Jeffrey W

Title: AX me no questions...

It is the not uncommon double dose of Jeffrey and me. I have never understood Rich's scheduling parameters, but looking back I only know that I have written up back to backs before. As we take the day to recover from the fun and frolicking associated with celebrating my 72nd birthday we are treated to an "add a bigram" and make everyone laugh puzzle. This is among my favorite JW's silly puzzles. He once again uses the 15 x 16 grid to feature a central themer and to avoid using any cheater squares. He also blended in such fun fill as ERASERS, FLEXION, MALAISE, PLUNGES, POPE LEO,  ROSETTE, BENTO BOXES, and DIVVYING UP. Again, the ones in red are major puzzle originals.

On to the tour.

19A. False claim about one's pioneer ancestors?: WESTWARD HOAX (12). Things I learn blogging. Did you know Westward Ho! is a seaside village near Bideford in Devon, England? Steve? This is a reference to the generic call for the early Americans to go west. HOAX is too political a word to comment.

25A. Medieval German spendthrift?: PRODIGAL SAXON (13). The Bible tells us of the Prodigal Son, a son who receives his inheritance and travels to a distant country, wastes all his money in wild extravagance, becomes desperately poor, returns to his father, and is received with open arms. Saxons were a group of early Germanic peoples who fought the Anglos.

41A. Transmitted documents with Red Riding Hood's location?: FAXED TO THE WOLVES (16). Fed to the wolves was the plan for Red, but the image of the wolf in the forest receiving a facsimile transmission showing the way to gramma's house is priceless.

52A. Beauty treatment for poultry?: CHICKEN WAXING (13). Thinking of taking a simple chicken wing and adding two letters to create the image of big fat chicken as the salon getting her bikini wax...

63A. Big-screen entertainment for angels?: IMAX IN HEAVEN (12). You lose an apostrophe to get this wonderful fill, picturing the angels watching the movies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3RSlUkw9U0

And the rest.

Across:

1. Quick blow: JAB. A quick start and a "J.'

4. Weary worker's sigh: TGIF. Thank God It's Friday.

8. Dives: PLUNGES.

15. 4 x 4, briefly: UTE. Utility vehicle.

16. Six-ton predator: ORCA.

17. Leopard spot: ROSETTE. My last fill; I learned that many of the spots are not spots at all, but clusters of black, yellow, and tan markings called “rosettes”. These patterns are unique to each leopard, like a human fingerprint.

18. ICU staffer: LPN. Licensed Practical Nurse.

21. Taking courses?: EATING. Haha.  Eating a three-course meal.

23. Crest box abbr.: ADA. American Dental Association.

24. Crafty: SLY.

30. Honey, in slang: BAE. This is a common fill.

31. Zip: PEP.

32. Lot choice: SEDAN.
https://youtu.be/p7PJqbX9VZ8

36. Wall St. event: IPO. Initial Public Offering.

38. Enforcer of some ACA provisions: IRS. Affordable Care Act.

39. Vague unease: MALAISE.

45. Bending movement: FLEXION. The action of bending or the condition of being bent, especially the bending of a limb or joint.

46. __ clear: ALL. on the western front.

47. Large receptacle: VAT.

48. Nods, maybe: YESES.

49. It was precious to conquistadores: ORO. There's gold in them there clues.

50. Oliver Twist or Tiny Tim: BOY. So simple, this was hard.

58. Half-hearted: WAN. This was a stretch that took perps.

61. "There's __ in team": NO I.

62. Laundry employee: IRONER. A real word. Meh.

68. Hurdle for srs.: GRE. Graduate Record Examinations.

69. First religious leader of his title to be called "The Great": POPE LEO. Thank you, Joe Deeney and HG for teaching me this Saturday.

70. Guy: MALE.

71. Charlottesville sch.: UVA. University of Virginia. My brother dated a woman who was teaching at the medical school.

72. Tools for some crossword solvers: ERASERS. Or backspace.

73. 500-mile race: INDY. The Indianapolis 500.

74. Furry friend: PET.

Down:

1. Derby cocktail: JULEP. Churchill Downs has promoted Mint Juleps since 1938. Each year around 120,000 this classic mint julep recipe are served over the 2 day race period. That’s a lot! While Woodford Reserve is the official whiskey of the Kentucky Derby, we chose another Kentucky Bourbon, Knob Creek, which is one of our favorites.

2. For face value: AT PAR.

3. Japanese takeout orders: BENTO BOXES. They are popular in Thailand as well. We had some at Zen,  2 Mahidol Rd, Hai ya Subdistrict | Central Airport Plaza Level 1, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand

4. Many an off-campus local: TOWNIE. Initially, I read this as "locale." In prep school, there were great conflicts with the townies.

5. An Allman brother: GREGG. He was no Duane, but he did marry Cher.

6. Suffix with robot: ICS. -ics. a suffix of nouns that denote a body of facts, knowledge, principles, etc., usually corresponding to adjectives ending in -ic or -ical: ethics; physics; politics; tactics.

7. Budgetary excess: FAT. Politics.

8. Fendi rival: PRADA. A learning week as I bet you didn’t know that in 1999, the LVMH group and Prada purchased 51% of Fendi.

9. Seuss activist: LORAX. Geopolitical STORY.
"Unless someone like you
Cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better.
It’s not."

10. Amer. capital: USD. Money.

11. Bk. before Esther: NEHEMIAH

12. Classic muscle cars: GTOS. Gran Turismos.

13. Shorthand for unlisted items: ET AL.

14. Alluring: SEXY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjxLz-yMBR8

20. With 35-Down, papery construction best left alone: WASP. 35D. See 20-Down: NEST. A wasp nest is made from chewed wood that gives them their distinctive papery walls.

22. Filmmaker Lupino: IDA. Her IMDB.

26. Blacksmith wear: APRON.

27. For fear that: LEST.

28. Capital on a fjord: OSLO.

29. Patricia of "Hud": NEAL. Paul Newman's wife.

33. Tending to, as the loot: DIVVYING UP.
Dividing up.

34. Like pirates, often: ASEA.

36. Uncertain: IFFY.

37. Part of IPA: PALE.

38. Midori in a rink: ITO. Time flies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCVsl7XWtDM

39. Gourd fruit: MELON.

40. Piercing tool: AWL.

42. Corner off. occupant: EXEC.utive.

43. Share juicy details: DISH.

44. Fabled braggart: HARE. The tortoise and...

49. Dust Bowl migrant: OKIE.

50. Dancing dinosaur: BARNEY.

51. Kitchen gadget maker: OXO.

53. __ circle: INNER. When I was representing AXE before they got their record deal, they rehearsed at SIR Studio in NYC and INNER CIRCLE was also their rehearsing.

54. Pacific salmon: COHOS. Sockeye is an oilier fish with deep red flesh, sockeye salmon also high in heart-healthy omega-3s but has a stronger flavor and stands up well to grilling. Coho is milder and often lighter in color

55. Brandish: WIELD.

56. Guts: NERVE.

57. "That's what I'm talking about!": GREAT. More greatness.

58. Sanitizing cloth: WIPE. The be-all and end-all of MONK.

59. Latin love: AMOR.

60. California tourist valley: NAPA.  Don't whine. This VALLEY.

64. Kisses, in love letters: XES. And OOs. And at my house.

65. Paris' __ de la Cité: ÎLE. Tourists flock to Notre Dame, located on Île de la Cité, but few take the time to discover the island’s many parks, shops, and cafés.

66. "What __ missing?": AM I. Looks like the French AMI.

67. FedEx fleet member: VAN.

jeffrey

Theme: This puzzle is for the birds.

Welcome back to Friday Jeffrey. Today we have another variation of the single clue theme, where each clue is an alternate form of a base word - BIRD. He uses the expanded grid - 16 across by 15 rows - to give us 4 grid spanning themers. Then his skill really goes on display as he sets out a perfectly symmetrical and consistent pattern. 1 is singular - BYRD. 2 is plural - The BYRDS. 3 is plural - The BIRDS. 4 is singular. BIRD.  Even "the" is in harmony in 2 and 3. I know many of you do not concern yourselves with themes but they are an integral part of modern puzzles. For any of you who have tried to create one, you understand how much skill all that takes. With 64 spaces dedicated to the puzzle's theme, there is not much room for long sparkle but he does add CASSAVA, ORIGINS, SHEARER, TIGRESS, ENGINEERS, and OH SUSANNA.

18A. Byrd: SOUTH POLE AVIATOR (16). But not the North Pole? Byrd.

26A. The Byrds: TURN TURN TURN BAND (16). More biblical history this week. TURN

49A. "The Birds": HITCHCOCK CLASSIC (16). Loosely based on the 1952 story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier...
BIRDS.

62A. Bird: FLIER IN BADMINTON (16). Shuttlecock? A shuttlecock (also called a bird or birdie) is a high-drag projectile used in the sport of badminton. It has an open conical shape: the cone is formed from 16 or so overlapping feathers, usually goose or duck and from the left-wing only, embedded into a rounded cork base. The cork is covered with thin leather.

Now that you know all of that news tuff, on to the rest of the story.

Across:

1. For that reason: ERGO. I am sure you love COGITO ERGO SUM.

5. Mekong River land: LAOS. It goes alongside Thailand, Mynamar meeting at the Golden Triangle. I am no Picard but that is my picture from 2018.

9. "Settle down!": COOL IT.

15. "Banjo on my knee" song of 1848: OH SUSANNA. I had no idea how controversial this BALLAD was. If you are easily offended, please do not listen. This was not the version I learned.

17. Weapon for Spain's Philip II: ARMADA. One of my favorite chapters in HISTORY.

20. Frivolous: GIDDY. Another celestial euphemism; Old English gidig ‘insane’, literally ‘possessed by a god’, from the base of God

21. Female beast that sounds like a river: TIGRESS. Euphrates to put in that fill?

22. Strengthen: AMP UP. History - 1886 as an abbreviation of ampere; 1967 as an abbreviation of amplifier.

25. __ chi: TAI. T'ai chi ch'üan 太極拳.

35. Top often with an image: TEE. From an August 10, 1979 concert.

36. Showing presently: ON NOW.

37. Power source: SOLAR.

38. Gp. with related interests: ASSN.



40. Provides a buffet, say: CATERS.

43. Disease namesake: LYME. Do we have another puzzle here? Lime Rickey; Lyme Connecticut? You could sneak in caused by bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.

44. Staff figures: CLEFS. Music, cute.

46. Object of a detective's quest: PROOF. CLUES? OK, not a plural.

48. D.C. VIP: SENator.

53. Organ with a hammer: EAR. Ear bone, also called Auditory Ossicle, any of the three tiny bones in the middle ear of all mammals. These are the malleus, or hammer, the incus, or anvil, and the stapes, or stirrup.

54. Unwilling: LOATH.

55. Root that's a source of tapioca: CASSAVA. A very interesting but complicated ROOT VEGETABLE. In Florida, they are called YUCA and are in all Publix supermarkets. Not to be confused with the Casaba melon

59. Hip-hop star Green: CEELO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYDSUGRZFhc

67. Butcher's offering: CUTLET.

68. Many in Caltech's faculty: ENGINEERS. But not Sheldon.

69. Like troublesome mascara: SMEARY.

70. Forest grazers: DEER.

71. Indian music: RAGA.

Down:

1. Aurora's Greek counterpart: EOS. Did the answer finally dawn on you? There was a time I had this fill often.

2. P-like letter: RHO.

3. Atlanta sch. fielding the Panthers: GSU. GEORGIA STATE U.

4. Defeat: OUT GUN.

5. "Major Crimes" force, briefly: LAPD. A SPINOFF from THE CLOSER.

6. "And giving __, up the chimney ... ": A NOD.

7. Without siblings: ONLY.

8. Encl. to an editor: SAE.

9. Eggs on crackers, perhaps: CAVIAR.

10. Starting places: ORIGINS.

11. Little on "The Wire": OMAR. Very strong series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qvmO99MEdg

12. Running behind: LATE.

13. Loving exchanges: I DOS.

14. Works on a route: TARS.

16. Mailing label words: SHIP TO.

19. Westernmost Aleutian Island: ATTU.

22. Join: ATTACH.

23. Granola relative: MUESLI.

24. Like some hotel thermostats: PRESET.

27. Sch. with an Asheville campus: UNC.

28. Genetic molecule: RNA.

29. Insensitive, in a way: NOT PC.

30. Gyrate like Cyrus: TWERK. Miley more than a mile from her Hannah Montana days.

31. Neighbor of Arg.: BOLivia. I have a friend from there who keeps going back and forth but no flake.

32. Actress Milano: ALYSSA.

33. "Whatever you want": NAME IT.

34. Spray with a hose: DRENCH. Ray, maybe "what do you use when a C wrench doesn't fit?

39. It has Giants but not Titans: Abbr.: NFC. National Football Conference.

41. Mythical aerial menace: ROC.

42. Roman sun god: SOL.

45. Woolgatherer?: SHEARER. Norma?

47. Order to soldiers: FALL IN.

50. Hollowed-out area: CAVITY.

51. Algerian port: ORAN.

52. With less delay: SOONER.

55. Ozone-depleting chemicals, briefly: CFCS.  Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are anthropogenic compounds that have been released into the atmosphere since the 1930s in various applications such as in air-conditioning, refrigeration, blowing agents in foams, insulations and packing materials, propellants in aerosol cans, and as solvents. Bad?!?

56. Donor drive target: ALUM.

57. Browser's find: SITE.

58. Ward of "House": SELA.

59. Candy __: CANE.

60. Periphery: EDGE.

61. Burnoose-wearing leader: EMIR.

63. Word with sea or seed: BED.

64. Leaves for a spot: TEA. Pip and all that; right Steve and Pedant Brit and the rest.

65. 38-Across relative: ORG.

66. CIA relative: NSA.

Friday, February 8, 2013, Jeffrey Weschler

Theme:
Now where did I hide that SOCIAL anagram I made for my circle?

Each of the four theme answers has an anagram for SOCIAL hidden it its words. Including the reveal, we have three grid spanning fill and two 9s for 63 letters in the theme. This is our third offering from JW, and my first time dissecting his work. This to me is a more traditional Friday with a lower word and block count, and  some thought provoking fill, some new things and nice balance. On to the show.

17A. Sherlock Holmes forte : LOGICAL SOLUTION.(15) Deductive reasoning tells us something is hidden in the circles.

22A. 1891 self-named electrical invention : TESLA COIL.(9) Here we notice the same letters are in the circles  So, it is anagram time. Right Jerome? I am sure you all want to know How to BUILD ONE.

37A. "They're running neck and neck!" : THIS IS A CLOSE ONE.(15)

46A. Product introduced as Brad's Drink in 1893 : PEPSI COLA. (9)

The reveal:

57A. Advocates for change, and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters : SOCIAL REFORMERS.(15) like poor Tom and his Irish peers. The clue tells us we are literally re-forming the letters in SOCIAL. 

Across

1. Dragster, e.g. : FAST CAR. We start with something for Dennis  Barry G. and our other muscle car enthusiasts. CLIP.(10:17).

8. Crammed, perhaps : STUDIED. In college, it was the only type of studying I did, which often left me...

15. Without a clue : UNAWARE. 
.
16. Having merit, as a theory : TENABLE. I seldom hear this word, but its antonym, untenable is very popular. Nice long fill.

19. Steve of the Lakers : NASH. They acquired him and Dwight Howard  to challenge OKC but things have not gone well.  STATS.

20. Involuntary movement : TIC. Too soon to link Chief Inspector Dreyfus again.

21. Find the right words, say : EDIT. Nice clue for an old stand by.

26. Lethargic : POKY.

29. Crew member : OAR. back in the prep school days the boys in crew were quite popular, and they were known by which oar they were, but this was tricky for me, even if only three letters.

30. Computer media : DISKS. Does anyone still have their old floppies? I am not referring to those suffering from low T.

34. Very long time : EON.

35. "Nonsense!" : BUNK. Short for bunkum, phonetic spelling of Buncombe, a county in North Carolina. The usual story (by 1841) of its origin is this: At the close of the protracted Missouri statehood debates, supposedly on Feb. 25, 1820, N.C. Representative Felix Walker (1753-1828) began what promised to be a "long, dull, irrelevant speech," and he resisted calls to cut it short by saying he was bound to say something that could appear in the newspapers in the home district and prove he was on the job. "I shall not be speaking to the House," he confessed, "but to Buncombe." Bunkum has been American English slang for "nonsense" since 1841 (from 1838 as generic for "a U.S. Representative's home district"). (Stolen from someplace).

36. Golf course freebie : PENCIL. Do not see how it is free when you need to pay the fees to get the scorecard and pencil.

40. Show to be false : REFUTE. I wonder who futed it in the first place.

41. Checkpoint demand : HALT. Conjures up Berlin Wall imagery for me.

42. Dedicatory verse : ODE. Am I the only one who has OD'ED on this fill?

43. Handy : ADEPT.

44. Old-time whaler's harvest : OIL. Whale oil had many uses for years.

45. Bit of a disagreement : SPAT. You think it comes from people 'spitting' at each other?

50. TV doctor : PHIL. Not a fan; Oprah is not always right.

53. Market tracking aid: Abbr. : UPC.Universal Product Code.

54. ___ mater : ALMA.  Latin for 'nourishing mother', though used now to signify a school attended.

62. High point of many a small town : STEEPLE. Here is the church,   here is the steeple, open the doors and here are the people?  LINK.(0:35).

63. Like bumpers : CHROMED.

64. Bette Midler classic : THE ROSE. Sit back and LISTEN.(3:39).

65. Flirt's quality : COYNESS. How many of you dear ladies know the secret to being "artfully shy?" Certainly Lady Mary has not been coy.

Down:

1. Arm extension? : FUL.  Armful, simple, I fingered it out easily.

2. Shortly : ANON. Shakespeare's characters  were always saying they would be along, anon.

3. "The Lord of the Rings," for one : SAGA. More Tolkien press.

4. Full of surprises, as a plot : TWISTY. My meh of the day; I just cannot see anyone talking about a book or movie using this word.

5. Put away for later : CACHE. Do you keep your cash in a cache?

6. Constellation near Scorpius : ARA. Isn't it interesting we know all about Justin Timberlake, Selena Gomez, J Lo and the like but nothing about astronomy?  I did not know THIS either.

7. Sikhism, e.g.: Abbr. : RELigion.

8. Dispassionate : STOIC. Dr. Brennan?

9. The Bell System was one, briefly : TELCO. They even have a WIKI page.

10. First Burmese prime minister : U NU. Luckily, the last time we had this man in puzzle was a Gareth Bain in November, which I blogged, so it filled easily this time.

11. Newsreel word : DATELINE. CED, I could not find a link that actually used the word, though I remember hearing it as a small child.

12. Footnote abbr. : IBID. In law citations we use ID the abbreviation of idem in stead of ibidem.

13. Simple race of fiction : ELOI. Yvette, we will never forget you.

14. Bad impression? : DENT.  Cute clue.

18. Voter's dilemma, often : STARK CHOICE.  Not familiar with this TERM. thinking only of rocks and hard places, or something decide by Ironman..

23. W.C. Fields persona : SOUSE.

24. Turner in films : LANA.

25. In other words, in other words : ID EST. I.E.

26. Ancient Jordanian archaeological city : PETRA. The name means rock in Greek, but it a ROSE CITY.

27. Expressed wonderment : OOHED.  And afterwards, she aahed!

28. It's sharp and flat : KNIFE. Not musical notes, really cutting edge humor here.

31. Exclusive : SCOOP. With newspapers dying, we will the internet be where we see scoops.

32. In a way, slangily : KINDA.

33. Bad fall : SLEET. I had this from the perps, never would have gotten from the clue.

35. Henri : s'il vous plaît :: Heinrich : ___ : BITTE. Does this multi-lingual clue please you?

36. Ristorante order : POLLO. Chicken in Italian, also in Spanish, so we have French, German, Italian and Spanish.

38. One delivering the goods : SUPPLIER. The drug world has given this word such bad connotations.

39. Secular : LAIC.

45. River leaper : SALMON. Sounds fishy to me.

47. Roots (for) : PULLS.

48. Splurge : SPREE.There is debate whether this word comes from an Irish word or a French one.

49. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" role : LARRY.Is it still a role when you play yourself?  LEARN.(2:46).

50. Attention-getter : PSST.

51. Frigid planet in "The Empire Strikes Back" : HOTH. Recall this SCENE? (4:08)

52. Frozen treat : ICEE. I have already linked Sheldon twice for this clue, so today I will just say it rhymes with...

55. Cry from one eagerly raising a hand : ME ME. I have to pee pee.

56. Father of Phobos and Deimos : ARES. The Greek version of MARS.

58. Mil. mailroom : APO. Army Post Office. I wonder if they will give up Saturdays as well.

59. Radio frequency regulating org. : FCC. Federal Communications Commission

60. "So that's what's going on!" : O HO! Caught you!

61. Tom Hayden's '60s org. : SDS. Students for a Democratic Society.Their motto in 1968 was "Vote with Your Feet." He later became a Senator and married Jane Fonda.

I was always Fonda Jane, but now it is time for me to go, so enjoy your week end; stay safe if your facing a monster storm. I have squeezed all I can out this one. L714.

Chuck Deodene

Title: Not easy to define

This is our 8th puzzle from Chuck, and my 5th time blogging his work. Chuck began making puzzles in the '90s with his first 33 publications in the NYT. His last appearance here was in 2019 on a Wednesday where I was pinch-hitting. We have had a number of "one word is the clue for the theme answers" puzzles before, but MONITOR made this effort unique. It can't be a spoiler to mention that the four grid spanning answers are all clued that way. I was surprised to learn that MONITOR had never been a clue in the LAT! Until today. It has only been used twice in the NYT, both in the '90s, and once in USA Today. I also still remember the story from the Civil War of the first battle of two ironclad warships. The Union Monitor, and the Rebel Merrimack (rechristened Virginia). HISTORY.

With 60 spaces committed to 4 answers, there was not much room for long sparkly fill, but we are treated to E-TAILED, SPATULA, BRIDGE TOLL, and LONG MEMORY, my favorite. It reminds me of the amazing phenomenon of a wife's ability to never forget a transgression, yet always needing help to find the keys. I have again highlighted in red the two entries that make their crossword puzzle debut.

Theme:

17A. Monitor: OLD WORLD REPTILE (15). They are now roaming here in FLORIDA.

26A. Monitor: HALLWAY OVERSEER (15). The human type of monster, at times.

46A. Monitor: COMPUTER DISPLAY (15). A CSO to so many here, but especially -T and TTP who are invaluable in bringing some of us into the 21st century.

60A. Monitor: IRONCLAD WARSHIP (15). Okay, I already did this one.

The rest.

Across:

1. Drops from a workout: SWEAT. A great visual start, though we are not ready to go back to the gym yet.

6. Singer who co-founded the AIDS-fighting Product Red: BONO.
The concept was founded in 2006 by U2 frontman and activist Bono, together with Bobby Shriver of the One Campaign and DATA.

10. Grand slam quartet: Abbr.: RBIS. Baseball.

14. Was obligated: HAD TO.

15. Aspire laptop maker: ACER. A Taiwanese computer company.

16. Danish architect Jacobsen: ARNE. This MAN.

20. Sold online: E-TAILED.

21. Progressive promoter played by Stephanie Courtney: FLO. We all know (love/hate) FLO but not STEPHANIE.

22. Accomplished: DID.

23. Sever, with "off": LOP.

24. Elegantly groomed: SOIGNÉ. A Friday French fill.

32. Brief "I think": IMO.

33. "Meh": SO SO.

34. H.S. ordeal: SAT.

35. Bring together: SYNC.

37. Mozart title word meaning "all": TUTTE.

39. Fluctuate: YO YO.

42. Noir film weapon: GAT.

44. Zig or zag: VEER.

45. Supervillain Luthor: LEX.

51. Common soccer tie: ONE-ONE.

52. Suffix with propyl: ENE.

53. It may be glazed: HAM.

54. Stipulations: IFS.

56. Hash house tool: SPATULA.

63. Outlying area, briefly: BURB.

64. Pod in Southern cooking: OKRA.

65. Civil penalties: FINES.

66. Novelist Seton: ANYA.

67. German no: NEIN.

68. Nectarine center: STONE.


Down:

1. Enclosure for piggies?: SHOE. This little piggy went to market...

2. Basketball Hall of Famer Frazier: WALT. Now more famous for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uloBZjYEym0

3. Icelandic literary work: EDDA.

4. Whenever one's heart desires: AT WILL.

5. Like pitches in the dirt: TOO LOW.
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/VigorousWeakAnura-size_restricted.gif

6. Short on tread: BALD. Tires.

7. Monk's condition, in the TV show: OCD. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. It is a blessing and a curse for Monk.

8. Indoor ball brand: NERF.

9. Warning words: OR ELSE.

10. Pixar's aspiring chef Remy is one: RAT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVeNEbh3A4U

11. Fee for crossing: BRIDGE TOLL.

12. Queued up: INLINE.

13. Farm equipment: SEEDER.

18. Meal: REPAST.

19. Possessive on a stock index: POOR'S.

25. "Good gracious!": I SAY.

26. Quick hellos: HIS.

27. "Making It" co-host Poehler: AMY.

28. Grudge holder's trait: LONG MEMORY.

29. "__ got this!": YOU'VE.

30. KitchenAid competitor: OSTER.

31. Cast a ballot: VOTED.

36. Mob boss: CAPO.

38. Keystone St. port: ERIE PA.

40. Word of support: YEA.

41. Clearasil shelfmate: OXY.

43. Roman top: TUNIC.

46. Caribbean cigar brand: COHIBA.

47. Practicing for the marathon, say: ON A RUN.

48. 1938 Dupont discovery: TEFLON.

49. Inhales at mealtime: SNARFS.

50. Watch a boxer, e.g.: PET SIT.

55. Advantage: SAKE.

56. "__ Lake": SWAN. EVERYTHING you need to know about the ballet.

57. "Hmm ... don't think so": UH NO.

58. It may be on the house: LIEN. I love the pun, but lien searches are not free.

59. Abbey area: APSE. This was introduced to the NYT by Chuck.

61. Org. with a February All-Star Weekend: NBA. They are playing again. The HEAT won their first game back.

62. Soft and __: deodorant: DRI. I love how Chuck began with SWEAT and ended with a deodorant. I hope you did not have to SWEAT the solve and have enjoyed the tour. In addition to introducing 2 new words today, Chuck has introduced 231 answers to the NYT- the LIST- including such favorites like ISAO and UZIS. Thank you Mr. Deodene and all who read and write.