I had a run of Jay Silveman puzzles on Wednesdays back in '24-'25, and his last LA Times post was in March of this year. Today we have four 'pun-ishing' clues that "repronounce" an English word as a its foreign counterpart, with some humorous results - if that's your thing. I liked the theme, just got stuck trying to find the one wrong square when I did not get my "ta-DA~!", and it was a name crossing one of those foreign words, compounded by a low Grid Flow. Standard grid, a mere eight 3LWs, twice as many four- as five-letter words, no circles, two handfuls of names, three "others", and nary a Twurd to be found~! The themers;
17. Comfort that can only come from French bread?: PAIN RELIEF - It was the last themer that sent the V-8 can flying, and thus today I learned that the Frawnche word for "bread" is "pain" - pronounced all in the nose, sorta "puuhh(n)"
26. Creating perfect sunbathing conditions on an Italian beach?: SOLE PURPOSE - I was stumped at this themer, and the low grid flow meant only one crossing for help; don't know why I struggled to think of the Italian word for "sun", = "sole", with a 'flair' on the e, "sol-uh"
43. Positive review in a German newspaper?: GUT REACTION - pronounced "goot", this one made sense on my second pass . . .
58. Home for the king of Spain?: REAL ESTATE - and again with a differing pronunciation, "ree-ahl", which means royal, as opposed to "not fake" - learned from Spanish football / soccer teams
If you're American when entering a bathroom, and American when exiting, what are you inside~?
European . . .
Mais Aspettare Es Gibt Más~!
ACROSS:
1. Path behind a mower: SWATH - There's a guy who lives near me on rte 32 who takes the most meticulous care of his grass . . . and last weekend, I saw this thing cruising his lawn
6. Cheese in a Greek omelet: FETA - semi-Easter egg of old language, new crossword
10. Whack with snowballs, say: PELT
14. Goosebump-causing: EERIE
15. Person with a fan club: IDOL - person with a fan club; Billy Idol
Yeah, I've used this image before . . .
16. Cooking spread: OLEO - learned by doing crosswords
19. Gradually introduce to solid foods: WEAN
20. Isfahan's country: IRAN - geo name #1
21. Claims that won't pass fact checks: LIES
22. Posh and __: nickname of a British celebrity couple: BECKS - name (ish) - the duo of 'Posh Spice' Victoria and David Beckham, he of European football ( soccer ) fame . . .
Married 27 years tomorrow~!
23. Mesopotamian empire that included parts of 20-Across: ASSYRIA - geo name #2, but the circumreferential clue made it easier this time
25. Likely to be mouthy: PERT - I'll wash that mouth out with Pert shampoo . . .
Plus~!
31. Software demos: BETAS
35. Capital of British Columbia: VICTORIA - geo name #3, and the #1 "other" Victoria . . . 🙄
36. Employs: USES
37. Spot: SPECK - Spot was sooo last week . . .
39. Staple that's often helpful in a pinch?: SALT
40. Chased: RAN AFTER - I had WAS AFTER to start
42. Bench press muscles: DELToidS - AND - 38D. Bench press muscle: PECtoral - this one-arm out, one-arm curl & press is brutal - as you can tell from my grimace . . .
46. Clairvoyant: SEER
47. Lost one's cool: SNAPPED
52. Word with act or action: CLASS - class act, class action
54. Political alliance: BLOC
56. Conditional programming word: ELSE
57. "Only Murders in the Building" home: HULU - Ah. Where it's to be streamed
60. Salchow kin: AXEL - Friday cluing for this crossword Olympics staple
There, that oughta clear things up . . .
61. Zealous: AVID
62. Asked too many questions, say: PRIED
63. Unwelcome visitor: PEST - there has been a preponderance of big black ants cruising my home this spring, even with a dozen traps in the usual corners . . .
Look closer . . .
64. Funeral rite pile: PYRE
65. Senators' staffers: AIDES - the #2 "other" Senators . . . 🙄 - see below
DOWN:
1. Instagram filter shade: SEPIA - good WAG to start my Downs
2. Models: WEARS - I went with the noun, tried TYPES
3. Met highlights: ARIAS - "Met" = Metropolitan Opera
4. Lacking resonance: TINNY
5. Gender-specific pronoun: HER - HIS, OUR, SHE, YOU, take your pick
6. Relating to offspring: FILIAL - how kids behave in respect to parents
7. Actress Falco: EDIE - name #4, crossword staple
8. Wiggled body parts: TOES - I can actually spread my toes like a hand - I'll refrain from posting an image
9. ET from Melmac: ALF - from the 80's TV sitcom
10. Confidence-enabling stance: POWER POSE - Had me thinking "Captain Morgan"
13. Jillions: TONS - oh no~! is it a Twurd~? ALOT, ATON~?
18. 2025 Pixar title character: ELIO - name #5 that caused me grief on my last themer fill
22. Muppet who lives in the basement of 123 Sesame Street: BERT - name #6; I tried ELMO
24. Blog feed letters: RSS - Really Simple Syndication - yes, really; more here
25. Senators target: PUCK - Got me. Dammit. I was thinking baseball - but they're the Nationals these days - this is the Ottawa NHL team, and I am ashamed I missed it on the first pass . . . 😒😞
27. Navratilova rival: EVERT - Tennis greats, but SELES was the wrong decade and name, #7
28. Camera shot: PIC
29. Sandy sediment: SILT
30. Noshes: EATS
31. Nondescript town: BURG
32. Biblical twin: ESAU - the birthright brother
33. Events in retail parking lots: TENTSALES - huh - a unique crossword fill . . .
34. Thus: ASARESULT - three-word fill for a Friday four-letter clue
37. Elite athlete: STAR
41. Extra charges: FEES
42. Cold case sample: DNA
44. Tristan's beloved: ISOLDE - crossword couple, name #8
45. Fairy tale start: ONCE - upon a time . . .
48. __ dish: PETRI
49. Flannel pattern: PLAID
50. Name in the makeup aisle: ESTÉE - Lauder, name #9
51. Monopoly stack: DEEDS - not MONEY
52. Bloke: CHAP - I tried GENT, 100% wrong
53. Quite posh: LUXE - the #3 "other" Posh
54. Quail group: BEVY - Right. That's the word I could not recall
55. Bear necessity?: LAIR - a 'barely' bearable punny clue . . .
58. Ice Spice genre: RAP - three-letter music genre~? Ektorp EMO or RAP
59. Ballston __, New York: SPA - geo name #10, but I had help - I lived in upstate NY for years, in Colonie, which is outside of Albany, not far from this place - and where Rusty Brain hails from
This is Jeremy's second LA Times puzzle; RB had the first one a year ago. Today we have the addition of "DIS" to phrases that I found to be not as common as I would have liked, and therefore left me feeling a little DISsatisfied with the results. YMMV. Ektorp returns with two examples, a standard grid, a third the # of 3LWs to four-letter words, a handful of names, and no circles. The three themers and the reveal;
20. Hours at an art gallery?: DISPLAYINGTIME - The base phrase refers to the equal distribution of on-field activity for all team members of a little league, etc. - and here's the Dissed version . . .
Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory"
25. Factory that produces bad vibes?: DISCONTENTMILL - The base phrase is more broadly recognized as "Content Farm" - with more here from Wiki; the Dissed version . . .
Santa's Elves Unite~! Local N.P. 33
44. Admit to wearing a dental prosthetic?: DISCLOSETHEGAP - The "gap" being a wide variety of things, but mostly bringing technology and eductaion to those without - and the Dissed version . . .
He was my first thought - here's a list of other 'gap-toothed' people
51. Process of detachment, or an apt title for this puzzle: DISASSOCIATION - what's the difference between ignorance and apathy~? I don't know, and I don't care . . .
But . . .
Wait , , ,
There's . . .
More~!
ACROSS:
1. Carrefour's country: HAITI - Jeremy likes Haiti - it appeared in his first LA Times puzzle, too - geo name #1
6. Cuticle oil spot: NAIL - this made no sense until I looked up cuticle oil - it's lotion for the unguis
10. Trellis part: SLAT - I had to rebuild one in April
14. "Snowy" bird rarely found in snowy places: EGRET - five-letter snowy bird~? - Ektorp
15. Hindu mentor: GURU
16. Pixar film set partially in the afterlife: COCO - half-filled via perps
17. Inner self, to Jung: ANIMA - Mentioned frequently in Jordan Peterson's Psychology of the Bible series
18. Soup noodle: UDON - crossword staple
19. Bicycle attachment: HORN - training wheels didn't fit
I like this attachment - the wire basket, that is 🙄
23. Munich article: EINE - Deutsch - we saw this last Saturday
24. Memoji platform: IOS - I am PC ( Android ) - so I didn't get this one
32. Irrefutable point: FACT
33. Fad: RAGE - memoji~? obvi it's totes all the rage
34. Trout's team, on scoreboards: LAA - I had _ AA from perps, and not being into baseball . . .
35. Concise concession: "ILOST."
37. Part of some uniforms: HAT
38. Judicial pauses: STAYS - I guess . . .
40. Mum's mum: NAN
41. Word in a Samin Nosrat cookbook title: ACID - HEAT, and two others I couldn't recall
43. Burden: ONUS
49. Broadcast: AIR
50. Ivy in New Haven: YALE - collegial reference
58. Slam dance: MOSH - now this one I knew, but I do not participate - seems a bit silly to me; guess I'm old now
59. Viola clef: ALTO - filled via perps
60. Getty Images download: PHOTO - Getty being one of the image sites that sometimes "license" a photo, and therefore, ones I avoid at all costs when writing the blog . . .
61. Otherwise: ELSE
62. Standard choice: GO-TO
63. Took effect: SET IN
64. Shredded side: SLAW - I'm a fries / onion rings kind of guy
65. School founded in 1440: ETON - four letter old school~? = Ektorp
66. Clear one's name, perhaps?: ERASE
DOWN:
1. Eye site: HEAD - Once again, had most of my Downs wrong; starting with filling in FACE
4. Storms: TEMPESTS - $2 word; I love this album cover image
Nanci Griffith - storms
5. Bold alternative: ITALIC - Ah. Referring to fonts / type
6. "The Sympathizer" Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh: NGUYEN - Friday name, #2, filled via perps
7. German auto: AUDI - Yay~! I got a Down answer right~!
8. Nutrient in beans and rice: IRON - Ah. My mind had "protein" polarity
9. Putting one foot forward, in a way: LUNGING - some of the most difficult exercises working with my gym trainer involve lunges and squats - my knees are aging faster than the rest of me . . .
10. Doctrinal rupture: SCHISM - I read this as "doctoral", and went with HERNIA . . .😜 It's also one of my favorite "Tool" songs;
Tool, from Lateralus, "Schism"
11. Arachne's device: LOOM - I knew we got "arachnid" from this myth, but WEB didn't fit
12. Land division: ACRE
13. Boatload: TON - thank you for not being the A TON Twurd~!
21. "It's __-brainer!": ANO - aaaaand I spoke too soon . . .
25. Start of a Tibetan religious title: DALAI - a gimme; "ocean" master / teacher
26. Taskbar lineup: ICONS - I was forced to upgrade to Windows 11 while writing this blog - but so far, I have not had any issues . . . 🤞
27. Swap: TRADE
28. Consume: EAT
29. Glazer of "Broad City": ILANA - the one cel where I didn't bother to do the alphabet run - A~? E~? - in retrospect, I needed to see MILL as the logical end of the themer. Sigh. Her IMDb; Name #3
32. Happen across: FIND - Ah, right - I "happened across" an article I saved from a Cincinnati newspaper detailing the movie "The Golem" that I worked on half my life ago . . .
Most likely the best time of my life
36. "The Godfather" actress Shire: TALIA - a, a, name, #4
37. Third-person possessive: HIS - I got locked into OUR
39. As one: TOGETHER - as in the next clue/asnwer
42. Boutonnière partner: CORSAGE - nailed this Frawnche pair - buttonhole and bodice in English
Awww, matching . . .
45. Nut used to make cheese or butter: CASHEW - this and ALMOND fit, but I waited on perps
46. Titan of industry: TYCOON - crossword staple
47. Japanese assent: HAI - the equivalent of "yes"
48. Pass: ELAPSE
51. Barbie or Ken: DOLL - it could have been aaa NAME
52. Rae of "Barbie": ISSA - aaaand a NAME, #5
53. Opening at the post office: SLOT - not an employment opportunity, but this 🠋
54. Springfield Elementary bus driver: OTTO - knew it, "The Simpsons", still name #6
55. Wee bit: IOTA - Yay~! not the Twurd ATAD
56. Elevator name: OTIS - aaaaand one more name, #7
57. __ of the above: NONE - which name did I like most in today's puzzle~? . . .
58. Mayo o diciembre: MES - I knew what we were looking for, didn't know the Español for 'month'
Or, if you want to get in touch with the Dread Pirate Roberts: Elwes, CARY@ID.com
I did a cursory Google search for Elizabeth Duker-Gold, and found her on LinkedIn and Facebook, but with no clear indication that I had the correct person; I can tell it's her LA Times debut, and if this is her overall first publication, then double congrats~! I loved the clever theme of this puzzle - varied common words/phrases with a & t, or "@", in the middle, restructured to resemble an email address; very cool. Some of the people may not be that common, but I did know all five of them, partly from doing crosswords. There was some Friday fill, to be expected, and a few that had alternate answers - see below - plus one or two "meh" ones, maybe~?. Standard grid, no circles, 19 3LWs, just 6 names - excluding the ones intended for the theme. The five themer email "addresses", no reveal [ BTW, the text format of the crossword screwed up my blogging due to the use of < and >, which are html code separators ];
18. To: Comedian Michael, bedding salesman [.com] - CHE(AT)SHEETS - Michael Che @sheets.com, which I think is a valid website . . . yup
24. To: Athlete Jackson, lawn products salesman [.com] - BO(AT)YARDS - Bo Jackson @yards.com - Bo of both major league baseball and football fame, and 'yards' would be a good website/email address for lawn products - it does come up as a website, but no content
36. To: Broadcast journalist Anderson, surgical supply salesman [.com] - COOPER(AT)ORS - Anderson Cooper @ors.com - "Operating RoomS" but not a real site - and not my buddy Cooper the Australian Shepherd - see 58D. Here's Anderson being interviewed by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
I'd play the segment, but NSFW
50. To: Actor Cheadle, chemistry lab supply salesman [.com] - DON(AT)IONS - Don Cheadle @ions.com - I know Don from his role as "Basher" in the Ocean's Eleven, et. al. heist movies - and a valid website for the TV channel Ion
57. To: Singer Bruno, bulletin board salesman [.com] - MARS(AT)TACKS - my favorite break out ( if not my personal choice in music artists, but our host likes him 😁) - Bruno Mars @tacks.com - and this one led to a "non-secure" go back~! link ( I wrote this while still down on LI, so I was on my brother's network )
Hey Tom, it's "not unusual" to find Martians invading Earth . . .
1. Jaguar or Charger: CAR - I do the Downs first, had two wrong fills to start; I knew this was either NFL - two teams in the national football league - or two automobiles
Trevor Lawrence, and, uh, well, that's not Justin Herbert, and #19 ( on the helmet ) was retired
. . . thanks, A i ~!
4. Orchard basket: BUSHEL - so my "AMASS" at 7D was wrong . . .
10. Gillette brand: ATRA
14. Bullpen stat: ERA
15. "Reckon maybe, yeah": "IS'POSE..." - slang for "I suppose" - I am feeling ambivalent about this fill; it's valid, but is it a Twurd~? Is it 'meh'~?
16. Urge on: GOAD
17. Part of a journey: LEG
part of a "legs" journey
20. Jazz great James: ETTA - Crossword staple, name #1
22. Cropped up: AROSE
23. ThirdLove purchase: BRA - not that I "knew" this, but I had _R_, and it sounded like a lingerie website - so what are the first Two Loves~? I could take a guess . . .
27. Like a best-case scenario: IDEAL
29. "Love it!": "SOGOOD~!"
30. Queerplatonic orientation, briefly: AROACE - short for aromantic asexual - the Wiki, if you care to know more - aah, Friday . . .
31. Dirge: LAMENT - ELEGY did not fit
35. Bills replaced by coins in Canada and Australia: ONES - tell us more, CanadianEh!
39. Mil. no-show: AWOL - Absent WithOut Leave - oh, SNAFU - now that's FUBAR . . .
41. Haberdashery purchase: TIE PIN
42. People in the background of a selfie, perhaps: RANDOS - Ah. Right. "random person" in 21st century-speak; I had the last two letters, so I went with WALDOS - hey, I could see that working . . .
I found him~!
44. Dillydally: LINGER
49. Juvenile eel: ELVER - Learning moment for me; more here
53. Pub pour: ALE
54. Beloved, in Bordeaux: CHERI - Frawnche
56. Set that might have an OLED screen: HDTV - Organic Light-Emitting Diode, and High Definition; 'Set' threw me at first - a TeleVision set, which, now that I think of it, is kinda weird . . . it's a set of electronic tubes, circuits~? And I did not know what the "O" stood for, even knowing what an LED was
61. Taste: SIP
62. Show opener: ACTI - Ha~! Had this last Friday, too
63. Leash: TETHER
64. Part of a rock band?: ORE - Clever - new way to clue the old fill - a 'band', or stratum in geology
65. Smart home system by Google: NEST - I bought a "smart" thermostat for my house, but the furnace uses just two wire leads - so it's useless; the furnace tech I needed to call two weeks ago told me not to bother with a smart device - he is if the mindset that the most efficient way to heat/cool one's house is to "set it and forget it" - thanks Ron Popeil~!
66. Grooms, as feathers: PREENS
67. Homer's neighbor: NED - Pffft - Ned . . . Name #2
DOWN:
1. Red carpet VIPs: CELEBS - Dah~! Not A LISTS
2. Defiant reply: "ARETOO~!" - Dah~!! Not I AM NOT
3. Motley: RAGTAG - I toyed with CALICO, which we had last Saturday
Definitely "ragtag" - Mötley Crüe
4. Pen name: BIC - another clever clue - literally, the 'name' of a pen maker, ergo, name #3
5. See to a seat, casually: USH - more 21st century-speak for "ushering"
6. Pickle serving: SPEAR - I guess in the 21st century, it's 'one syllable easier' than to ask for a pick-le
7. Stockpile: HOARD - Dah~!!! Not AMASS
8. These, in Spanish: ESTOS - and yet I nailed the Español word . . .
9. "__ is more": LESS - well, more or less, I guess . . . 🙄
10. Number that's always positive: AGE - Ah. True. Mine is getting further along on the spinny-wheel thing on websites these days
11. Cutesy name for paw pads: TOE BEANS
12. Unpleasant routine: RAT RACE
13. Media revenue source: AD SALES
19. Trust-worthy figure?: HEIR
21. From __ Z: A TO - three out of four two-word answers in a row
25. Texter's encouragement to try something new: YOLO - You Only Live Once - but maybe in multiple universes~? - ooooh . . . trippy
26. Assimilates: ADAPTS - I wanted adOpts
28. Portal: DOOR - into another plane of the multi-verse . . .
30. __ the Hun: ATTILA - he lived an "active, outdoor lifestyle", per George Carlin; name #4
32. __ fun: noodle dish: MEI - never heard of this - the "E" came from knowing the themer that crossed
33. Bard's before: ERE - poetic
34. Suede quality: NAP - Sleep quality; NAP time
36. New fans: CONVERTS - CON-verts, the noun, not the verb
37. Like a quaint shoppe: OLDE - ye olde quaynte shoppe
38. "I got this!": "ONIT~! - Dah~! I had ON ME, like the check/tab
39. Local guy in The Onion headlines: AREA MAN - this was a total unknown for me - an example
40. "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" poet Stevens: WALLACE - name #5, no clue - the poem, sort of a Zen-like "what is the sound of one hand clapping" mental exercise
43. Antarctic predator: ORCA
SE(ri)AL killer
45. Research org. with facilities in Bethesda: NIH - National Institutes of Health - filled via perps on my second pass - the website, if you care
46. Jake Gyllenhaal, to Jamie Lee Curtis: GODSON - huh. I tried COUSIN, which sort of helped, as the "O", "S" and the "N" actually worked; name(ish)
47. Complete: ENTIRE
48. Answered, in a way: RSVP'ed - I like it, but YMMV
50. Put off: DETER - Not DELAY, and not DEFER, so I didn't understand the crossing themer at first
51. Provide an address: ORATE - the "speechify" version of address, like Lincoln's Gettysburg
52. Not wide-ranging: NICHE - ah. Good one. I knew what we were looking for, but needed perps
55. URL intro: HTTP - the "other" kind of address; http//www.crosswordcorner.blogspot.com
58. Gather dust: SIT - gather pet fur; dog-sit - Cooper is so bad in the summer, my clothes were covered
we stopped to "smell the flowers"
59. "KPop Demon Hunters" voice actor Jeong: KEN - no clue, name #6 - his Wiki
This is my fourth Emma Oxford crossword - the last one was the memorial to my friend Greg and our mutual enjoyment of playing poker puzzle. I breezed through this Friday fill-in, with only a typo slowing me down. Today we have five themers, no reveal, totaling 51 squares, that are a punny play on common phrases, redefined as types of ( mostly ) popular bars of soap. A standard grid, no circles, a three-knight "dog" (🙄), eleven 3LWs, a handful of names, a ridiculous number of abbreviations and/or acronyms - but - was missing just the F & J for a pangram~!
17. Soap that's easy to conceal?: POCKETDIAL - Not the "politically incorrect" butt-dial, this soap -
23. Soap that could use a friend?: LONESOMEDOVE- Not the town from the 1986 Pulitzer-prize winning book ( and TV series ), but a solitary bar from this collection -
37. Soap that's super popular?: HOTLAVA - Not the exercise we used to 'play' in Phys Ed., but this -
49. Soap that's falling apart?: BREAKINGDAWN - Not the early rising sun, but the outlier, as this is more dish detergent soap - "Dawn is breaking everywhere . . . " lyric @ 0:30
Refreshing Rain scent is the one on my kitchen sink, and I buy the gallon refill at BJs
61. Soap that's perfect for adding color to a shower routine?: ORANGEZEST - not the 'shaved' skin of the fruit, but this cleansing product -
1. Easter month, often: APRIL - It can be March - the convoluted way it's calculated; the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon after the Spring equinox 🙏
6. Apple resource with curated guides: MAPS - I am Android, so it's Google's version
10. Bygone handhelds, for short: PDAs - Personal Digital Assistan - it could be either, as in 'holding hands' being a bygone Public Display of Affection - either way, it's abbr/acr #1
14. Lift a finger?: POINT - 👉
15. Landed: ALIT
16. Reply to "I'm sure they'll be fine without you," perhaps: "OUCH." - Harsh, man . . .
19. Low-carb diet: KETO - My friend Jay was a "keto" dieter; I missed his B-day last month, so I reached out via text a week late; he responded with "it's OK - btw, I met the love of my life, quit my job, sold my house, moved to North Carolina - oh, and had triple by-pass surgery in November . . . ' - and he's younger than me. Sheesh. Reminded me of this song
Billy Joel, My Life
20. Hunk: SLAB
21. Setting of the graphic novel "Persepolis": IRAN - filled via perps, Geo name #1
22. Arrive: GETIN
26. Estimate from a contractor: QUOTE - I tried PRICE first; Bzzzzt~!
28. "Me too": SAME - I wanted SO AM I, then AS ME - which was close, but, wrong
29. Relish: GUSTO - the noun, usu. in the prepositional phrase "with gusto" - you're welcome.
30. Big name in gaming monitors: ACER - filled via perps, crossword staple, name(ish)
32. Dec. holiday: XMAS - abbr/acr #2 - only 194 shopping days til . . . the countdown clock
36. Goal: AIM - Still have the same goal / aim / desire / intent to produce my board games - and now I have a fourth one to promote, too; I ran off a simplified version of the board on paper so I could work out the play details
40. Computer file suffix: EXE - for adding programs to PCs / Windows, "executable" - abbr/acr #3
41. School gps.: PTAs - PDAs and PTAs - abbr/acr #4
43. Root vegetable related to Swiss chard: BEET - I had the "EE" from my Down fills
44. SF NFLer: NINER - AND - 52D. SF MLBer: GIANT - five-letter San Fransisco major league teams, football and baseball respectively
46. Astronomical light show: NOVA - meh. Technically, yes, but I think aurora is a better match
48. Birthplace of K-pop: SEOUL - Geo name #2
54. Signs on for another tour: RE-UPS
55. Pop diva Celine: DION - name #3 - the hot dogs go on . . .
Peter May, comedian
56. American white __: Gulf Coast bird: IBIS - mostly perps
60. Org. with sponsored Medicare plans: AARP - American Association of Retired Persons - you can actually join at the age of 18 - but I doubt you've 'retired'. I got my letter from UPS last month, saying I was now eligible for my retirement, having turned 55 in February this year - I think it's a whopping $337/mo., but I'll take it~! abbr/acr #5
63. Pop sensation: IDOL
64. Have too little of: WANT
65. Bowie's role in "The Prestige": TESLA - name #4, I had T _ _ _ A, but not having seen the movie . . . IMDb
66. Where Anheuser-Busch is BUD: NYSE - the New York Stock Exchange listing = BUDweiser beer - abbr/acr #6
10. Progress tracker for one trying to "catch 'em all": POKEDEX - I figured it was something like this, but waited on perps - the index of the Pokémon universe - more here
11. Caused by: DUE TO
12. When the fate of Ophelia is revealed: ACT IV - been doing crosswords long enough to know that this type of clue is looking for "ACT _ _", so it was either II or IV, possibly other Roman numerals
13. Sparkled: SHONE - ha~! Nailed it
18. Prong: TINE
22. Jewel: GEM
24. Letters of equivocation: OTOH - On the Other Hand . . . I just read George Carlin's book, 'How to Rid Yourself of Doubt - or, Should You~?' abbr/acr #11
25. Harry's accomplice in "Home Alone": MARV - I did not know this name, #6
26. Walk out: QUIT - Dah~! Not EXit, but 50% correct
27. Home of the NCAA's Black Knights: USMA - knights #1, abbr/acr #12 - wait -
there's a whole team of them~?
Uh, no - the United States Military Academy - the West Point football squad
29. Word with age or wage: GAP
30. Took off right after dinner: ATE AND RAN - Cool fill, and a nine-letter Thwurd
31. Rock & Roll HoF city: CLEveland, abbr/acr #13
33. Grubhub link: MENU
34. Rink leap: AXEL
35. Title for a knight in Westeros: SER - I am ashamed to say, I have not seen Game of Thrones
38. Short "Duh": OBVI - 21st century-speak for "obviously" - abbr/acr #14
39. Over again: ANEW
42. Maker of Trop-a-Rocka tea: SNAPPLE - Ah. I didn't see this fill until I did the blog, and I was today-years-old when I learned that this was a flavor "invented" by the band Poison's frontman Bret Michaels for The Apprentice, though I did know he was a diabetic
45. Charges, in a way: IONIZES - WARNING~! Science content
47. Gives a thumbs-up: OKs - 👍
48. Performed in a choir: SANG
49. Scarecrow's desire: BRAIN - ooops; I put in HEART, but that was the Tin Man - no, Oz never did give nuthin' to him - and an Easter ( see 1A) Egg chorus lyric at 1:11
America - Tin Man
50. Good to go: READY
51. Money in Monaco: EUROS - I didn't take the 'plural' into account, but I did think EURO - and I also learned today that this place is a "microstate", not a 'city' in France . . . Huh
You can just see my "other" house up on the left, overlooking the Frawnche Riviera . . .
53. Taboos: DON'Ts - I had "NO-NOs", 60% correct
57. One-up: BEST - the LV Knights are one-up on the 'Canes - knight #3, and my musical pun
58. Tropical spot: ISLE - I'd prefer a trip to Europe over any tropical vacation
59. Movie lead: STAR
61. Be in arrears: OWE - "I know the rent is in arrears" - see the themer link at 49A., lyric @ 3:30
62. GPS prediction: ETA - Estim . . . oh , never mind, it's another abbr/acr, #15
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