Ross Trudeau

Ttile?  Spellcheck anyone?

My first wrangle with Ross Trudeau and my first time dealing with a theme that is in the clues and not the fill. His initial LAT was the New Years Day puzzle. Ross is the son of the cartoonist Garry Trudeau, the Pulitzer-winning creator of "Doonesbury."  Ross is a digital media producer in Cambridge, Mass. He has had many NYT and the new Puzzle Society puzzle publications. Ross did stop by in January and revealed his full name is Richard Ross Trudeau (R Ross Trudeau) in his H Ross Perot puzzle. He has added a wonderful array of 7 and 8 letter fill. AVENUE C,  CONTENT,  DEROSSI,  DOG LIKE,  ETONIAN,  I-PHONES,  LEERERS,  LIVEN UP, MARIANO, RAT HOLE,  REACT TO, CINNAMON,  ENSNARLS,  ENTREPOT, and INTEGERS. The solve was fun, and I enjoyed the double duty requiring both the auto-correct of the clue and the fixing of the automobile required in the fill, but the theme just seemed a bit easy for a Friday. YMMV.

17A. Blub needing replacement: BROKEN TAILLIGHT (15).

24A. Dashbaord warning: CHECK ENGINE (11).

36A. Prolbems caused by nails, maybe: FLAT TIRES (9).

48A. Resutl of lengthy nonuse, maybe: DEAD BATTERY (11).

The reveal:

57A. Suggestions in a text message ... and what 17-, 24-, 36-, and 48-Across may require, literally and figuratively?: AUTO CORRECTIONS.

The bonus fill:

12D. They might offer 57-Across:   i-PHONES.

Across:

1. Summer refreshers: ADES. Even though it is not a real word, I love starting with a CSO to me.

5. Hot tub features: JETS. The water jets.

9. Welcomed to one's home: HAD IN. As opposed to 'ate out'.

14. Anti-fur-farming org.: PETA. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

15. Taking care of business: ON IT.

16. Split to get together?: ELOPE. Really cute thoughtful clue/fill.

20. GM navigation system: ONSTAR. The LINK.

21. Maiden name indicator: NÉE. From the French.

22. Parcel of land: LOT. Part of the US/Canadian SYSTEM.

23. Chi follower: PSI. You want to LEARN.

27. Father of the Edomites: ESAU. This is close to RELIGION.

29. Not well done: POOR. Not rare.

30. Scratched (out): EKED.

31. Eggnog spice: CINNAMON. Combine milk, cloves, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and cinnamon in a saucepan, and heat over lowest setting for 5 minutes. Slowly bring milk mixture to a boil.
In a large bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar. Whisk together until fluffy. ...
Stir in rum, cream, 2 teaspoon vanilla, and nutmeg.

34. __ Park, Colo.: ESTES.  The HISTORY.

38. Cheering loudly: AROAR. Meh.

40. Tangles: ENSNARLS.

44. First name in stunt cycling: EVEL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3OU5TUxHt4

45. No longer exists: ISN'T.

47. "I Am __": Jenner reality show: CAIT. Gone? I have no idea.

52. "Appropriate for all children" rating: TV-Y. This program is designed to be appropriate for all children.

53. The Vitamin Shoppe alternative: GNC.

54. Santa __ winds: ANA.

55. "Faust" dramatist: GOETHE. Foreshadowed this week.

61. Evoking the past: RETRO. I think I am not at the age where all of me is retro, not even trying.

62. Popped stopper: CORK.

63. Fingerprint, perhaps: CLUE. Often used by Edgar awarded writers.

64. Disdain: SCORN.

65. Pard's ride: HOSS.

66. Didn't go bad: KEPT. Food, not a juvenile delinquent.


Down:

1. Msg. for a squad car: APB.

2. Portia of "Arrested Development": DEROSSI. She married Ellen.

3. James Bond or George Orwell: ETONIAN. Famous GRADUATES of Eton.

4. Nordstrom competitor: SAKS.

5. Whale of a guy?: JONAH. A very cute biblical clue.

6. Import/export port: ENTREPÔT. I did not know this word which means a port, city, or another center to which goods are brought for import and export, and for collection and distribution.


7. Aunt in Madrid: TIA. And in my extended family.

8. Smashed: STINKO.

9. Launcher of many ships?: HELEN. For all the newbies (less than two years reading the blog) we coined the standard for admiring female pulchritude - the milihelen. 1000 being a more complete review than one to ten.

10. Foreman rival: ALI.

11. Resembling a dingo: DOGLIKE.

13. Earned: NETTED.

18. And so on: Abbr.: ETC. Yadda, yadda.

19. Ogling ones: LEERERS. My favorites are Tom and Norman.

23. Bench press muscle: PECtoral.

25. Tweets, snaps, pics, etc.: CONTENT.

26. Passes with mediocrity: GETS A C. Hmm, 38D. Street in Manhattan's Alphabet City: AVENUE C.  HISTORY.

28. Prepare to fly, as a flag: UNFOLD.

32. Like: À LA. JzB gets his accent grave..

33. Legendary Yankees closer, familiarly: MARIANO. Rivera, the all time baseball saves leader.

35. Kamala Harris, e.g.: Abbr.: SEN.

37. 5 and 10, e.g.: INTEGERS. A whole number.

39. Laugh at, say: REACT TO. nearby 42D. Add zip to: LIVEN UP.

41. Filthy dwelling: RATHOLE. Unpc for the poor rats.

43. Filthy dwelling: STY. An odd clecho.

44. Mystery awards: EDGARS. Named for the acclaimed first mystery writer, Edgar Allan Poe.

46. Symbol of stiffness: STARCH.

49. Brunch sizzler: BACON.

50. Ice in a pub: ROCKS.

51. Thus far: YET.

56. Clock sound: TICK. Tock.

58. NHL legend Bobby: ORR. Don't you love this nest to its mirror image?

59. Outback hopper: ROO.

60. Game-match link: SET. Game-set-match and such is the end of my game today as well.

Well that was fun; welcome to Friday Ross and we have finished off another month. I thnk you all for your birthday wishes and for solving and writing here. Lemonade here.

Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: Can I have your cherry?

It may be Friday, but we are today faced with creating a SUNDAE. As the link explains there are debate and a history about this American creation, but there can be no debate about the one put together by our own Jeffrey Wechsler both verbally and visually. JW has really been expanding his creative horizon lately with expanded 15 x 16 grids. This allows for more words, more sparkly words like LAPPED UP,  SCENARIO,  SPARSELY,  THAT IT IS, HARD WINTER, and  SCRATCHPAD. In this iteration, we have 36 three letter words, and 22 with four letters. Both of which are unusually high for a weekday puzzle. And I find no symmetry at all in the puzzle, not east-west, north-south or conventional. Jeffrey also places a circle around a single letter in each themer and starting from the top down they spell (Ta-Dah) SUNDAE. That was the icing on the cake (I loved mixed metaphors!). Also, with all the theme fill clued only by 64-A, it is a very much circular solve. Obviously, with theme fill ranging from 4-16 letters, we are outside any of the old conventions which say the theme fill should be the longest words. I wish JW would stop by or write C.C. on this unique creation. On to the rest.

18A. *See 64-Across: MARASCHINO CHERRY (16). The cherry on top is both literal and figurative. They are an integral part of an American ice cream sundae. The term "cherry on top" refers to the Maraschino cherries on top of the ice cream sundae. wiki. HISTORY.

24A. *See 64-Across: NUTS (4). Toast and roughly chop your favorite nuts. Walnuts are a popular choice for sundaes, but just about any nuts will taste great. Cashews and almonds are two popular choices. You can even buy slivered almonds and save yourself the chopping. Various recipes.

34A. *See 64-Across: WHIPPED TOPPING (13). You want to make your own?  THREE WAYS.

41A. *See 64-Across: HOT FUDGE (8). I like this RECIPE from the Smitten Kitten.

51A. *See 64-Across: FRUIT SAUCE (10). There are so many but how about STRAWBERRY?

64A. *Foundation ingredient of a treat built upward in the answers to starred clues and spelled downward in the circles: ICE CREAM (8).  If you want the entire dessert HOMEMADE have fun, and please share your personal stories.

I am hungry, but we must press on...

Across:

1. Smartphone call record, say: LIST. How often do you clear your history?

5. Wet-Nap unit: PACKET.

11. Utterly beyond repair: SHOT.

15. Part of a foot: ARCH. Not an inch.

16. St. Clare's town: ASSISI. Her STORY.

17. Carrie who was a friend of Susan B.: CATT. Carrie Chapman Catt was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States                                                                    Constitution, which gave U.S. women                                                          the right to vote in 1920.

21. "Shove off!": BEAT IT.

22. Summer footwear: SANDAL. Not in Florida, it is a year-round phenomenon.

23. Suggestion: TIP. Especially in the 10th at Gulfstream.

28. Rudder-controlled movement: YAW. An aircraft in flight is free to rotate in three dimensions: yaw, nose left or right about an axis running up and down; pitch, nose up or down about an axis running from wing to wing; and roll, rotation about an axis running from nose to tail. wiki.

29. Beckett's "Endgame" has one: ACT. This play sounds boring, but it was written in French and Samuel Beckett was the one to translate into English, so I guess he liked it.

30. 7-Up moniker: UNCOLA. This AD was brilliant. The link is for CED.  Not to be confused with 53D. Take the top off: UNCAP.

32. Narrow inlet: RIA.

37. Strikes lightly, as a window: TAPS AT. What light through...

38. Sexy: EROTIC.

40. Rap sheet letters: AKA. Also Known As.  This term is used in much more than criminal law; if you buy a house and borrow money you will sign a name affidavit with all of your akas.

46. SFO info: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.

47. Sci-fi good guys: JEDI.

49. Prove equal (to): RISE. To the occasion.

50. Take quickly: GRAB.

56. Christian official: DEACON. It is in Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches an ordained minister of an order ranking below that of the priest.

59. Laundry convenience: HAMPER. My sweet wife just went shopping at Big Lots to find one that had wheels so I can get the laundry back and forth to our laundry room here at the condo.

63. Alpine retreat: INN.

69. Guitar, slangily: AXE. Originally, the first band I negotiated a record deal for was named ALIEN and then along came a movie, so they became AXE (3:23).

70. Needle part: EYE.

71. Really enjoyed: LAPPED UP. Kitties like Ice Cream too.

72. Little bit: TAD.

73. Spotted: SAW.

74. How farmland is populated: SPARSELY. A word that fascinated me when I was young. We grew up near lots of farmland.

75. Dr.'s group: HMO.

Down:

1. Country kid?: LAMB. Nice literal but still deceptive.

2. See 56-Down: IRAE. 56D. With 2-Down, Latin hymn: DIES. Very common in the CWP world.

3. Doodle site: SCRATCHPAD. My brother Barry was a frustrated Peter Max.

4. "Precisely so!": THAT IT IS. Instead of the all too popular 'it is what it is'.

5. Formal agreement: PACT. Any of you have blood brothers/sisters?

6. Grill remnants: ASH.

7. TV forensic series: CSI. Crime Scene Investigation. Changed television and the real world of investigations.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS1hc96a2OTvIRJc7Qr0NsA

8. Many holiday guests: KIN.

9. Anka's "__ Beso": ESO. Spanish for "that kiss."

10. Involuntary motions: TICS.

11. Plot outline: SCENARIO. I am surprised there has not been a tv series with this as a title.

12. Seasonal frontier challenge: HARD WINTER. Still a challenge.

13. José's "other": OTRA. Spanish.

14. Texter's sign-off: TTYL. Talk To You Later.

19. Hardly a gulp: SIP.

20. Loft bale: HAY.

24. Philadelphia-to-Albany dir.: NNE. Back to the Trailways bus station.

25. Golden State sch. in Davis: UCD. Univesity of California Davis.

26. Young one: TOT.

27. __-mo: SLO. Is it worth the abbreviation to take off a single letter?

29. Open one's eyes: AWAKE.

30. Plotting: UP TO.

31. Take down __: A PEG. Peg Slay, where are you?

33. Emotional distress: AGITA. Is it stress or a heartburn?

35. Half a tuba sound: PAH. OOM?

36. Tense beginning?: PRE. PREtense. Beginning to end. 68D. Stamp addition?: EDE. Stampede.

37. Jersey casino, with "The": TAJ.

39. Bus alternative: CAB.

42. Half of hexa-: TRI. Twice.

43. Able-bodied: FIT.

44. Initials on American vessels: USS. United States Ship; it's a ship, not a boat.

45. Org. concerned with meth: DEA. Drug Enforcement Agency.

48. "Stan Against Evil" airer: IFC.  Formerly called: Independent Film Channel (1994–2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5JNGVVLheA

50. Shining example: GEM.

52. Deeply disturbs: ROILS. This also means agitates.

54. Big name in moving: U-HAUL. U-Haul is an American moving equipment and storage rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945.

55. Like TV's "Batman": CAMPY. Adam West was amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdaV8gYvgKE

57. "May It Be" co-songwriter: ENYA. A song which was written for the Lord of the Rings movies. Enya wrote music, Roma Ryan studied the languages created by Tolkien and wrote the lyrics in English and Quenya. There are two lines with phrases written in Quenya. The first, Mornië utúlië, translates to "Darkness has come." Mornië alantië translates as "Darkness has fallen."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNoxp0wo99E

58. Once more: ANEW.

60. Hiking spot: PATH.

61. Final, for one: EXAM.

62. Correct, in a way: REDO.

65. Org. dealing with brownfields: EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines a brownfield as "real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant".

66. EMT proficiency: CPR. Emergency Medical Technicians do Cardiopulmonary resuscitation

67. High-__ monitor: RES. Abbreviation of resolution.

This was a very hard but satisfying solve. The double sixes on top of the grid-spanning Maraschino Cherry; Lapped Up and Sparsely supporting the ICE CREAM- wonderful. As you all know I also love visual grids.  The solve started very slowly hindered by the circular cluing (Barry G. where are you?) but the payoff was great. I look forward to your comments and the rest of the weekend. Thanks Jeffrey, Lemonade out.

Paul Coulter

Title: Breaking out the creatures.

PC makes a rapid return with this very creative 'reorganize the word' theme. As an added bonus the separation results in a living being.  The themers are set out in a pinwheel pattern, with wonderful consistency, as 1, 3 and 5 have an animal appear with 2 and 4 revealing bugs. Really well done. This is not an easy solve, but if you remembered the people in AVATAR are called NA'VI the whole puzzle falls in place. We have had many puzzles where the reveal was dependent on reparsing a word, but I do not recall one like this one. The hard part, of course, is that the clue does not inform as to the fill directly. The fill is just the pieces that together make a real word. The challenge of the concept left little room for much long fill, but we do get AMASSES  ROSEATE ROUTINE SMOTHER and TRISECT.



17A. Alien reptile in "Avatar"?: NA'VI GATOR.(9). NAVIGATOR. This word is derived from the identical Latin word Navigator. Na'vi came from the mind of James Cameron; I loved the MOVIE. You thin Cameron was thinking about the Navy?

42A. Pest that's gotten into the cheese?: BRIE FLY (7). BRIEFLY. Brie was named from where it was first made; briefly from the Latin BREVE, which also gave us brevity. 

68A. Long-eared mascot of an L.A. newspaper?: TIMES HARE (9). TIMESHARE. I love this CSO to the publisher, though I doubt a rabbit is the mascot of the paper. Most have decided timeshare is a waste of money, but the business still thrives.

11D. Tiny insect that casts spells?: COVEN ANT (8). COVENANT. They both derive from the Latin word "convenire", which is a contraction of "com venire" or "come together". The words convene (to come together at an appointed place and time) and convent (a home for nuns) also have the same root. I love the imagery  of some ants getting together inside a pentagram. 

41D. One of a group of feline predators?: GANG LION (8). GANGLION.  Another wonderful mental picture of lions wearing leather and tats hanging out by their hogs.  It all has nothing to do with a structure containing a number of nerve cell bodies, typically linked by synapses, and often forming a swelling on a nerve fiber. I have a ganglion cyst on my shoulder. Oo plays with it and cnsiders it her 'toy.'

On that bizarre note on to the solving. 

Across:

1. Amendment dealing with states' rights: TENTH. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." No politics.

6. Hobby shop buy: KIT. A CSO to former hobby shop impresario and longtime Corner fixture DENNIS.

9. Longtime Wall Street name: SACHS. Goldman Sachs is major and controversial diversified investment company which was led by founder Marcus Goldman and his son-in-law SAMUEL SACHS. No politics.

14. Spanish month: ENERO. January.

15. Draft pick: IPA. Not a sports clue, but draft beer and India Pale Ale.

16. Outfielder Mike who finished first (twice) or second (three times) in 2012-2016 A.L. MVP voting: TROUT. This excellent PLAYER is not related to one of my favorite Detroit Tiger players of the past Dizzy Trout.

19. Snake, e.g.: RIVER.

20. Racks up: AMASSES.

21. Corpulent: OBESE. Or perhaps - fat, overweight, plump, portly, stout, chubby, paunchy, beer-bellied, heavy, bulky, chunky, well upholstered, well padded, well covered, meaty, fleshy, rotund, broad in the beam, tubby, pudgy, beefy, porky, roly-poly, blubbery, corn-fed. Cruel or not?

23. Connecting point: NODE.

24. "Bad Moon Rising" band, initially: CCR. Credence Clearwater Revival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE

26. First of a series: OPENER.

29. Small amount: TRACE. Made famous by CSI.

31. Worked the soil: HOED. Be careful there Mr. Imus.

33. Shopper stopper?: SALE.  Who doesn't love a good rhyming clue?

34. TV schedule abbr.: TBA. To Be Announced.

36. Buttonhole, say: SLIT.

38. Affirmative action: NOD.

39. Bit of horseplay: GAG.

44. Castilian kin: TIO. Uncle. Spanish.

45. GP gp.: AMA. American Medical Association for General Practitioners.

46. Mex. miss: SRTA. Senorita. Spanish.

47. Jr. and sr.: YRS.

49. Brass component: ZINC. Brass is a metallic alloy that is made of copper and zinc.

51. Bit of swearing: OATH.

53. Slate et al., for short: EMAGS.

57. Merchant ship flotilla: ARGOSY. 1. a large merchant ship, esp. one with a rich cargo. 2. a fleet of such ships. 3. an opulent supply or collection. Not a word I use.

59. Ring bearer: EAR. Cute misdirection.

61. Baker: OVEN. More misdirection as it is, after all,  the oven that bakes it.

62. Sprite flavor: LEMON. I knew Paul liked some of my write-ups, and it is great to be in one of his puzzles - oh it wasn't for me?

64. Stage bit: ROUTINE.

66. North African site of a 1943 conference: CAIRO. An echo of last week's WWII conferences.

70. Stun: SHOCK.

71. "We've exceeded seating capacity" sign: SRO.

72. Gauge: METER.

73. Chief Justice after Marshall: TANEY. Two very influential jurists, and members of a very exclusive group. There have only been 17 CHIEF JUSTICES compared to 45 Presidents. No politics.

74. It's big in London: BEN. Clock humor.

75. Salad green: CRESS. We have this word going back to 2008 when C.C. did all the blogging. LINK.


Down:

1. Letter?: TENANT.  This is also cute but is not a real word, as it is the landlord who has an apartment to let-  "chiefly British: to offer or grant for rent or lease let rooms."

2. Captivate: ENAMOR. Derived from the French, AMOUR. Love.

3. Area 51 locale: NEVADA. The true STORY.  Or if you prefer...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBIA5oITt7g

4. Cut into three equal parts: TRISECT. BI = 2. TRI = 3.

5. Keeps to oneself: HOGS.

6. Lawn gnomes, e.g.: KITSCH. Not to be confused with brownies. Infra. Kitsch is considered to be in poor taste but appreciated in an ironic or knowing way.

7. Snapchat had one in Mar. 2017: IPO.

8. Poi source: TARO.

9. Antibiotic target: STREP.

10. Crops up: ARISES.

12. Peach, e.g.: HUE. Hey you, what your hue, Hugh?

13. Orch. section: STRings.

18. Old nuclear agcy.: AEC. We had this recently.

22. __ harm: BODILY.

25. Promising: ROSEATE. Picturing the worls through rose colored glasses.

27. Wells race: ELOI. Always nice to have an excuse to post a pic of Yvette Mimieuz.

28. Make over: REDO.

30. Drops off: EBBS. And flows.

32. Brownie, in folklore: ELF. This was unknown to me. The most well-known and loved house elf in folklore is the Scottish Brownie. A brownie or broonie, also known as a brùnaidh or gruagac. The Brownie is a small male creature, between one and two feet tall, who takes up residence in a deserving family's home and is helpful. They were the precursor to Alexa and other modern household helpers. Various sources.

35. Dry gulch: ARROYO.

37. Rubber in a boot?: TYRE. Boot being British for the trunk of a car where you keep your spare "tyre."

39. __ Strip: GAZA. Gaza is a densely populated strip of land that is mostly surrounded by Israel and peopled almost exclusively by Palestinians. Israel used to have a military presence but withdrew unilaterally in 2005. Gaza was part of the Ottoman Empire before it was occupied by the United Kingdom (1918–1948), Egypt (1948–1967), and then Israel, which in 1994 granted the Palestinian Authority in Gaza limited self-governance through the Oslo Accords. Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been de facto governed by Hamas, which claims to represent the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian people. Various sources. No politics.

40. "The Kite Runner" boy: AMIR. A very powerful and disturbing book and movie. A must watch, but no politics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKzAuhhgiyY

43. "Give __ rest!": IT A.

48. Overwhelm: SMOTHER.  A little daily double of mayhem, with...

50. Strong-arm: COERCE.

52. Mark of "NCIS": HARMON. When I first watched NCIS, initially it seemed like a mediocre cop show, as some have suggested. Now having watched all 15 seasons with Oo I see the skill of the writers who are putting forth a family drama, with all kinds of interesting twists and turns of personality.

54. Do the Wright thing?: AVIATE. I did not say it was not a real word, it just sounds funny to me.

55. Types: GENRES. I learned the word from watching movie reviewers.

56. Nasty smiles: SNEERS. Snidley whiplash had my favorite sneer.

58. Idaho's __ Mountains: SMOKY. This chain is part of the Rocky Mountains and not to be confused with the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.

Idaho                      Tennessee
↞                            ↠





60. Fluke-to-be: ROE. Roe is fish eggs, and Fluke is a fish.
All Fluke Are Flounder but Not All Flounder Are Fluke. Generally speaking, left-side up flounder are flukes, and right-side up flounders are called flounders.  That sounds easy enough to remember, but it gets worse.  Flukes are also called “summer flounder,” and flounder, or right-side fish, are called “winter flounder.”

63. Black-box analyzers: Abbr.: NTSB. National Transportation Safety Board.

65D. Camp Pendleton letters: USMC. United States Marine Corps.

66. K.C. hours: CST. Central Standard Time.

67. "Caught you!": AHA. We all have our AHA moments here, as well as ones that inspire...

69. Rage: IRE.

Chuck Deodene

Title: G where is my twin?

Chuck Deodene is back after another absence, bringing my third Friday opportunity to blog his work. Chuck was first published in the NYT back in 1994, and we saw him initially in 2009. This time he takes tow word phrases with the first word ending with  "G" and the second word beginning with a "G." He then excises the G from the second word and clues the result with amusing consequences.

CHANGEUP, DEVALUED, EMOTICON, RADIO SET, SHINBONE, and TAG ALONG

18A. Passion for quilt filling?: BATTING GLOVE (11). My grandmother and one of my first cousins quilted. I do not know much about it. LINK. I was a pitcher and did not use a batting glove.

24A. Contest among bank customers?: SAVING GRACE (10). In the US, we are not very good at saving money WORLD MAP but we are not the worst. A saving grace is a good quality or feature in a person or thing that prevents them from being completely bad or worthless. Ageing's one saving grace is you worry less about what people think about you.

38A. Segment of a clogging contest?: STOMPING GROUND (13). I have not been to a competition but have seen a performance each year at the TASTE OF TAMARAC and do not know how many rounds in the CONTEST. Do you have a place where you regularly spend time; a favorite haunt?

51A. Airline passenger's arrival malady?: LANDING GEAR (10). There is a real malady known as AIRPLANE EAR, not related to the the landing gear.

59A. Female observer?: LOOKING GLASS (11).  Interestingly, a looking glass is a mirror which is often the best friend (worst enemy) of a lass. 

Across:

1. Staples buys: PCS.  We begin with Personal Computers.

4. Pooh-pooh, with "at": SCOFF. This may derive from an Icelandic word skaup. "The superstition of science scoffs at the superstition of faith." Short Studies on Great Subjects by James Anthony Froude.

9. Author Stieg Larsson, for one: SWEDE. He died before his famous trilogy became movies LINK.

14. Deduction cry: AHA. The V-8 moment.

15. "While I've got your attention ... ": OH SAY can you see?

16. Big name in seating: EAMES. This COUPLE designed the eponymous lounge chair.

17. Zip on a field: NIL. A very common score in international football mtches.

20. Fall cause: TRIP.

22. Not heard before: NEW. A new clue for old fill.



23. 1945 summit site: YALTA. So much controversy and so much fallout from this CONFERENCE. 33A. "The buck stops here" president: TRUMAN. He took over for the POTSDAM Conference.

27. __ Road Ensemble, group initiated by Yo-Yo Ma: SILK. Yo-Yo Ma conceived Silkroad in 1998 as a reminder that even as rapid globalization resulted in division, it brought extraordinary possibilities for working together. Seeking to understand this dynamic, he began to learn about the historical Silk Road, recognizing in it a model for productive cultural collaboration, for the exchange of ideas and tradition alongside commerce and innovation. A truly global effort. various.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To3W4U6IQfA

29. Portaged craft: CANOE. Portage or portaging is the practice of carrying watercraft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a portage. wiki.

30. Needing no Rx: OTC. Over The Counter.

32. Stick in a hall: CUE. Pool hall.

36. Baloney: HOOEY.

41. Jokhang Temple city: LHASA. The Jokhang, also known as the Qoikang Monastery, Jokang, Jokhang Temple, Jokhang Monastery and Zuglagkang, is a Buddhist temple in Barkhor Square in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet.

42. Words spoken with one's hand raised: A TOAST. L'chaim.

43. Corp. bailed out in 2008: AIG. American International Group.

44. Auction set: LOT. Moment of LEARNING.

46. Made hands of: DEALT. Card playing.

49. Swatting target: GNAT.

55. Grass unit: BLADE.

57. Yield from una mina: ORO. A Spanish Gold Mine.

58. Laser-cut, perhaps: ETCH. There is so much I do not KNOW.

62. __ jump: SKI.

63. Unexpressed: INNER. Remember Bradshaw and his inner child?

64. Pulitzer poet Conrad __: AIKEN. Conrad Potter Aiken was born in Savannah, Georgia, on August 5, 1889. When he was a small boy, his father killed his mother and committed suicide himself, a tragedy that had a profound impact on Aiken’s development. He was raised by a great-great-aunt in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard in 1912, the same period as T. S. Eliot and E. E. Cummings. He won his Pulitzer Prize in 1930, for his Selected Poems.

65. Work hard (for): GUN.

66. Aboveboard: LEGIT.

67. Handle: SEE TO.

68. Ajar, in verse: OPE. I 'ope this does not catch on, even though I like to keep my mind ope'.


Down:

1. Suit part: PANTS.

2. Former French president: CHIRAC. This MAN.

3. DNA sample source: SALIVA.

4. Sound with tears: SOB.

5. Pitcher's surprise: CHANGEUP. The changeup is the staple off-speed pitch, usually thrown to look like a fastball but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced speed coupled with its deceptive delivery is meant to confuse the batter's timing. When I was in high school I was a pitcher, and after my best game - a one-hit shutout - the opposing players came up to me to congratulate me on my amazing changeup. I threw all fastballs, just not as fast as they expected.

6. Kitchen brand: OSTER.

7. Mufti issuance: FATWA. Fatwa, in Islam, is a formal ruling or interpretation on a point of Islamic law given by a qualified legal scholar (known as a mufti). wiki. Rabbis do the same thing in Judaism.

8. "Here's the scoop" letters: FYI. For Your Information.

9. Tokyo-based game company: SEGA.

10. They're thin at budget motels: WALLS.

11. Email adornment: EMOTICON. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ ಠ_ಠ ¯\(°_o)/¯ ( ﾟдﾟ)

12. Weakened, as currency: DEVALUED.

13. Legal add-on: ESE.

19. Siberian freeze-out?: NYET.

21. Mottled equines: PINTOS.

25. Routine: NORMAL.

26. Crichton novel set in Africa: CONGO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nj5G4GffWo

28. Longboat in Florida, e.g.: KEY.

31. Singled out: CHOSEN.

34. Mazda two-seater: MIATA.

35. Hexapod worker: ANT. Six legs.

37. Cause of a blinking "12:00": OUTAGE. A power outage that is.

38. Tibia: SHINBONE. Best I can do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e54m6XOpRgU

39. Emulate a little brother, maybe: TAG ALONG.

40. Ham's creation: RADIO SET. Ham radio is back so soon.

41. Tarry: LAG.

45. Author Robert __ Butler: OLEN. “I'll never stop believing it: Robert Olen Butler is the best living American writer, period.” — Jeff Guinn,  LINK. So many books I have never read..

47. Unhands: LETS GO.

48. Affix to a corkboard: TACK-UP.

50. Castmate of Doohan and Nimoy: TAKEI.

52. "Cross my heart!": NO LIE.

53. Male on a pond: DRAKE. DUCK!

54. View from Schönburg Castle: RHINE.

56. Gossip: DIRT.

59. Diminutive, diminutively: LIL. Abner?

60. Main delivery: GAS. Directly from the gas main.

61. Cold-sounding product prefix: SNO. Cone?

Paul Coulter

Title: Sounds like a punny puppy.

Paul makes a quick turn around after his Thursday last week,  this time featuring humor as the primary theme. The basics- take a breed of dog and pair it with a sound-alike word that creates a funny image. Then clue them all with "Dog who loves..." With only 40 squares of theme and no reveal, we have a variety of longish fill - EPISODE, ITERANT, MANDALA, MONOPOD RAINOUT, TREATER, BREATHER and INERRANT.  As we will discuss, ITERANT and INNERANT are both very much Friday words. We have some sports, some music, some food, some French, Italian and Spanish, lots of fun for me. Let's go.

17A. Dog that loves a burger topping?: ONION BEAGLE (11).  The ONION BAGEL often dresses up the lox and cream cheese with onion and tomato. Spitz, am I right the word bagel comes from a German word for bracelet?

29A. Dog that loves a winter sport?: HOCKEY PUG (9). Hockey and the PUCK are our first sport of the puzzle and the basis of this punny pup. Ice hockey and its various precursor games utilized balls until the late 19th century. By the 1870s, flat pucks were made of wood as well as rubber. At first, pucks were square. The first recorded organized game of ice hockey used a wooden puck, to prevent it from leaving the rink of play. wiki.

49A. Dog that loves to play in the rain?: MUD POODLE (9). A poodle playing in a mud puddle is a pretty cool image, especially if it a white one. 

65A. Dog that loves spaghetti?: PASTA COCKER (11). The use of a PASTA COOKER rather than merely boiling water may seem extreme, but a Cocker Spaniel eating spaghetti is a great image.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEFwcl8WMLM

On to the solve.

Across:

1. Indian state bordering Bhutan: ASSAM.

6. Pasture sound: BLEAT. And the clecho 34A. Called from the pasture: BAAED.

11. Cheese go-with: HAM. Sorry, this was hard for me.

14. Fiji neighbor: TONGA. Geography 2.

15. Asperity: RIGOR. Fun five letter word, but I never thought of them as synonyms.
Asperity-harshness of tone or manner. Rigor-severity or strictness.  Dictionary.


16. Trick taker, often: ACE. Bridge, spades, hearts, etc.

19. Mme., in Madrid: SRA. A little Spanish, literally.

20. Blueprint: MAP.

21. Loved ones: DEARS.

22. Colorless: ASHEN.

24. Repeating: ITERANT. Ah, here we are; we have all heard people reiterate and probably iterate, but the definition repeating; iterating; as an iterant echo? I love this quote from George Sand, “Iteration, like friction, is likely to generate heat instead of progress.”

26. "__ Day": chapter in the '50s "The Thin Man" TV series: ASTA. What an odd way to clue the dog, but perhaps a bonus dog fill.

28. Noel: CAROL.

36. Bearish?: URSINE.

37. "The Facts of Life" actress Charlotte: RAE.

40. Barbecue, say: BROIL.

42. "As if!": NOT.

43. Equanimity: APLOMB.

46. Vacant, as an apartment: UNLET.

51. Green pair, often: PUTTS. Par is determined by an estimated 2 putts on every green.

55. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO.

56. Cancellation of a sort: RAINOUT. Common in baseball.

58. Bit of statuary: TORSO.

61. Undercover cops' gear: WIRES.

63. Part of un giorno: ORA. Day and Hour in Italian. Buon Giorno!

64. Brown, e.g.: IVY.

68. Born, in Brest: NEE. French.

69. Vast quantity: OCEAN.

70. Socially active sort: DATER.

71. Triage ctrs.: ERS.

72. Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred: DURST.

73. Black shade: EBONY.


Down:

1. Very minute: ATOMIC.

2. Beethoven's "Moonlight," for one: SONATA. Clecho 44D. 27, for Beethoven's "Moonlight":  OPUS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsOUcikyGRk

3. Inveterate critic: SNIPER.

4. Back: AGO.

5. Hindu meditation aid: MANDALA.

6. Rest: BREATHER.

7. Pinocchio, at times: LIAR. And now a star of TV commercials.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRIolQQONQg

8. Arachnid's hatching pouch: EGG SAC. All you need to KNOW.

9. Verizon subsidiary: AOL.

10. Generous bar buddy: TREATER. Not my favorite clue/fill.

11. Chop finely: HASH. Dictionary says to chop (food, such as meat and potatoes) into small pieces.

12. Real estate unit: ACRE.

13. Signify: MEAN.

18. Oscar winner Kingsley: BEN.

23. Comes out with: SAYS.

25. Take badly?: ROB. A repeat but fun.

27. "Hamlet" prop: SKULL. Our very brief Will S. reference this week.

30. Two-time N.L. batting champ Lefty: O'DOUL.

31. One standing at the end of a lane: PIN. More sports, and a CSO for Boomer.

32. A, in Acapulco: UNO.

33. Acquire: GET.

35. Brothers' keeper?: ABBOT. Cute clue, as the head of the monks.

37. Zodiac critter: RAM.

38. Toon storekeeper: APU. The Simpsons, not a favorite here. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is an Indian Immigrant settled in Springfield.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi4ujBB7gvw

39. Antiquity, in antiquity: ELD.

41. Perfectly correct: INERRANT. This has a religious meaning, basically infallible but also has a meaning from astronomy : 1650s, in reference to "fixed" stars (as opposed to "wandering" planets), from Latin inerrantem (nominative inerrans) "not wandering, fixed (of stars)," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + errans, present participle of errare "to wander, stray, roam, rove" (see err). Meaning "unerring, free from error" is from 1785.



45. One-legged camera support: MONOPOD. Tripod- three. Mono- one.

47. Netflix installment: EPISODE. They are going after the world of entertainment since streaming began working and you did not have to wait for a disc in the mail.

48. 252 wine gallons: TUN. That is about what my friend drinks annually.

50. Divining rod: DOWSER.

52. Grew fond of: TOOK TO.

53. Deep dish: TUREEN. Generally to serve soup. LINK.

54. Like a cloudless night: STARRY.

57. NRC forerunner: AEC. Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Atomic Energy Commission.

58. Food sticker: TINE. Generally more than one on your fork.

59. "Your turn": OVER.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OBZf0QdKdE

60. Bakery selections: RYES. It is so hard to find a good rye bread in the south.

62. See __ an omen: IT AS.

66. Prefix with pressure: ACU. Not to be confused with APU.

67. Hack: CAB.  You wonder why? Hack short for "hackney cab," which referred to a carriage for hire drawn by a hackney, or an ordinary horse -- leading to the use of "hack" to mean "writer for hire," and the word "hackneyed," which means cliche-ridden. The use of "hacker" to refer to a computer user dates back to the mid-1970s.