Friday, June 25, 2021

QOD:  Saying atheism is a belief system is like saying not going skiing is a hobby.  ~  Ricky Gervais (né Ricky Dene Gervais; b. June 25, 1961), British comedian

Thursday, June 24, 2021

QOD:  Gentility is what is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone.  ~  John Ciardi (né John Anthony Ciardi; June 24, 1916 ~ Mar. 30, 1986), American poet

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

QOD:  Good manners can open doors that the best educated cannot.  ~  Clarence Thomas (b. June 23, 1948), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

QOD:  It’s amazing what you can get if you quietly, clearly, and authoritatively demand it.  ~  Meryl Streep (née Mary Louise Streep; b. June 22, 1949), American actress

Vowels on Parade.

17-Across. Arrest: TAKE INTO CUSTODY.

33-Across. Kind of in jest, kind of not: HALF SERIOUSLY.

39-Across. Vintage Burger King slogan: HAVE IT YOUR WAY.

60-Across. Mixed drink recipe directive: SHAKE VIGOROUSLY.

and the unifier:

45-Down. Sextet featured in order in this puzzle's theme answers: A E I O U Y.

Across:

1. Sunbather's goal: TAN.

4. Beach dwelling support: STILT.  Many houses in Grand Isle, Louisiana are built up on stilts.  Appropriate for today's puzzle since Tropical Storm Claudette just swept through the area.

9. Move in the breeze: SWAY.

13. Somber notice: OBIT.  This is not the kind of obituary you want.

15. "War and Peace" and "Gone with the Wind": SAGAS.  Guess which of one of these sagas I have read.

16. It has a same-named river on its southern border: OHIO.

20. Squirrel morsel: ACORN.

21. "__ you special!": AREN'T.

22. GM's Mary Barra, e.g.: CEO.  Mary Barra (née Mary Teresa Makes; b. Dec. 24, 1961) has been the Chief Executive Officer of General Motors since 2014.

23. Type of equation: LINEAR.

25. WWII conference site: YALTA.  It is also known as the Crimea Conference.  The meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin took place in February 1945

27. "Soft embalmer of the still midnight": Keats: SLEEP.  A poem by John Keats (Oct. 31, 1795 ~ Feb. 23, 1821).

30. Bully: MEANIE.  Was George Meany (Aug. 16, 1894 ~ Jan. 10, 1980) a Meanie?

35. Comic Margaret: CHO.

Margaret Moran Cho (b. Dec. 5,  1968)

37. __ shop: golf course store: PRO.

38. Brown bar order: ALE.

46. Show one's face: EMERGE.

47. Dwelling that sounds like two letters: TEPEE.  TP has other meanings, too.

48. Ship deck guards: RAILS.

Not the intended use for ship rails.

50. Nonliteral language features: IDIOMS.

54. "The __ of the moral universe ... bends toward justice": MLK Jr.: ARC.

56. Parking employee: VALET.

59. Temple text: TORAH.

Torah scrolls at my synagogue.

63. "This is for you": HERE.

64. PR pro's concern: IMAGE.

65. "Carpe diem" acronym: YOLO.  You Only Live Once.  //  Not to be confused with 12-Down. Toy similar to a spool: YO-YO.  National Yo-Yo Day was Sunday, June 6, 2021.

66. Like a one-star sudoku: EASY.  I would still find this a challenge.

67. May 8, 1945, briefly: V-E DAY.  Also known as Victory in Europe Day.

68. Fed. research org.: NSF.  Non-Sufficient Funds for some research projects funded through the National Science Foundation.

Down:

1. Utter: TOTAL.  This clue and answer will rile some people up.  Think of:  That is an Utter mess and That is a Total mess.

2. Beaded calculators: ABACI.

3. Coolpix digital camera maker: NIKON.

4. Fig. whose last four digits are often requested: SSN.  As in the ubiquitous Social Security Number.

5. "See ya!": TA-TA!

6. Horror film aide: IGOR.

7. Cagney's TV partner: LACEY.  Cagney and Lacey was a television show that ran in the 1980s.

8. Word from the Japanese for "harbor wave": TSUNAMI.  Also the name of a sushi restaurant in southern Louisiana.

9. Inebriate: SOT.

10. "Your guess is as good as mine": WHO CAN SAY?

11. West Wing worker: AIDE.  As in an Aide in the White House's West Wing.

14. Mother with a Nobel Prize: TERESA.  As in Mother Teresa (née Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu; Aug. 26, 1910 ~ Sept. 5, 1997).  She was born in what is present-day Madeconia, but is best known for her work in India.  She was made a Saint in the Catholic Church in 2016 and is now known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.

18. Collectively: IN ALL.

19. Canonized fifth-cen. pope: ST. LEO.  Pope Leo I, also known as Leo the Great, was Pope from September 440 until his death in 461.

24. Game official: REF.  As in a Referee.

26. Upsilon preceder: TAU.  It's Greek to me.

28. Notice: ESPY.

29. 1995 Reform Party founder: PEROT.  H. Ross Perot (né Henry Ross Perot; June 27, 1930 ~ July 9, 2019) was a billionaire businessman who ran as an independent presidential campaign in 1992 and a 3rd party candidate in the 1996 presidential race.

31. Unwell: ILL.

32. Pupil's place: EYE.

33. Futuristic sci-fi vehicles: HOVER CARS.

34. Bounder: ROUÉ.

35. "Evita" narrator: CHE.  Che Guevara (né Ernesto Guevara; June 14, 1928 ~ Oct. 9, 1967) was a physician who turned Marxist Revolutionary.

36. Easter entrée: HAM.  Here is one theory of why Ham is eaten on Easter.

40. Memorable period: ERA.

41. "Enough already!": I GIVE.

42. City that merged with Jaffa in 1950: TEL AVIV.

43. Troy, N.Y., campus: RPI.  As in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  Some in our crossword family are graduates of this institute of higher learning.

44. Joined with: WED TO.

49. Gooey gunk: SLIME.

51. Welles of "War of the Worlds": ORSON.  Orson Wells (né George Orson Wells; May 6, 1915 ~ Oct. 10, 1985) was an American film director, but also a radio host.  In 1938, he narrated a radio adaption of H.G Wells' novel The War of the Worlds about an alien invasion.  Many people believed that the Earth was being invaded by extraterrestrials.  Interesting to have two Wells (different spellings) involved in this tale.

52. Shopping meccas: MALLS.

53. Just __: almost: SHY OF.

54. Tennis legend Arthur: ASHE.  Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (July 10, 1943 ~ Feb. 6, 1993) makes frequent guest appearances in the crossword puzzles.

55. Ostrich kin: RHEA.  Everything you wanted to know about Ostriches vs Rheas but didn't know to ask.

57. "Zounds!": EGAD.

58. Roman garb: TOGA.

61. Critical: KEY.

62. "Star Wars" heroine: REY.  Rey Skywalker appeared in some of the more recent movies of the Star Wars Series.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה

'Tis the season

Monday, June 22, 2021

QOD:  Not knowing what one is doing is no prohibition on doing it.  ~  Anne Carson (b. June 21, 1950), Canadian poet 

Sunday, June 20, 2021 // Father's Day

QOD:  The older I get, the smarter my father seems to get.  ~  Tim Russert (né Timothy John Russert; May 7, 1950 ~ June 13, 2008), American journalist and political analyst