Theme:

No SAINTS (STs) allowed; the abbreviation for Saint (ST) is removed from the first word of a common two-word phrase to reveal a new and humorous two-word phrase.

17. Conger's protection?: EEL HELMET. STEEL HELMET> Cute pun, but I did not remember this species of eels so it did not fall quickly.

26. Tracker of bauxite thieves?: ORE DETECTIVE. STORE DETECTIVE. This is where I got going, as Bauxite is the ore from which aluminum is extracted.

43. Roadie, after a gig?: AMP COLLECTOR. STAMP COLLECTOR. A nice reminder of the days riding on a tour bus, watching the roadies load and unload from city to city.

58. Diamond oration?: UMP SPEECH. STUMP SPEECH. The term is from the literal delivery of political speeches while standing on a sawed off tree to allow the candidate to be seen and heard.

The unifier: 41D. Hardly a model of perfection, and a hint to how this puzzle's theme puns are derived : NO SAINT.

Lemonade here, and I found the theme easily, without the unifier, and all the answers are nice symmetrical 9 12 12 9 with the unifier adding 7 more letters. I liked each of the puns, with AMP COLLECTOR my favorite; overall this was the hardest puzzle for me that I have blogged. It is however a nice honor to prepare the final blog of 2010.

Across:

1. Blows: BOPS. Man was this corner a struggle for me; I know a BOP where you strike someone is a BLOW, but BLOW was so many meanings. Down Lois and Carol. This crossing with BEECH did not help.

5. Open some: AJAR. Whew, an easy one.

9. "The Remains of the Day" author __ Ishiguro: KAZUO. Followed by more difficulty, for while I recalled the wonderful movie version starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, I did not have any memory of this transplanted Japanese AUTHOR .

14. Sweeping story: EPIC. My FAVORITE .

15. Like some walls: BARE. Well that id depressing.

16. Collectively: IN ALL.

19. Figured (out), slangily: DOPED. Yes, we all doped out this answer, though would n’t slang been enough?

20. __-Magnon man: CRO. This is no longer a politically correct term, as scientists now believe the skeletons which were found in this region, and so named, are sufficiently like we HOMO SAPIENS to be called EMH, Early Modern Human.

21. '60s quartet member: MAMA. And the biggest of them all MAMA CASS.

22. Times for cool heads: CRISES. Yes, they prevailed when my computer was fighting me earlier.

23. 6 7/8, e.g.: HAT SIZE. I wear a 7 ½ which would be okay except I am pretty short. Of course some of us will speculate on body correlations, but that cannot be helped. I am sure there are research volunteers.

25. __ Age: IRON. I could not think of any other four letter ages, ICE, STONE, BRONZE?

31. Latin Quarter site: PARIS. This area on the left bank of the SEINE got its name not from any Hispanic influence, but because it is the educational center of Paris where reading, understanding Latin was important.

34. Soup vegetable: LEEK. A cousin of the onion and garlic.

35. "X-ing" one: PED. Pedestrian crossing, a cross walk. Jaywalking is taken very seriously in parts of the country, as a result drivers must brake to allow people to cross if they are in a designated area. Muhammed Ali almost ran me down in his Rolls while I was at LAX.

36. Space-saving abbr.: ET AL. My law use of the week. When you sue a bunch of people, you have to list all of them in the initial complaint. The part with the names is the caption. Once the original is filed, e.g., Lemonade vs. Dennis, Windhover, Barry G., Jeannie, Sallie and Dodo, the later pleadings will all be Lemonade vs. Dennis et al.

37. Seriously impairs: MAIMS. Yes, maiming is a specific crime, defined as injure, disable, or disfigure, usually by depriving of the use of a limb or other part of the body.

39. Loud, ringing sound: BONG. Am I the only one who thought of Michael Phelps?

40. Barnyard male: TOM. Tom Turkey? Tom Cat?

41. Lofgren of the E Street Band: NILS. He has played his GUITAR with Springsteen and Neil Young among others.

42. Flooded field: PADDY. Rice can be grown on dry land, but most of it is done underwater, in paddies.

47. Sailing, say: ASEA.

48. Alluring tops: HALTERS. Is this what you thought of for this style TOP.

52. Sign with an arrow: ONE WAY. I love this clue, so simple, but very visual.

55. Like falling off a log: EASY. A simile that always puzzled me as a child, because it is hard to get on a log.

56. Snap: PIC. Does anyone call them snaps anymore?

57. Alp-Öhi's granddaughter in an 1880 novel: HEIDI. Never read the book, but I have a close friend with the name.

60. Dum-dum: MORON. You may not know this, but this was a valid psychology term to describe mild retardation, but obviously, it has fallen out of favor. But you can still take the TEST .

61. Hook's mate: SMEE. Man, my first thoughts crook and ladder, luckily they had too many letters.

62. Appear: SEEM.

63. Hägar's dog: SNERT. Snot Nosed Egotisical Rude Teen.

64. Event with gowns: BALL. I wanted Prom.

65. __ buco: OSSO. Literally bone with a hole, the veal shank.

Okay, suck it up we are halfway home.

Down:

1. Tree with edible nuts: BEECH. There were so many, Pecan also has 4 letters.

2. "What's __, Doc?": Classic "Looney Tunes" short: OPERA. Cartoons give us so much CULTURE , of course I could tell my Pavarotti bird joke again.

3. Joystick user: PILOT. Too many video games around me for this to be as easy as it really was.

4. Univ., e.g.: SCH.

5. Burning: ABLAZE. The class A word.

6. Improvised, in a way: JAMMED. A shout out for our own JzB, the tremulous trombonist.

7. Zone: AREA.

8. Soak flax: RET. I never heard of this process of using water and the organisms to break down the fiber in flax.

9. "Devil Without a Cause" musician: KID ROCK. Be careful of the lyrics in this VIDEO .

10. Baptize with oil: ANOINT. There was lots of anointing in the bible, but I did not associate it with baptism.

11. Sci-fi effects: ZAPS. Pretty tame now that we have CG.

12. Fonda title role: ULEE. The gold was in the honey, honey.

13. Cutlass maker: OLDS. We have a zillion different ways to clue this car maker, now dead and defunct.

18. Mideast bigwigs: EMIRS.

22. First Nations members: CREES. We just had Cree but there is so much more to the indigenous of CANADA .

24. Muddy: SOIL. Oh I get it, MUDDY as a verb, not anadjective.

25. News __: ITEM.

27. Beethoven dedicatee: ELISE. Lots of this and Eroica these days.

28. Product with earbuds: IPOD. Amazing how Apple has dominated so much electronics.

29. Push, so to speak: VEND. Street vendors as pushers? Seems harsh.

30. Avant-garde: EDGY. Oh perfect for the students in the Latin Quarter.

31. Org. where fur doesn't fly?: PETA. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, often forgetting we too are animals

32. Splitting it releases energy: ATOM. More bombs

33. Modeling milieu: RAMP.Runway, not clay.

37. Cyrus who plays Hannah Montana: MILEY. She is studying the Lindsay Lohan from child star to slut handbook.

38. __ breve: ALLA. Musical terminology for which I will defer to out musicians

39. One of TV's Mavericks: BART. Jack Kelly; James Garner as Bret and Roger Moore as cousin Beau.

42. Sea anemone, e.g.: POLYP.

44. Macbeth's thanedom before he became king: CAWDOR. Another very difficult name to remember; his patch before he had a kingdom, his feudallordship.

45. Vegas drive-through: CHAPEL.

46. Fez feature: TASSEL. Has anyone seen BURLESQUE ?

49. Blunted swords: EPEES.

50. Prepares potatoes, in a way: RICES. We get rice twice, it’s nice.

51. Jerk: SCHMO. I see SCHMOs as more harmless than jerks.

52. Resistance units: OHMS.

53. Its atomic number is 10: NEON.

54. Name on some neutral WWII ships: EIRE.

55. Jane Austen opus: EMMA.

58. PC port for a flash drive: USB.Universal Serial Bus.

59. Spanish pronoun: ESO. Like the song says…

Well another year in the record books, and my first as an organized contributor, I want to thank C.C., Rich, all the great constructors and all of you who have been here and who comment regularly or once in a while. Happy and wonderful new year for all and special wishes to those who need them.

Lemonade out, see you next year….