jeffrey w

Title: Jeffrey, you light up our lives.

In deference to Boomer, I just got a TURKEY . We have not talked about this that I remember, but since we have many newbies did you know in bowling a BOOMER is a big hooking ball; or a person that throws a big hooking ball. 

Welcome back to the J and J Friday funnies, Jeffrey created this puzzle and I will try and electrify you with my wit and wisdom. There are power outages, so be prepared. This effort begins with a Fridayish grid with 72 words and all the long fill in the theme making it easy to spot what he had in mind. He also folds in a fair amount of 7 letter fill, such as FROLICS, IN TOTAL, LEARNED, MAN-O-WAR, MONTANA, SCREAMS, SHALL WE, SIMILES, SPEEDER, and SPIN-OFF.

The themers:

16A. Tight deadlines may make an electrician's job __: GO DOWN TO THE WIRE (15). THE WIRE was a hugely popular TV show.

24A. An electrician who is testing results may become a __:  SWITCH HITTER (12). A switch hitter in baseball can bat both right-handed and left handed. In life it is a bit of a PERJORATIVE.

42A. An electrician resolves legal matters at __: CIRCUIT  COURT (12). In many jurisdictions (not NYS) the basic trial court for litigated matters. FLORIDA.

56A. A stressed electrician may need an __: EMOTIONAL  OUTLET  (15). One final plug for all the great skilled workers of America who did not need college to succeed, one of my nephews -Jonathan - is a master electrician.

Two grid spanners and no need for a reveal. On to the rest.

Across:

1. "Fear the Walking Dead," e.g.: SPIN-OFF. Most agree that the first TV spin-off was 77 Sunset Strip (1958–1964) which begot Bourbon Street Beat (1959–1960).  I was really into the original, not its progeny.

8. Fixed up: REDONE.

14. Legendary name in racing: MAN O' WAR. This legendary thoroughbred is an all time great LEARN MORE. Seabiscuit was a descendant.

15. Keeps away from: EVADES. Avoid, evades...

18. Reversal: UTURN. Now used beyond driving.

19. Picked up: LEARNED. I picked up some Spanish living is South Florida.

20. Leaves for a drink: TEA. To be witty with simplicity, nice!

21. How it looks, with "the": OPTICS. A 21st century word,

30. Schooner pole: MAST. Sail information for you all on SALE.

33. Where FDR was once governor: NYS. New York State. Following Teddy.

34. Face with courage: BRAVE. Synytax had me fooled for a bit.

35. Counting everything: IN TOTAL. I tried to make this one hard.

37. Poetic devices: SIMILES. I will leave you all up to your OWN, but I learned one called a Calligram - a poem in which the calligraphy, the formation of the letters or the font selected, represents an aspect of the poem’s subject.

39. Link to another story?: STAIR. Again, so sweetly misleading the reader. JW's?

40. "Shameless" network, briefly: SHO. Showtime has aired this irreverent soft-core show with a wonderful cast featuring WILLIAM H. MACY and the yummy EMMY ROSSUM just ending after an 11 year run. 

41. It may be raised at an outdoor wedding: TENT. Such fun cluing! You cannot possible be...

46. Glum: MOROSE. 

47. Old AT&T rival: MCI. When they broke up Ma Bell much of the credit went to MCI which had been born as Microwave Communications, Inc. The history of the 8 baby bells and where thry are all now is facinating, and MCI which became part of the WorlComm scandal is now part og VERIZON.

50. "Let's begin, okay?":  SHALL WE. Pray?

54. Doesn't hack it: FAILS.

59. They may be going around: RUMORS.

60. Saskatchewan neighbor: MONTANA. Our dear friend who many of us have had the pleasure of meeting in person as she travels to visit her farflung children; we met in Denver.

61. Patronize, as a motel: STOP AT.

62. Person well over 70, probably?: SPEEDER. Yay me! But where am I speeding to?

Down:

1. Executed, in Exodus: SMOTE.

2. City near Venice: PADUA. They say it is a GREAT DAY TRIP.

3. "Are you __ out?": IN OR. So many contexts come to mind...

4. "Don't take it so hard": NOW NOW. It is flexible; 1-used to tell someone not to be worried or unhappy: Now, now, don't cry. Everything will be all right. You'll see!

2 - used in speech to express criticism or disapproval in a gentle way

Now, now. There's no need to use that kind of language.

5. Take responsibility for: OWN. This is very 21st century speak

6. Butter component: FAT.

7. Kicks up one's heels: FROLICS. Middle Dutch vrolyc "happy," a compound of vro- "merry, glad" + lyc "like" (see like (adj.)). ... 1)), giving the whole an etymological sense akin to "jumping for joy." Similar formation in German fröhlich "happy."

8. Discuss ad nauseam: REHASH.

9. At any time: EVER. If ever you need me...I'll be there.

10. Vampire's curfew: DAWN. Old fashioned original vampires...

11. Comics dog that sounds like two letters: ODIE.                                                    

12. Bookish sort: NERD. I disagree- bookish synonyms: studious, scholarly, academic, literary, intellectual, highbrow or erudite. nerd synonyms: bore, dweeb, geek, anorak, spod or Poindexter.

13. Wichita-to-Memphis dir.: ESE.

16. __ feeling: GUT. Intuition.

17. Big field in Silicon Valley: TECH. Not a place to land an airplane

22. Cocktail word with a tilde: PIÑA . More music...

23. Texter's "Chat soon": TTYL. Talk to you later.

24. Dispassionate type: STOIC.

25. UPC bar code developer: IBM. Sorry JW and/or Rich, this is another half-truth/ HISTORY.

26. Travis of country music: TRITT. Sorry, I used up my country music link.

27. Account: TALE. That's may story and I am sticking to it.

28. Square: EVEN. We are all square, I paid you back.

29. Sit a spell: REST.

30. Catchall abbr.: MISC.

31. Contradictory prefix: ANTI.

32. Marquee figure: STAR.

36. Capote nickname: TRU. Rhymes with...

37. "Leave me alone!": SHOO. Onomotopoeia.

38. Chits: IOUS. Onomotopoeia.

40. Roller coaster sounds: SCREAMS. Only from the wimps. I just sob quietly.

43. "Wait, what?": I'M LOST. Expliquez, s'il vous plait.

44. Dot on a map: TOWN.

45. Disprove: REFUTE.

47. Creator of an iconic bear: MILNE. Do not pooh pooh the importance of his creation.

48. Understood: CLEAR. Got it!

49. Musician's suffix: IST. Trombonist.

50. X-rated stuff: SMUT. Now come some questionable fill...

51. __ sapiens: HOMO. As a speices we are so shy...,

52. Surmounting: ATOP. This sounds obscene to me

53. Pre-euro currency: LIRA. 

55. Slightly: A TAD. A tad to the left

56. Critical-care ctrs.: ERS. Emergency Rooms

57. Chop (off): LOP.lop "to cut off," originally of branches of a tree, mid-15c. (implied in lopped; place name Loppedthorn is attested from 1287), a verb from Middle English loppe (n.) "small branches and twigs trimmed from trees" (early 15c.), which, along with Medieval Latin loppa, is of unknown origin.

58. Number of World Series wins for the Astros: ONE. What a fun way to clue this word, a CSO to our Houstonians and all of our baseball fans.