic Transport)

9. Duvet filler : EIDER

14. October birthstone : OPAL

15. Abbr. in an abbreviated list : ET AL.

16. Carne __: burrito filling : ASADA. "Where's the beef?"

17. "My bad" : "OOPS"

18. Singer Simone : NINA

19. Shoot down, in a way : REBUT

23. Viola's sect. : STR. (strings)

24. Good to go, at NASA : A-OK

25. Wields power : REIGNS

33. Radiates happiness : GLOWS

35. Russian denial : "NYET!"

36. Poetic tribute : ODE

37. Blades cut by a blade : LAWN. Tricky.

38. Spider-Man Parker : PETER

40. Crossword diagram : GRID

41. Part of a storm or a needle : EYE

42. Uber alternative : TAXI

43. Frat party garb : TOGAs

Nashua, where are you?

I was looking for a pic to add to this when I discovered I didn't even have the entry!

48. "New Hampshire's Gate City" : NASHUA. Ah, there you are.

49. Fair-hiring abbr. : EOE. (Equal Opportunity Employer)

50. Clean Air Act org. : EPA. (Environmental Protection Agency)

57. Site with "Health A-Z" guides : WEB MD

60. Home Depot purchase : TOOL. Not a TARP today.

61. Farm grunt : OINK. The one part of the pig that can't be used.

62. Shake an Etch A Sketch, e.g. : ERASE. Cute.

63. In the buff : NUDE. ;-)

64. Fried corn bread : PONE

65. Woodland deity : SATYR

66. Fired from the job : AXED

67. Hearty meal : STEW

Down:

1. Says 17-Across, say : GOOFS. (Oops)

2. To the left, at sea : APORT

3. They're usually on a roll : PAPER TOWELS. Ahem, the bigger rolls.

4. "What __ is new?" : ELSE

5. Graduate-to-be : SENIOR

6. Three sheets to the wind : STINKO

7. Cranberry quality : TANG. Hand up for TART.

8. Part of a window shutter : SLAT

9. Sincere : EARNEST

10. Words upon making out a distant image : "I SEE IT"

11. Apply daintily : DAB

12. Academic address ending : .EDU

13. __ race : RAT

21. Knocks : RAPS

22. Gavel-pounding demand : ORDER

26. "Middlemarch" novelist : GEORGE ELIOT. (Mary Ann Evans)

27. 1976 Olympics star Comaneci : NADIA

28. RR station postings : SKEDS. Schedules.

30. Part of MYOB : OWN

31. Up to the time when : UNTIL

32. PBS "Science Guy" Bill : NYE

33. Gather a bit at a time : GLEAN

34. Clapton woman who's "got me on my knees" : LAYLA. "The song was further inspired by Clapton's then unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his friend and fellow musician George Harrison of The Beatles." Wiki

38. Song of praise : PAEAN

39. Application file suffix : EXE

40. Head in a capital: Abbr. : GOV. (Governor)

42. Lightning follower : THUNDER

43. Row at Dodger Stadium : TIER

45. Capriciousness : WHIMSY

46. Solve, as a cipher : DECODE

47. Stirred up : ROILED

51. Pasta often served alla vodka : PENNE

52. Cockeyed : ASKEW

54. European volcano that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site : ETNA

55. Butter-and-flour sauce thickener : ROUX

56. Police : COPS

57. Director Anderson : WES. Wiki LINK.

58. Wisk rival : ERA

59. Baseball club : BAT

Argyle

Monday, August 1, 2016 Jason Mueller

Theme: Colorful Windmill - with the reveal at the hub.

40A. 1950s RCA innovation ... or this puzzle's four longest answers? : COLOR TV

17A. Albert/Gabor sitcom set on a farm : GREEN ACRES. CBS

11D. Sitcom for which Candice Bergen won five Emmys : MURPHY BROWN. CBS

59A. Tom Selleck police series : BLUE BLOODS. CBS

25D. Drama in which Tatiana Maslany plays several clones : ORPHAN BLACK. BBC America

{Rabbit Rabbit} Argyle here. Jason has been HERE before. A neat start to the week and the month. It is a little odd that the color starts the Across themes and ends the Down themes. Is there a purpose?

Across:

1. Veggies in Mendel's experiments : PEAs

5. Wear away : ERODE

10. Key with five sharps: Abbr. : B MAJor

14. Apiece : EACH

15. Name of nearly 20 French kings : LOUIS

16. Deceptive scheme : RUSE

19. Spring flower : IRIS

20. Auction unit : LOT

21. Remain firm : STAND PAT

23. Chided : SCOLDED

27. Slangy affirmative : YEAH

28. Gives a hoot : CARES

29. Fingers in a lineup : IDs

32. Pictograph : GLYPH

35. Award for Tiger Woods or Roger Federer : ESPY. (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award)

36. Con's early release : PAROLE

38. Spelling contest : BEE

39. High degree : NTH

41. Hwy., e.g. : RTE

42. Stat for Cy Young : ERA. (earned run average) lower is better.

43. Compensated (for) : ATONED

44. Thesaurus entry : WORD

45. Top 40 listings : SONGS

47. Solidify : GEL

48. "Space Oddity" singer David : BOWIE

49. Raised, as horses : BRED

51. Longed (for) : YEARNED

53. Amphitheater : COLISEUM

57. Jan. honoree : MLK. (Martin Luther King Jr.)

58. Garden of Eden exile : ADAM

64. Scalp parasites : LICE

65. Prefix with mural : INTRA

66. "Go back!" computer command : [UNDO]

67. Signs, as a contract : INKS

68. __ Tots : TATER

69. Thomas Hardy heroine : TESS

Down:

1. Pin for hanging : PEG

2. Organ associated with van Gogh : EAR

3. Crack pilot : ACE

4. Frankenstein creator : SHELLEY

5. Make wildly happy : ELATE

6. Legendary big bird : ROC

7. Belonging to us : OURS

8. Slimming-down strategy : DIET

9. Student's composition : ESSAY

10. Type of shower or gown : BRIDAL

12. Most populous continent : ASIA

13. In __: as a prank : JEST

18. Approving bobs : NODS

22. Israeli desert : NEGEV

23. Parts of acts : SCENES

24. Big name in recent Cuban history : CASTRO

26. Back-and-forth talk : DIALOG

30. Unmanned spy plane : DRONE

31. In a bad way : SORELY

33. "The Dick Van Dyke Show" surname : PETRIE. Rob Petrie, his wife Laura, and son Richie.

34. Listened to, as advice : HEEDED

36. Pan partner : POT. Pot and pan just sounds wrong.

37. Old Ford model : LTD. Etymology

40. They're tried in court : CASES

44. Get in one's reps : WORKOUT

46. Tony winner Tammy : GRIMES. Her daughter is Amanda Plummer.

48. Soccer sphere : BALL

50. __ card: payment method : DEBIT

52. Block : EMBAR

53. Colombian metropolis : CALI

54. Chief Norse god : ODIN

55. Bone near the radius : ULNA

56. Mixed-breed dog : MUTT

60. Before, poetically : ERE

61. United : ONE

62. Driller's deg. : DDS. (Doctor of Dental Surgery)

63. Palindromic call for help : S-O-S

Argyle