Wednesday, Aug 14th, 2024, Wendy L. Brandes

 A WHITER SHADE OF HAIR

Rick Beato from YouTube, 4:53

I urge you to watch the whole thing - too funny

Welcome to the second Wednesday in a row with "TURN" as part of the theme reveal, where the four letters in the reveal, 'PALE', "turn" into three of 16 possible arrangements spanning the theme answers - E,P,A,L, L,E,P,A, and A,L,E,P..  Two quality 10-letter fills in the Down, NO circles this week, a paltry 16 TLWs ( compared to 30 four-letter ones ), but way too many proper names again, and because they were rather vague to boot, I felt they ruined a good puzzle.  Sigh.  Anyway, the theme answers and reveal:

17. *Reacting to a "d'oh" moment: FACE PALMING

Homer Simpson

27. *Reimbursement on the go: MOBILE PAYMENT - PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, etc.; in the past, I have paid coworkers for lunch via monetary app - it's convenient, even if my brother thinks it's "dangerous" - but then again, he's convinced all hybrid electric car batteries are going to catch fire, too.

48. *Last few in a series: FINAL EPISODES - What's your favorite BINGE series~?  I happen to like the USA series "Burn Notice", 2007-2013

I even went out and bought the sunglasses

63. Losing color, or what can literally be found in the answers to the starred clues: TURNING PALE - and I inadvertently got the background colors of the above images to "turn" in gradient, too~!

And Away We Go~!


ACROSS:

1. "Glee" teen played by Kevin McHale: ARTIE - no clue, never watched the show; name #1, and not a good way to start the crossword

And a visual "hint" to 7D.

6. Sing-__: ALONG - did you sing along to "Glee"~?  I prefer karaoke

11. Broken up over a breakup, say: SAD - not been my particular response, just sayin'

14. Interest gatherers: LOANS

15. Exodus mount: SINAI - name #2

16. Making out on a park bench, say, for short: PDA - Public Display (of) Affection

Rosalynn & Jimmy Carter - the former president TURNS 100 Oct 1st

19. Developer's parcel: LOT

20. "Table for Two" author Towles: AMOR - name #3, didn't have to be one

21. Edge out: BEAT

22. Disapproving look: GLARE

I would say you got the wrong cat food

24. "I caught a fish thiiiiis big," e.g.: TALE - any size fish would've been a better choice for the cat

26. On the calendar: SLATED - Astronauts Lovett, Mattingly, Swigert and Haise were "slated" to be on Apollo 14, not 13

32. Regions: AREAS

33. Astrological lion: LEO

34. Collision reminder: DENT - Cornerite unclefred had a fix for my car's dent last week

37. Took off: RAN - Possibly the best "one-hit wonder" of the 80's

A Flock of Seagulls - "I ran"
The guitar part is actually quite rocking - even has a solo

38. School trips, e.g.: OUTINGS

42. Brazilian port: RIO - name #4

A view of the port from on high

43. Big bunch: SLEW

45. Hit the gas in idle: REV

46. "The L Word" co-creator Chaiken: ILENE - name #5

52. Sculpt: CHISEL

54. Eye piece: IRIS

55. The Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes: RACES - The Preakness Stakes making up the Triple Crown of horse racing

56. "Buh-bye": "TA-TA" - Snarky

58. "What will __ think of next?": THEY - "They" usually get the weather wrong, too

62. Kimono sash: OBI - had this Monday in C.C.'s grid - it's either the sash one or the Jedi Wan . . . . get it~?  See 10D.

66. Org. for Melissa McCarthy's "Spy" character: CIA - no clue, filled via perps; name-ish

67. Tablet read: eZINE - yeah, but meh.

68. Grave danger: PERIL

 

@ 1:48 - "I must face the peril - NO~! It's too perilous"
 

69. Cards, on scoreboards: ST.Louis -  name-ish

70. Like Tropicana Field: DOMED - name-ish

Home of MLB Tampa Bay Rays

71. __ wool: STEEL


DOWN:

1. Italian sports car, briefly: ALFA - name #6, but this one I knew

Model 147 - the Alfa Romeo, I mean

2. Walk aimlessly: ROAM - enter R and O, then wait for perps - it's either roVE or roAM

3. Soft or hard entree: TACO - Dah~!  This took too long for me to see

4. Indisposition to change: INERTIA - the physics from Wiki

5. Seer's talent: E.S.P.

6. Reaching REM: ASLEEP

7. Peruvian metropolis: LIMA - trying to change it up with a $2 word for city, still a "name", #7

8. "Consider this handled!": ON IT~!

9. British Gram?: NAN - name-ish

10. Polite response to a bad pun: GIGGLE - as opposed to the more common GROAN

11. Like paint in some abstract art: SPLATTERED

Very Cool - artist Ashvin Harrison

12. Love to pieces: ADORE

13. Saw romantically: DATED

18. Up to perform: ABLE

23. Touch down: LAND - not Touchdown

A Cincinnati Bengals Touchdown dance

25. "What's more ... ": ALSO....

26. Clean Air Fund target: SMOG

27. Home to the largest known volcano in the solar system: MARS - from SETI

28. Spoken: ORAL

29. Advantageous: BENEFICIAL

30. Busy with activity: ALIVE

31. Yearning: YEN - Alliteration; welcome, Yes, You are

35. The whole __ yards: NINE - I was under the impression that this was the length of an ammunition belt - Wiki says it came from an earlier source

36. Baby piggies?: TOES - Didn't fool me

39. River to the Caspian Sea: URAL - name #8

40. No-call list no.: TELephone - Too far to go for this abbr., IMHO

41. "Yes! Yes!" in Yucatán: "SI SI~!" - A phonetic shout-out to our host

44. "The Runaway Bunny" writer Margaret __ Brown: WISE - name #9, and it didn't have to be

47. Reward poster subject, maybe: LOST PET

49. Prepared for a new arrival, say: NESTED

50. Sympathized with: PITIED

51. Persepolis locale: IRAN - name #10

52. Comfy water shoes: CROCS - I find them to be hideous, but YMMV; we had a now-terminated employee who wore them to work. . . . in a wood shop;  Bzzzt~!

53. Nail biting, maybe: HABIT - Yup.  One of my few remaining habits, with no end in sight

56. Prune: TRIM

57. Poet Sexton: ANNE - name #11

59. Fabulous racer?: HARE - the FABLE of The Tortoise & The Hare

60. Lebanese designer Saab: ELIE - a new clue for this NAME, #12 - his website

61. Holler: YELL

64. "In Treatment" star Aduba: UZO - name #13

65. Map software tech: GPS - a loooong way to go for a TLW

Splynter