You Can Bet Your Life. Each word in the starred theme answer can come After the word Life to give a new phrase or concept.
17-Across. * Pedigree ancestry: BLOOD LINE. As in Lifeblood and Life Line.
Lifeblood.
Life Line
25-Across. * Suit tailor's concern: JACKET SIZE. As in Life Jacket and Life Size.
Moses hands out Life Jackets before crossing the Red Sea.
Life Size.
35-Across. * Nightly ritual for young children: STORY TIME. As in Life Story and Life Time.
Life Story.
Life Time.
49-Across. * Teacher's outline: LESSON PLAN. As in Life Lesson and Life Plan.
Life Lessons
Life Plan.
And the unifier:
58. "Field of Dreams" subject, and where both parts of the answers to starred clues can go: AFTERLIFE. (Admit it, your first thought was Baseball, even though it was a letter short.)
Across:
4. Seriously injures: MAIMS.
9. Frosh, next year: SOPH. This year's Freshman is next year's SOPHomore.
13. "Should I take that as __?": A NO.
14. Are: EXIST.
15. Boy Scout unit: TROOP.
19. Luxury Honda: ACURA.
20. "Eight Miles High" band, with "The": BYRDS.
21. Farm building: BARN.
23. Up to, in ads: TIL.
24. The Beatles' "__ Love Her": AND I.
28. Prospective elevator passenger's query: GOING UP?
30. Villain played by Josh Brolin in most "Avengers" films: THANOS.
31. Flock female: EWE.
32. Biblical paradise: EDEN.
34. Olympics segment: EVENT.
38. On the ocean: AT SEA.
41. Red Sox manager Alex: CORA. José Alexander Cora (b. Oct. 18, 1975) has been the Red Sox manager since 2017. He played for a number of MLB teams, including, but not limited to, the Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Texas Rangers.
42. Topeka's st.: KAN. Topeka is the capital of Kansas.
45. "I want to see": SHOW ME! Missouri is known as the Show Me State.
47. "The Lord of the Rings" wizard: GANDALF.
52. "__ all work out": IT'LL.
53. Barcelona gold: ORO. Today's Spanish lesson.
54. Field mouse: VOLE.
55. Diviner's deck: TAROT.
56. Opposite of sur: NORTE. More of today's Spanish lesson. North is the opposite of South. Did anyone see the 1983 movie El Norte? it was about a group of people from Guatemala fleeing from ethnic and political persecution during the Guatemalan Civil War. They trek north to the United States hoping for a better life.
61. Movie legend Greta: GARBO. Greta Garbo (née Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; Sept. 8, 1905 ~ Apr. 15, 1990) was a Swedish actress.
62. Appliance with burners: STOVE.
63. Actress Vardalos: NIA. Nia Vardalos (née Antonia Eugenia Vardalos / Νία Βαρντάλος; b. Sept. 24, 1962) is a Canadian-Green actress, best known for her 2002 movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
64. Cannon of "Heaven Can Wait" (1978): DYAN. Dyan Cannon (née Samille Diane Friesen; b. Jan. 4, 1937) was one of Cary Grant's 5 wives. They were married for about 3 years in the 1960s. There was a 33 year age gap between the two.
65. Sinatra classic with Anka lyrics: MY WAY.
66. PIN requester: ATM. Cute clue for the Automatic Teller Machine.
Down:
2. "Just this second": ONLY NOW.
3. Desperate: DO OR DIE.
4. Drugs from docs: MEDS.
5. Rose of Guns N' Roses: AXL. Axl Rose (né William Bruce Rose, Jr.; b. Feb. 6, 1962) is the lead singer of the band referenced in the clue.
Axl is the one without the had.
6. Three on a sundial: III.
7. "Hardball" cable channel: MSNBC.
8. Rib eye, for one: STEAK.
9. Baseball great Musial's nickname: STAN THE MAN. Stan Musial (né Stanley Frank Musial; Nov. 21, 1920 ~ Jan. 19, 2013) played for the St. Louis Cardinals for 22 years.
10. Beast fought by 47-Across: ORC.
11. Canadian french fries dish: POUTINE. I had heard of this dish, which is basically french fries and cheese curds topped with gravy. It is most closely associated with the cuisine of Quebec. I had an opportunity to try it for the first time this past spring when I was up near the Quebec border. It was interesting, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to order it again.
12. Where land and sky seem to meet: HORIZON.
16. Most colorless: PALEST.
18. Chief Norse god: ODIN. In Norse mythology, Odin is the god of wisdom, poetry, death and magic.
22. Like some mil. officers: RET. As in Retired. Fortunately, you don't have to be in the military to retire.
25. Weaponless self-defense: JUDO.
26. Mimic: APER.
27. Goalie's goal: SAVE.
29. "Hurry!": GET A MOVE ON. My grandmother used that expression a lot.
33. It has both Kings and Queens counties, briefly: NYC. As in New York City. I was in Manhattan during the July heat wave. I had to go through Queens from the airport.
35. Uses needle and thread: SEWS.
36. Roman robe: TOGA.
37. Persian Gulf republic: IRAN.
38. Comparable in duration: AS LONG.
39. "Not Taken" place in a Frost poem title: THE ROAD.
40. "My apologies": SO SORRY!
42. Catastrophic New Orleans hurricane: KATRINA. Louisiana is still feeling the impact of this storm, which hit the state almost exactly 14 years ago.
43. The whole shebang: ALL OF IT.
44. Cardinals or Falcons: NFL TEAM.
46. Frequent co-producer of U2 albums: ENO. Brian Eno (b. May 15, 1948) makes frequent appearances in the puzzles.
48. Dashboard feature: DIAL.
50. Suffix with proto- or cyto-: PLASM. As in Protoplasm and Cytoplasm.
51. Southpaw: LEFTY. Did you ever wonder where the term Southpaw originated?
55. Low card: TREY.
57. Sched. question mark: TBA. As in To Be Announced.
59. Disabled car need: TOW.
60. "2 Fast 2 Furious" actress Mendes: EVA. Eva Mandes (née Eva de la Caridad Méndez (b. Mar. 5, 1974) and Ryan Gosling (né Ryan Thomas Gosling b. Nov. 12, 1980) are a family unit.
Here's the Grid:
Here's the Grid:
