Saturday, May 13th, 2017, Roland Huget

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing F,Q,Z)

Blocks: 30

Mr. Huget is cranking out the Saturday puzzles for the LA Times this year - today we have #3; number two was last month at Easter.  I did not see the triple stack when I started on this one - and then I saw the 15-letter climber in the DOWN later.  With a few crossings, I was able to fill them in with little trouble, and the net result of a grid with stacks is a higher small word count, too - which usually helps.  Lots of proper names, but none that didn't "self-solve" through perps; other answers came to me from doing lots of crosswords.  The long fills from the middle;

32a. Metaphor for high speed : PEDAL TO THE METAL - see 64a., 24d, 26d.

39a. Sacrificed considerably : PAID A STEEP PRICE

You can send money to my PayPal account. Thank you.

40a. Fixers : TROUBLESHOOTERS

7d. Awkward moment makeup : ABSOLUTE SILENCE

OnwRRRRd~!

ACROSS:

1. Old man, in Mannheim : ALTE - I vaguely remembered the German word, but filled in ALDE at first.

5. Key with five sharps: Abbr. : B MAJ - oops, put in "E" first; "E" is one of the two non-sharps in the key; the other is "B" - all the black keys of a piano get used

9. Mess up : BOTCH

14. Unavoidable : MEANT TO BE- the irony with some of the answers in the puzzle....

16. Oocyte producer : OVARY - my DOWN crossings messed up this corner to start

17. Relaxed to the max : MELLOWEST

18. Name probably derived from scat singing : BEBOP

19. Like Orson, on a '70s-'80s sitcom : ORKAN - along with Mork from Ork

20. Band with a self-named 1978 debut album : TOTO - my personal favorite song from this band;

188,112,538 views; I think the story presented in the 

video is stirring

22. "Lady Jane Grey" playwright : ROWE - filled via perps

23. Queen of Thorns portrayer on TV : RIGG - filled via perps

25. Floaters in a Japanese ceremony : LANTERNS

Cool

27. Turkish title : AGA - got it from doing crosswords

29. Cassowary cousin : EMU

31. Dog in the Reagan White House : REX - the "X" was an educated guess

41. Sign of summer : LEO - astrological sign

42. Leb. neighbor : ISRael - oops, not SYRia

43. Low mark : DEE

44. 1942 Hayworth/Mature musical : MY GAL SAL - I suppose the "G" offered some solvers a Natick with the vague Greek name crossing

48. Neutral shades : TANS - ah, such a lovely shade....

51. Surface application : COAT - I figured it was this, or "FILM"

52. Overly precious, in Portsmouth : TWEE - I need to start using this word at UPS; it's hiring season, and most of the people coming in don't last more than two days; I'll have seven years in June, and I am getting the "itch" - especially since the newest ruling from above no longer allows us to listen to music on the job.  Really~?

54. It makes everything taste better, they say : BACON - I have to agree

57. Child with dishes : JULIA - clever, but I got it - do you think she likes bacon~?

59. Talus : ANKLEBONE - I pondered BIRD'S FOOT

61. Classic theater : ODEON

62. Glaze causes : ICE STORMS

63. __ Doon, Bay Area community named by a Scotsman : BONNY

64. One may be taken on the road : TEST - I was just reading Road & Track while waiting to get my hair cut, and in this issue they test drove a McLaren along with 9 other 'supercars'; one of the authors crashed it.  Ouch.  I like the McLaren

65. Sugar source : BEET

DOWN:

1. Clip contents : AMMO

2. Lascivious look : LEER

3. Broadcast genre : TALK RADIO

4. Zhou __ : EN LAI

5. Start of a modern afterthought : BTW - By The Way

6. Chandon's partner : MOËT - champagne

8. Beetle cousin : JETTA - ah, the car, not the insect

9. Short do : BOB - dah~! Not 'FRO

10. Exhaust (oneself), as in a workout : OVEREXERT

11. Drum with a fife : TABOR - Dah~!! Not SNARE

12. Symbol of sovereignty : CROWN - I had this, and took it out because it did not jibe with SNARE

13. Strong pitches : HYPES

15. Grab, as at a smorgasbord : TONG

21. Restricted pending disciplinary action : ON REPORT

24. Takes a turn for the worse? : GETS LOST

I couldn't resist

26. Pace : TEMPO

27. Cal. entry : APPT.

28. Driver's choice : GEAR - could have been IRON, as in golf, but rarely does one use an iron as a driver; maybe from the tee of a par three....?

30. Speck : MOTE - not IotA, but that's 100% 50% correct

33. Sycophant's specialty : ADULATION - a Kiss A**

34. Record trademark : LABEL

35. Sneaky chortles : HEHs

36. 50-50, say : TIED SCORE - seemed unlikely, but I filled it in, and it stayed

37. Real estate buy : ACRE

38. Suffix with Congo : LESE - Congolese; hey, it's Saturday

44. Teen's source of funds : McJOB

45. "Really?" : "YOU DO~?"

46. Ancient Greek physician : GALEN - the "N" was my last fill

47. Anticipate : AWAIT

49. Help on the job? : ABET

50. Big shot : NABOB

53. Scratches (out) : EKES

55. "Your money's no good here" : ON ME

56. First flight launch site : NEST - I pondered N CAR, for the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk; nope, just the home of the animals God intended to fly....

58. Partner of all : ANY - any & all

60. D-Day craft : LST - crossword staple

Splynter

Friday, May 12, 2017, John Lampkin

Title: What hotel are you staying at? The one where you get two rooms for the price of one!

Wow, John has made my first attempt to blog a puzzle since I have been ill a challenge. On the one hand it seems simple with a nice progression from ECONOMY-STANDARD-PREMIUM-LUXURY but there is no  reveal. And then we have the four words inserted by JL. They give us Economy/Rat Pack; Standard/Hot Time; Premium/Swamp Gas and Luxury/Eye Liner.  Two themes for the price of one. I do not recall ever seeing a puzzle with this duality. All with John's wonderful wit mixed in both the theme and the cluing/fill.

19A. Doppelgänger cast for a low-budget remake of "Ocean's 11"? : ECONOMY RAT PACK (14). The original from 1960 was a vehicle for the Sinatra PACK. The real remakes have not been economy. Which of the movies did you like best?

23A. Usual night in the old town? : STANDARD HOT TIME. (15). The first of two grid-spanners.

42A. Quality marsh output? : PREMIUM SWAMP GAS (15). The silliest of the theme fill.

48A. Gold dust lid cover? : LUXURY EYE LINER (14). Made me think of Elizabeth Talyor as Cleopatra.

In addition to the 58 letters dedicated to the theme, JL includes SODA POP,  BUOYANT,  TEEN IDOL,  LEMMINGS,  ROADSIDES and  ART DEALER as sparkly fill. I had a great time.

Across:

1. "L'Arlésienne" composer : BIZET. Wow, not a gimme start but lots of challenging letters. LINK.

6. Nutrients in nuts : FATS.

10. Silent signal : NOD.

13. Surface : ARISE. An unexpected definition.

14. Facetious agreement : AH SO.

15. Litter pickup spot? : NAPE. Not only humans do this.

16. Parson's home : MANSE. I learned this word reading British mysteries and watching them on PBS like THIS.

17. Some shoulders : ROADSIDES. Lovely misdirection.

21. Speck in la mer : ILE. French,

22. Sweet climber : PEA. Very important in science RESEARCH. Next to....

32. Entomological case study? : COCOON. JL loves his moths and their stages of life.He was kind enough to provide this picture from his personal stash.

33. Repeated number of curls, say : REPititions. Bicep curls.

34. Bust gp. : DEA.  Drug Enforcement Administration. President Nixon consolidated the anti-drug efforts. This is not the group in charge of inspecting bras.

35. Whatever : AT ALL. Used to be one of my favorite catch phrases. Now it is DK/DC.

36. Fanny pack spot : HIP. I see them more in front or back, never on me. Cute positioning with
28D. In like an old cat? : HEP. Just ask Maynard G. Krebs.

37. Backing strips : LATHS. Not to confused with LATHE. Lath 1. a thin flat strip of wood, especially one of a series forming a foundation for the plaster of a wall or the tiles of a roof, or made into a trellis or fence.

39. Liszt's "__ Préludes" : LES. Pretty easy French to fill. This COMPOSER was very popular.

40. Fish house freebie : BIB. Usually with a drawing of a lobster.

41. Sympathize : RELATE.

46. Mayo is in it : ANO. Spanish trick Mayo = May- ANO = Year

47. Fan noise : HUM.

56. Theo van Gogh, notably : ART DEALER. A fun STORY.

57. Orange variety : NAVEL. Seedless and very haughty.

59. Couth he is not : OGRE.

60. Khartoum's waters : NILE.

61. Birds do it between thermals : GLIDE. JL also watches and films birds.


62. Place to take a dip : SEA. And the clecho, 64A. Place to take a dip? : SALSA.

63. Hits up (for) : TAPS. In beer halls you tap your friend next to the taps.



Down:

1. "Whap!" : BAM. Comic book talk.

2. "Dies __" : IRAE.

3. #30 on a table : ZINC. I keep forgetting to not put my glass on the periodic table.

4. Canadian pump name : ESSO. Esso - Exxon.

5. "People" person, perhaps : TEEN IDOL.

6. Cain was one : FARMER. Sad, as he must have been driven mad by the methane gases.

7. Cry to a mate : AHOY.

8. Ruler that doesn't work anymore : TSAR. They all retired?

9. Gender-specific beverage? : SODA POP. Cute, you can have soda pop or white wine mom.

10. Zilch : NADA.

11. Group with many barrels : OPEC.

12. Office staple : DESK. I found this tricky, looking for an office implement..

15. Bite playfully : NIP AT. Puppies! Friends?

18. Editorial override : STET.

20. Buck heroine : O-LAN. A well decorated book about the mysterious East. O-Lan is a fictional character in Pearl S. Buck's 1931 novel The Good Earth. She is a slave of the House of Hwang who gains her freedom when she marries the novel's protagonist, Wang Lung. They start a family in their small country town, and endure grueling times, including droughts, floods, and war. Wiki, Sorry about the broken link.

23. It may be under a rug : SCALP. Rug here being a toupee- nice.

24. Bag carrier : TOTER. Yes it is!  29D. Travel bag attachment : ID TAG. More travel.

25. "__ in point" : A CASE.

26. Cambodia's Lon __ : NOL. LON NOL, a handy palindrome.

27. Bits : DRIBS. Or drabs?

30. Maestro Zubin : MEHTA. John is a most prolific pianist, explaining all the music this week. You can learn more about John going to his blog,  LINK.

31. Lightens up : EASES.

36. Gender-specific pronoun : HIM. All perps.

37. Non-suicidal migrants, contrary to myth : LEMMINGS. The MYTH?

38. Heidi got high on one : ALP. My friend Heidi lived near the Devil's Millhopper  no mountains..

40. Cheerful : BUOYANT. Maybe if you are a sponge....

41. Julia of film : RAUL. He died much too young. LINK.

43. "All in the Family" spin-off : MAUDE. Bea Arthur as a feminist.

44. About : IN RE.

45. Waldo forerunner? : WHERE'S? I think he is lost forever. Just words that come before Waldo.

48. Cambodia neighbor : LAOS. Both near Thailand.

49. Itch : URGE.

50. Bonus, in ads : XTRA.

51. Lamb's alias : ELIA. And a JL clecho 58D. Lamb's place : LEA. Not the writer but the baby that Mary had.

52. Sharp bark : YELP. Doggies.

53. Simba's love : NALA.

54. Far from harmless : EVIL.

55. Cabs, say : REDS. Not yellow taxis, but Cabernet wines.

Well it was fun to blog but still not 100%. 7 hospitals and 10 doctors so far this year. Glad to be back and to have a JL special was great. Lemonade out. Thank you John.

Thursday May 11 2017 Mark McClain

Theme: Echo-o-o-o A word echoed in each theme clue

17A. Workshop sticker : EPOXY RESIN. This stuff. The red bits (scientific term!) are the hardener.

27A. Kitchen sticker : FRIDGE MAGNET. Here's one of mine from a winery near Santa Maria (no surprise there!)

43A. Mailroom sticker : POSTAGE STAMP. Here is the world's most valuable stamp, the British Guyana 1¢ Magenta. It sold at auction in 2014 for $9.5m. That's some return on your one-cent investment back in 1856.

58A. Desk-bottom sticker : CHEWING GUM. Yuck.

Nice theme-in-the-clue pangrammatic puzzle from Mark. There's a lot of fresh fill too, much more than a usual Thursday. I enjoyed the variety in the four "stickies". Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1. Eye-related prefix : OPTI

5. Acht minus sechs : ZWEI. If you want to clearly differentiate between "two" and "three" (drei) in German, you use "zwo" instead. I've heard the guy counting down a skier at the start of the Hannenkahm downhill in Kitzbühel incanting "drei-zwo-ein".

9. Con : SCAM

13. Rock guitarist Eddy : DUANE

15. Make : EARN

16. Dracula costume item : CAPE

19. Major in astronomy? : URSA. Nice clue.

20. 64-Across's realm : RUSSIA. Filled in easily enough once I'd got to the end of the "Across" clues and found TSAR.

21. Pacified : QUELLED

23. CBS maritime drama : NCIS. Never seen it, but I know it stands for "Naval Criminal Investigative Service". Was Tom Cruise an NCIS agent in "A Few Good Men?"

26. Lay bare : EXPOSE

32. Personal assistant : AIDE

33. "Zounds!" : EGADS! Yikes!

34. __ Mahal : TAJ

37. Had already learned : KNEW

38. City north of Memphis : CAIRO. 20 miles away. Here's a few old rocks in Memphis - actually, they're the remains of columns from a temple to Rameses.

39. Pacific island where much of "Lost" was filmed : OAHU. Where you can chow down on pupus.

40. Scrape (out) : EKE

41. "Wheel of Fortune" name : VANNA. Speaking of which, the proffered answer of "On The Spot Dice Spin" didn't win this one. Indiana U. fail.

42. Half-note feature : STEM

46. Kicks out : EXPELS

49. Water source : WELL

50. I-15 city between Los Angeles and Las Vegas : BARSTOW. Name-checked on the song "Route 66."

52. Service interruption : OUTAGE

57. Stage direction : EXIT. Stage Left.

61. Icy coating : RIME. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is not referring to frost on his beard.

62. Numbers game : KENO

63. Knife hawked on infomercials : GINSU. I think I've seen the commercials - isn't this the knife that cuts through a can and then cuts tomatoes? I hate to see knife abuse of this sort!

64. Old despot : TSAR

65. Try to find : SEEK

66. Is appropriate : FITS

Down:

1. River through Frankfurt : ODER

2. __ platter : PUPU. Food! A Hawai'ian staple. Make sure there's a couple of Spam musubi on there for me.

3. City near Ghost Ranch, a favorite Georgia O'Keeffe retreat : TAOS.

4. "Devil Inside" band : INXS. My first wife worked for their record company. They were pronounced "Ink-sis" by the folks at the label, so as not to been seen taking the talent too seriously.

5. Crazy consonant? : ZEE. And with "Z" this puzzle becomes a pangram, all letters of the alphabet appear today.

6. Used to be : WAS

7. La Salle of "Under the Dome" : ERIQ. I know him from "House."

8. Subtle slur : INNUENDO.

9. Make busts : SCULPT. Not a Victoria's Secret Uplift Semi Demi bra?

10. Producer Ponti : CARLO. Thank you, crosses.

11. Spots for religious statues : APSES

12. Civil War general : MEADE. Famous for Gettysburg and building lighthouses. He was born in Cadiz, Spain, which may or may not explain the lighthouse fascination.

14. Getting a good look at : EYING

18. 10K, say : RACE. Fun Run for some, Agony Run for others, Race for the select few.

22. They may not be on speaking terms : EXES. Especially if they live in Texas.

24. Clarifying words : I MEANT ...

25. City "it took me four days to hitchhike from," in Paul Simon's "America" : SAGINAW. I heard this five minutes ago - the song is currently being used in a VW car commercial.

27. Hoops move : FAKE

28. Zamboni domain : RINK. The Zamboni was invented, and is still manufactured right here in Southern California, in Paramount.

29. __ fixe : IDÉE. An obsession. I didn't notice this during the puzzle, crosses filled it in for me.

30. Meadow drops : DEW

31. Parking place : GARAGE

34. "Cheerio!" : TA-TA! I just finished watching all six seasons of "Downton Abbey" after a few years' delay. Jolly good! I cried in every episode. I cry all time in movies; I even cried in the first "Toy Story." I went to see "The Cider House Rules" at the AMC Theater in Burbank when it was first released wearing a light gray t-shirt. When I came out, the front was dark gray due to my tearful sobbing.

35. "Shh!" relative : AHEM

36. Head start : JUMP

38. Full-length clerical garments : CASSOCKS. I wore one of these in my days as an altar boy. See below for parental dragging-by-the-ear reference.

39. East of Essen : OST. A couple or three Germanic references today. I like the play on "East of Eden" in the clue.

41. Electric Chevy : VOLT

43. Annoy : PESTER

44. Childlike race in "The Time Machine" : ELOI

45. Thrown : SLUNG

46. Critic Roger : EBERT. One of the thumbs up. Or down.

47. Line on which y = 0 : X-AXIS.

48. Ballerina descriptor : PRIMA. Top banana at the barre.

51. "This is fun!" : WHEE!

53. "What a brutal week!" : TGIF! Thank Go[odness] it's Friday!

54. Lambs, in Latin : AGNI. I think this one is a tad obscure. I knew it because of my Catholic parents dragging me to church by the ear and therefore knowing the "Agnus Dei", married with the fact I was taught Latin at school, so I could figure out the plural. Tough one.

55. A strong one may invert an umbrella : GUST. Tried GALE, was wrong.

56. Big birds : EMUS

59. Hydrocarbon suffix : -ENE

60. Asian pan : WOK. Don't get a non-stick one - you want to be able to push food up the sides and have it stay there rather than sliding back to the bottom like Sysyphus' boulder.

And with that, my work here is done. Here's the grid!

Steve

Wednesday, May 10, 2017, Agnes Davidson and C.C. Burnikel

TITLE: MUSH!

Our own Irish Miss and C.C. have doggedly produced a lovely Wednesday puzzle that provided a fun exercise for me while their theme escaped my blood hound instincts. There was also just enough challenge to make my solving experience enjoyable.

What these ladies did was to supply five two-word theme answers wherein both words can serve as a "LEAD" for the word DOG. This is all tied up in their theme reveal:

37. Iditarod front-runners ... or what both parts of the answers to starred clues can do? : LEAD DOGS - As you can see by the picture here, being the LEAD DOG does have its advantages!

The previous puzzle I blogged was last Wednesday's where the phrase OUT OF could precede each word in a two word phrase to give two new phrases and so there was some similarity. 

Now let's take a look at the theme fills, some of which are canine related and some not so much:

18. *Suffering harsh criticism : UNDER ATTACK which yields

55. *Highway patrol group : STATE POLICE and we also get

 3. *Deep trouble : HOT WATER 

6. *Member of a 1960s Chinese paramilitary group : RED GUARD

36. *Hard-to-control blaze : WILD FIRE where Agnes and C.C. also give us

Let's see what else is in their, anything but shaggy, dog story:

Across

1. __ Wednesday : ASH - The day after Mardi (Tuesday) Gras (Fat)

4. Rock of comedy : CHRIS

9. Miata automaker : MAZDA - The star of the movie Husker Gary's Midlife Crisis

14. 6-Down leader : MAO

15. Moocher : LEECH

16. Cannes concepts : IDEES - En France, les bonnes IDEES peuvent impliquer des vin (In France, good ideas can  involve wine)

17. CPR pro : EMT

20. Attach, as a patch : SEW ON 

22. All skin and bones : GAUNT

23. See 39-Down : LEE 39. With 23-Across, "Life of Pi" Oscar winner : ANG - ANG LEE - Lots of CGI required

24. Put up, as wallpaper : HANG

25. Fleecy boot brand : UGGS - Tom Brady was a spokesperson at one time

26. Word on a sample check : VOID

27. Sneaky guy? : PETE

28. Charlotte of "The Facts of Life" : RAE

29. Lawman Earp : WYATT

31. Portable gifts for book lovers : E READERS - Do you like turning the pages like I do?

33. Very long spell : EON

34. Part of mph : PER - Do you really want to get your 'vette going this fast?

35. Exchange rate abbr. : USD - Your Canadian loonie is worth about .73 USD

36. Like some smiles : WRY

37. NYC airport code : LGA

40. Cat, often : PET - We have one of those

LILY

41. Clam : SIMOLEON - Ah, the euphemisms abound

43. "Sailing to Byzantium" poet : YEATS - I did better understanding calculus and relativity

45. Where LeBron plays home games, on scoreboards : CLE - Has any athletes ever meant as much to one city as LeBron has to CLEveland?

46. Yin partner : YANG

47. Standard : NORM

48. Passed down, as folk mus. : TRAD - I didn't understand TRAD until I saw mus. Hence TRADtional music

50. Antique shoppe adjective : OLDE

51. Wilder's "__ Town" : OUR

52. "Mrs. Dalloway" novelist : WOOLF - I ain't afraid of her

53. Bicycle part : PEDAL - Once you attach your foot to the PEDAL there could be issues

58. Have debts : OWE

59. Ancient Aegean region : IONIA


60. Bugs of crime : MORAN - George "Bugs" MORAN was on his way to the garage on Valentine's Day 1929. Good thing he was late.

61. Came down with : GOT

62. Chopper blade : ROTOR  - One horizontal and one vertical

63. Gushes : SPEWS

64. Caution to drivers : SLO 



Down - Picture seemed appropriate here with the clue direction and the theme...

1. Iowa college town : AMES

2. "One for me, too" : SAME HERE

4. Held tightly (to) : CLUNG

5. Coop resident : HEN

7. Glacial periods : ICE AGES

8. Show of indifference : SHRUG

9. Baker's accessory : MITT


10. Electronic security corp. : ADT - The telephone ran them out of their original business

11. Fanatic : ZEALOT

12. Duplicity : DECEIT

13. Posed a question : ASKED

19. Mom's demand for an explanation : ANSWER ME - Been there, heard that!

21. Top draft status : ONE-A - This IV status card was "found" on him on 11/22/63 using an alias

26. Moving vehicle : VAN

27. __ rally : PEP 

28. Road trip convenience : REST STOP


30. Go up and down : YOYO - A lot of this motion is NOT up and down

32. Tune for two : DUET

38. Left base illegally : GONE AWOL

40. Kitchen spray : PAM

41. Edible mollusk : SCALLOP

42. Country singer Lovett : LYLE - Yeah, I know who he was married to for two years and I don't know why either

43. "Right back atcha" : YOU TOO

44. Off the mark : ERRANT - William Tell pulled two arrows and told Gov. Gessler that the second arrow would have been for Gessler if the first shot was ERRANT and had killed his son and then... 

47. Respectful refusal : NO SIR

49. Destinations in Clue : ROOMS - The original ROOMS

50. Pops the cork from : OPENS

52. Be dressed in : WEAR

54. Jared of "Suicide Squad" : LETO

56. Juan's uncle : TIO - An Almost Perfect Uncle

57. Bit of cornfield cacophony : CAW

Now, after my DOG and pony show, let's have some good comments 

THE GRID

Tuesday May 9, 2017, Victor Barocas

Theme: On the Fence. Each theme answer hides a word (in circles) for a type of fencing sword.

17. Gadget used on carrots : VEGETABLE PEELER

28. Deepwater Horizon catastrophe : GULF OIL SPILL

44. Inhales : TAKES A BREATH

58. Activity one might see at a circus ... or in the Across answers containing circles? : SWORD SWALLOWING

Melissa here. Clever theme - must have taken a lot of effort to come up with phrases that contained these hidden words. Reminds me of the Cross Swords puzzle in the Wordplay documentary.

Across     

   
1. TV drama whose title appeared on a California license plate : LA LAW

 

6. Beatrix Potter's "The __ of Peter Rabbit" : TALE
 

10. "Right away!" letters : ASAP
 

14. Yellow-and-white daisy : OXEYE

 15. Goat with recurved horns : IBEX
 

16. Circle dance : HORA (spelling variation HORAH)

20. Inventor Whitney : ELI
 

21. No-win situation : TIE. Favorite clue.
 

22. Expression of woe : LAMENT
 

23. Seasonal sack toter : SANTA
 

26. Whisperer's target : EAR
 

27. Utter : SAY

32. Slanted type : ITALIC
 

33. Bronze component : TIN. Damien Hirst's Verity sculpture.

34. "Baseball Tonight" network : ESPN
 

38. Swamp reptile : GATOR
 

39. Lobbying gp. : PAC
 

40. __ New Guinea : PAPUA
 

41. Mets' home through 2008 : SHEA
 

42. Roguish : SLY
 

43. Arcade machine inserts : TOKENS

47. Key near Caps Lock : TAB
 

50. Spy org. : CIA
 

51. Time to chill, briefly : R AND R. Rest and relaxation.
 

52. Dozing : ASLEEP
 

54. CDX x V : MML
 

55. Extinct New Zealand bird : MOA

62. Sharp flavor : TANG
 

63. Rummikub piece : TILE
 

64. React to pain : WINCE
 

65. Wraps up : ENDS
 

66. Attacking the problem : ON IT
 

67. Soft drink size : LITER

Down

1. Adore : LOVE
 

2. Skater's leap : AXEL
 

3. Make laws : LEGISLATE
 

4. Shipboard affirmative : AYE
 

5. Like an unfun blanket? : WET
 

6. Related to the shinbone : TIBIAL
 

7. Up to the task : ABLE
 

8. Calm side : LEE
 

9. Clarify : EXPLAIN
 

10. "If I may interject ... " : AHEM
 

11. Shoe undersides : SOLES
 

12. Sports venue : ARENA
 

13. New Year's Eve staple : PARTY
 

18. High point of a home tour? : ATTIC
 

19. British nobleman : EARL
 

24. Bobbing on the waves : AFLOAT
 

25. Gritty film genre : NOIR. Literally 'black film or cinema,' developed during and after World War II, taking advantage of the post-war ambience of anxiety, pessimism, and suspicion. It was a style of black and white American films that first evolved in the 1940s, became prominent in the post-war era, and lasted in a classic "Golden Age" period until about 1960. Classic Film Noir title screens.
 

26. "Iliad" or "Aeneid" : EPIC
 

28. Jobs for a band : GIGS
 

29. The Beehive State : UTAH
 

30. Corset stiffeners : STAYS. Corset vs. Stay.
 

31. Released without authorization : LEAKED
 

35. Gum flavor : SPEARMINT
 

36. Many a fourth-down play : PUNT
 

37. Singer with Crosby and Stills : NASH
 

39. Courtroom entry : PLEA
 

40. Lewd literature : PORN 

42. Reaches without reading the intervening pages : SKIPS TO
 

43. Pre-Little League game : T-BALL
 

45. Scored 100 on : ACED
 

46. Sleeve band : ARMLET

47. Sense of style : TASTE
 

48. Egypt's __ High Dam : ASWAN. New to me.

49. Fair-haired : BLOND
 

53. Work units : ERGS
 

54. The Niger River flows through it : MALI

56. "__ upon a midnight dreary ... " : ONCE
 

57. Stress, so they say : AGER 

59. Come out on top : WIN
 

60. Nocturnal hunter : OWL
 

61. Nintendo console : WII