Theme: Take me out to the Ball Game, revealed in 62 Across: Its season starts today; its equipment starts the starred answers: BASEBALL.

1A. *One way to reach a superhero: BAT PHONE. I've been reliving my childhood lately, a newer cable channel called the HUB is re-running the old Batman TV series.

23A. *2008 Republican hopeful: MITT ROMNEY. I hope I don't catch (see what I did there) any flack for saying this; I'm uncomfortable now whenever a political clue comes along... It has been said that the biggest hurdle in his bid was that he is a Mormon: Politics and religion all rolled up in a single package.

34A. *Roll-fed toy: CAP PISTOL. Speaking of childhood, anyone else remember hitting a whole roll of caps at a time with a hammer?

46A. *Musical about rock's 4 Seasons: JERSEY BOYS. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

Hi all, Al here.  I kind of rushed through this one today, and didn't even read all the clues, so sorry about the brevity.  The perps filled a lot of the answers in for me and I found myself going back to the grid thinking "where was that?" quite a bit.  There were a few nice tricky clues, but the only thing that really struck me was that there seemed to be quite a few two-word answers. 

ACROSS:

9. Blind slat: LOUVER.

15. Concurred about: AGREED ON.

16. Lower, for now: ON SALE. There was gonna be one there. We was gonna buy one anyway, so aren't you glad I got it . . .

17. Ogled: LEERED AT.

18. Skinned: PEELED.

19. One of two O.T. books: SAML. Clue and ans. both abbrs. 1 and 2 Samuel are part of the Hebrew Bible. The work was originally written in Hebrew, and the Book(s) of Samuel originally formed a single text.

20. When Donne is done for the day?: EEN. Poetic evening.

21. Genesis outcast: EVE. Because Peter Gabriel wouldn't fit.

22. Go by: PASS.

27. Focus of some trips: EGO. Last week's star wars clue.

28. Justice Sotomayor: SONIA. First Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court, serving since August 2009.

29. Unsatisfactory marks?: ACNE. Wanted to fill with DEES or EFFS.

30. Explain: CONSTRUE. I always construed construe to mean "understand". Guess I was always wrong...

32. Fiona, after Shrek's kiss: OGRESS. Before that, too, but only at night.

36. Fertilizer component: POTASH. Along with Nitrogen (first) and Phosphorus (second), potassium is the third number you see on a commercial bag.

39. "I can't explain it": NO REASON. Often the answer to: "Why'd you do that?

43. Imitated: APED.

44. Old 51-Across devices: ETNAS. Burners, along with 51A. Trial site, perhaps: LAB.

45. "The Simpsons" shopkeeper: APU.

49. Benjamin et al.: Abbr.: PVTS. Goldie Hawn movie, Private Benjamin.

50. Give pieces to: ARM. Gats, rods, heaters.

52. Jai __: ALAI. Basket = cesta.  Ball = pelota, which travels at speeds up to 250 feet per second (170 MPH).  Ouch. And I used to think it hurt to get hit with a racquetball.

53. "The Executioner's Song" Pulitzer winner: MAILER. Norman. The events surrounding the execution of Gary Gilmore by the state of Utah for murder.

55. Burlesque act: FAN DANCE.

59. Show up: ATTEND.

60. Some feelers: ANTENNAE.

61. Viewed to be: SEEN AS.

DOWN:

1. __ masqué: dance with costumes: BAL. A masquerade ball.

2. A good while back: AGES AGO.

3. Crime of betrayal: TREASON.

4. Stylish waves: PERMS.

5. Cad: HEEL. Cad is a shortening of cadet originally used of servants, then (1831) of town boys by students at British universities and public schools (though at Cambridge it meant "snob"). Meaning "person lacking in finer feelings".  A heel is a "contemptible person," in U.S. underworld slang, originally "incompetent or worthless criminal," probably from a sense of "person in the lowest position."

6. "How peculiar": ODD.

7. Tishby of "The Island": NOA. Cute, but never heard of her...

8. Head M.D.?: ENT. Otolaryngology or ENT is the branch of medicine and surgery that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders. Practitioners are called otolaryngologists–head and neck surgeons, or sometimes otorhinolaryngologists (ORL).

9. Horse warming up, say: LOPER. I misread this clue as house instead of horse.

10. Bridge opener, briefly: ONE NO. Trump.

11. Take for a chump: USE.

12. Chemical bonding number: VALENCE. The numeric portion of the charge of an ion regardless whether it is positive or negative.

13. Winning numbers: ELEVENS.

14. Flights that often span two days: RED EYES. Late night plane trips. Another misread, I kept seeing "fights" instead of flights.

20. LAX posting: ETA.

22. Chest ripple: PEC.torals. Trying to be fair, for the ladies.

23. Transform eerily, in sci-fi: MORPH. A smooth transition from one shape or face to another, SFX trickery.

24. __ to one's neck: IN UP.

25. Link with: TIE INTO.

26. Donald's second ex: MARLA. Trump, Maples. Not bad for 46...

28. Coming and going spots: Abbr.: STAS. Stations.  Always have to wait for perps to see if the third letter will be A or N.

31. Carloads: SCADS.

32. Others, in Oaxaca: OTRAS. Spanish.

33. Proceeds: GOES.

35. Sharp competitor: SONY.

36. Hefner garb: PAJAMAS.

37. Work: OPERATE.

38. Unhappy home inspection find: TERMITE.

40. African plain: SAVANNA.

41. Like some film effects: OPTICAL.

42. Sorority letters: NUS. 13th letter of the Greek alphabet. We are the knights who say "ni" (as in onion).

44. Flow back: EBB.

47. "The Vampire Diaries" heroine Gilbert: ELENA. On the CW network, which I apparently don't watch much of... Another unknown to me.

48. Play places: YARDS.  Wanted to get "stage" to be plural with only five letters.

49. Secondary strategy: PLAN B.

52. Chick chaser?: ADEE. Suffix: Chickadee.

54. Quarterback Dawson: LEN.

55. "Super!": FAB.

56. Actress Gasteyer: ANA. From Saturday Night Live.

57. Some Windows systems: NTS. This should have an obsolete tag on it... But without it I can't do my favorite (geeky) Microsoft joke.  There is Windows CE for compact devices (WINCE, what you do when you have to work with it), Windows ME (Millenium Edition, now also obsolete), and Windows NT (New Technology, but commonly called "Nice Try")  Put those all together and you get CE ME NT, as hard as a rock and as dumb as a brick.

58. Epitome of slipperiness: EEL.

Answer Grid

Al

Thursday, March 24, Don Gagliardo and C.C. Burnikel

Theme, revealed in 55 Across: Decide once and for all, and what one can do to the ends of 17-, 22-, 36- and 47-Across: MAKE-OR-BREAK.

17. Romantic evening components, perhaps: DINNER DATES. Ask someone out, break their heart.

22. California Gold Rush staple: SOURDOUGH BREAD. Earn money, start eating a meal.

36. Alien statutes: IMMIGRATION LAWS. Aliens, of course, meaning foreigners, rather than ETs from outer space. Make legislation, break a rule.

47. Wurlitzer whirlers: JUKEBOX RECORDS. Make a musical recording, best a formerly unsurpassed accomplishment.

Hi all, Al here, with the honor of blogging a Thursday puzzle with a very well known co-author, at least well-known around this particular blogosphere anyway... I hope I don't have to spell it out for you all. There's a note at the end from said co-author which explains the structure of the theme better than I could.

ACROSS:.

1. Soaking spots: BATHS. The original meaning was to heat, not to immerse.  Bath, in Somerset England, was named because of its hot springs.

6. Mideast ruling family name: ASSAD. Syria.

11. Field call: CAW. Corn field, not sports.

14. Language that gives us "kayak": INUIT. Inupik Eskimo inuit "people," plural of inuk "man."

15. Abu __: DHABI. The richest city in the world.  Today's geography lesson. Fabulous architecture.

16. She played Beatrix in "Kill Bill": UMA. Thurman

19. Strain: TAX. To put a burden on...so the same meaning, really.

20. Reason-based faith: DEISM. A point of view that states a supreme being exists, but without interfering in human affairs, and without any organized religion.

21. Film in Cannes: CINE. French.

27. Watering hole: PUB. Where people gather and don't drink water, and 52A. 27-Across offerings: ALES.

28. 23-Down was one: Abbr.: SEN.ator with 23D. 2009 Peace Nobelist: OBAMA and also 49D. Homeland of 23-Down's father: KENYA.

29. "Able was __ ...": palindrome start: I ERE I saw Elba.

30. Try in court: HEAR.

32. Came around regarding: AGREED TO.

40. It can make a star shine: LEAD ROLE.

41. 4-Down titles: SRIS. An honorific prefix meaning "beauty" along with 4D. Gandhi, for one: HINDU.

42. Stadium take: GATE. Short for "gate money" collected from selling tickets.

43. Like sashimi: RAW. A sushi terminology and pronunciation guide.

46. Cause of star wars?: EGO. I would have said the cause was absolute power corrupting absolutely.  Not sure if I have the point of this clue/answer... Possibly related to 2D. Darth, at one time: ANI. Anakin Skywalker.

53. Plant moisture buildup: EDEMA. A swelling, not necessarily limited to plants.

54. Quaint stopover: INN. Old English "inne" inside, within.

61. Hens do it: LAY.

62. Novelist Jong: ERICA. Fear of Flying, which wasn't about flying.

63. Blue Cross competitor: AETNA. Originally sold fire insurance, thus the "Etna" name to invoke the image of a fiery volcano.

64. Yellow __: SEA. Bonus geography lesson.

65. He passed Lou in 2009 to become the Yankees' all-time hit leader: DEREK. Lou Gehrig, Derek Jeter, baseball. I sense C. C.'s influence here...

66. Pulitzer writer Kidder: TRACY. The Soul of a New Machine, about Data General Corporation designing a new machine under high pressure and an impossible schedule so that they could compete with Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX. Set in the 70's.

DOWN:

1. Certain eBay click: BID.

3. Large cask: TUN. Originally 256 gallons, and related to the ton weight measure.

5. Directs: STEERS.

6. Attaches to the house: ADDS ON.

7. SeaWorld performer: SHAMU.

8. Did nothing: SAT.

9. Symbol of honesty: ABE. A political rarity.  He didn't like the nickname, though.

10. Bad-mouth: DIS. Shortening of "disrespect".

11. Sweetie pie: CUTIE.

12. Whirlpool brand: AMANA. Once owned by Raytheon, the inventors of the microwave oven way back in 1947. Home use wasn't available until 20 years later.

13. Like some slippery floors: WAXED.

18. Sally in space: RIDE. The first woman in space. I always think of this song when I see her name.

21. Anglers' baskets: CREELS. And they say men don't like wicker.

22. "So I was wrong": SUE ME. I was just watching Guys and Dolls again for the umpteenth time tonight...

24. Leslie Caron title role: GIGI.

25. Sub: HERO. Hoagie, grinder, blimpie, po' boy, others.

26. British weapon designed in Czechoslovakia: BREN. A light machine gun. The name was derived from Brno, the Czechoslovak city where the Zb vz. 26 was originally designed, and Enfield, site of the British Royal Small Arms Factory.

27. Three-time Masters champ Mickelson: PHIL. Golf.

31. Ruffles features: RIDGES.

32. Had: ATE.

33. Challenged: DARED.

34. Campfire base: TWIGS. Or steel wool connected to a battery...

35. __ buco: OSSO. Italian for "Bone with a hole", veal with vegetables, and wine sauce.

37. Snatch: GRAB.

38. __-Rooter: ROTO. That's the name, you just flush your troubles down the drain.

39. "A Clockwork Orange" narrator: ALEX. Anthony Burgess, writer, Stanley Kubrick, director of the movie adaptation, who left the final "redeeming" chapter from the book out of the movie, because it didn't feel like it "fit" with the rest of the story.

43. New Jersey's state tree: RED OAK.

44. Top server: ACER.

45. Burrowing marsupial: WOMBAT. The wombat lives across the seas/Among the far Antipodes./He may exist on nuts and berries,/Or then again, on missionaries; /His distant habitat precludes/Conclusive knowledge of his moods,/But I would not engage the wombat/In any form of mortal combat. -- Ogden Nash

47. Puts in the can?: JAILS.

48. Radii neighbors: ULNAE. Both Latin plurals.

50. Volleyball great Gabrielle: REECE.

51. More elusive: RARER.

55. Dr.'s study: MED. Abbrevs in clue and answer.

56. Were now?: ARE. Present tense

57. Cassis apéritif: KIR. Blackcurrant liqueur topped up with white wine.

58. Seventh Greek letter: ETA.

59. Mandela's org.: ANC. African National Congress.

60. Mary __ Ash, cosmetics company founder: KAY. Pink Cadillacs for the top sales people.

Answer Grid

A note from C.C. about today's puzzle:

"This puzzle was accepted last November. Don and I tried to engage MAKE & BREAK in a different context in each theme entry. We also felt it was necessary that certain ending words in the theme answers be plural to consistently apply MAKE & BREAK. Gridding was a bit of challenge due to the theme phrase length & the letter combination in JUKEBOX RECORDS. The wonderful clues for STAR ROLE & EGO are Rich's creation.

Don was very open to the idea of collaborating on puzzles. He feels that the process is inspirational for both sides, no matter the experience of either. It is fun to see the evolution of thought processes as they are explored through e-mail exchanges. I am very lucky to have him as a Lao Shi (teacher)."

Al

Theme: Air-raising. All four theme answers are in turn clue definitions for the (same) answer to 53 Down: Clue for 17-, 26-, 45- and 60-Across: LIFT.

17. BRITISH ELEVATOR.
26. FOOTWEAR INSERT.
45. BOOST IN SPIRITS.
60. HITCHHIKERS RIDE.

Hi all, Al here. I guess this makes it as a Thursday crossword because it contains a second, third, and fourth meaning of a word, which you usually see late in the week as a clue, one where you can't just pop in the first answer that comes to mind. I started writing this explanation and struggled with it to the point where I started confusing myself in the attempt to be clear. Let's hope I got this right:

HOMONYMS sound alike, spelling may be either the same or different.
HOMOGRAPHS are spelled alike, sound may be either the same or different.
HOMOPHONES sound alike but have different spellings.
HETERONYMS are spelled alike but sound different.

So, In the theme today for all four cases, LIFT is both a homonym and a homograph, but not a homophone, nor a heteronym. As a side note, heist is related to hoist, because both are the action of something being LIFTed.

ACROSS:

1. Bingo call: B-TEN. Typically there are 75 numbers in play so, "under the B" could be 1-15. However there is a 90 number variant that would make it be between 1-18.

5. Gordon __: Michael Douglas's "Wall Street" role: GEKKO. 1987 Best Actor Oscar.

10. One may require stitches: GASH.

14. German import: AUDI.

15. Slangy negative: IXNAY. Pig Latin for NIX.

16. Control: RULE. The measuring stick is the source for the verb in the sense of to "guide on the straight correct path", with "rule of thumb" appearing somewhere along the way.

20. Fairy tale ender: AFTER. As in "and they all lived happily ever after."

21. Amazement: AWE. From Old Norse agi "fright".

22. Early surgery aid: ETHER. But highly flammable, and with side effects such as nausea and vomiting.

23. Talking with one's hands?: Abbr.: ASL. American Sign Language. Those with delicate sensibilities about language should not click this link, but it is quite well done, with over 1.5 million views and only 207 dislikes.

25. Ante-: PRE. A prefix for a prefix, for example: antecedent (to go before).

34. Washington's Grand __ Dam: COULEE.  Here's a crossword staple, Arlo Guthrie.

35. Fierce anger: RAGE.

36. Carnival city: RIO. I'll spare you from linking to Duran Duran...

37. Old, in Oberhausen: ALTE. German.

38. "Good heavens!": EGADS. and 51D. "Gadzooks!": YIPE. Gad being a euphemism for God.

40. Humdinger: LULU.

41. Relieve (of): RID.

42. Pencil remnant: STUB.

43. Legal-sized fish: KEEPER. Take your pick.

48. Neighbor of Nev.: ORE. Nevada, Oregon. Pronounced like "Or-ee-gn", and the locals appear to get a bit territorial if you pronounce it like the ending of a geometric shape.

49. Reggae singer Kamoze: INI. New to me...

50. Big name in food service: SYSCO. Restaraunt supplier.

53. Brine-cured delicacy: LOX. Smoked salmon.

55. Remove forcibly: EXPEL. Related: repel, dispel, propel, from latin pellere "drive".

63. Andy Taylor's son: OPIE. Little Ronnie Howard from Mayberry, RFD.

64. Submit taxes, nowadays: E-FILE.

65. Kong's kin: APES.

66. Guam, for one: Abbr.: TERRitory. Today's geography lesson.

67. 50s experiment, briefly: H-TEST.

68. Longings: YENS.

DOWN:.

1. Cake with a kick: BABA. au Rhum.

2. Horse racing surface: TURF.

3. Cut, perhaps: EDIT.

4. Nick at __: NITE. "Family" cable channel, reruns and sitcoms.

5. Dogfaces, briefly: GIS. Usually only infantrymen were called that.  Slept in pup tents, stayed in foxholes, wore dog tags, ordered around like a dog.

6. Yoga instruction: EXHALE.

7. Had no doubts about: KNEW.

8. Leafy vegetable: KALE.

9. Santana's "__ Como Va": OYE.

10. Irritates, with "on": GRATES.

11. One may have an agt.: AUTHor.

12. Fruit used to flavor gin: SLOE.

13. Bavarian mister: HERR.

18. Really peeved: IRATE.

19. Fogg's creator: VERNE. Phileas Fogg, Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne.

24. Honeybunch: SWEETIE. What my wife calls me when she is not happy.

25. What might be used when a bomb is hurled on a field?: PIGSKIN. A long pass in football, or a scene from The Mouse That Roared.

26. Port closing?: FOLIO. All your personal investments summarized in a portfolio.

27. Show up: OUT-DO.

28. Flamenco exclamation: OLE. Bravo.

29. Bedouins, e.g.: ARABS. Arabic badawin "desert-dwellers," an already pluralized form of badawi.

30. "Really cool!": RAD. Shortening of "radical".

31. Break out, as violence: ERUPT.

32. Ticks off: RILES.

33. Organized string of gigs: TOUR.

34. Atkins diet taboo: CARB. So close, but too far in the wrong direction with meat. Excess protein is broken down into sugar and urea, which places stress on the kidneys and doesn't really solve the stored fat problem long term.

39. Pistol: GUN. and 50D. Used a 39-Down: SHOT.

40. Island welcome: LEI.

42. Old Detroit brewery name: STROH.

44. Lakeshore natives: ERIES.

46. World Cup sport: SOCCER.

47. Digital dots: PIXELS. Individual component makeup of pictures, shortened to pics, then pix, a Variety magazine word.

52. Swizzle: STIR. Swizzle of uncertain origin, possibly a variant of switchel "a drink of molasses and water" (often mixed with rum.)

54. Haggard's "__ from Muskogee": OKIE. Even back when times were simpler, people were still resisting change.

56. See-through, in comics: X-RAY. An old advertisement for the unwary, whose money would soon be departed.

57. Meerschaum or brier: PIPE.

58. Genesis locale: EDEN.

59. Subtraction word: LESS.

61. Half a devious laugh: HEH.

62. Living in Ariz., maybe: RETired.

Answer Grid

Al

Thursday, March 10, 2011 Pamela Amick Klawitter

Theme:  Blade anagrams (shown in GREEN below), revealed in 59 Across: Street weapon, and a hint to the hidden theme in 17-, 23- and 48-Across: SWITCH BLADE. The word "switch" being a cryptic, or English crossword tip-off that an anagram is on play.

17A. Negotiation obstacle: DEAL BREAKER.

23A. Recovery sites: HOSPITAL BEDS.

48A. Most agree it should be reduced: NATIONAL DEBT.

Al here, with a fairly easy Thursday puzzle, I thought.  A few tricky clues, worthy of the day, and some fresh non-theme answers: Take that you canaries. A lot of the downs seemed pretty straightforward though. The theme was an interesting exercise for me today. It was once again something I had to ferret out after the puzzle was completed, and not so easy to see without the circles provided in the Across Lite puz file.

ACROSS:

1. Calrissian of "Star Wars" films: LANDO. Played by Billy Dee Williams.  A scoundrel.  Not really evil, but not to be trusted.

6. Playground rejoinder: AM TOO.

11. Down: SAD. In Old English, this meant sated, or satiated, which passed through heavy with fullness and thus tired, finally emerging as unhappy.

14. Center of Florida?: EPCOT. Center as a building, not as a geography.

15. Pageant prop: TIARA.

16. __ mater: PIA. Perhaps a bit obscure: from Latin "tender mother" is the delicate innermost layer of the meninges, the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

19. Gallery opening?: ART.

20. PDQ relative: ASAP. Get 'er done Pretty Damn Quick, As Soon As Possible, STAT (Latin statim, immediately).

21. Palindromic fashion model: EMME. I'll just quote Wiki here to see if you spot the problem: "is largely recognized as the leading model in the profession"

22. Surgeon's patient, perhaps: TREE. Not just a chainsaw wielder, tree surgeons need to know local laws and regulations against removing certain species in the area, and be able to read survey maps in the case of legal neighboring boundary disputes over who "owns" the tree in question.

27. Chip away at: EAT INTO.

30. Paint choices: HUES. I was sure this would be OILS...

31. A and B, at times: PLANS. Drawings, schematics or charts on a flat surface (mathematically, a flat surface is a plane).

32. Holdup note?: LATE PASS. School permission slip.

36. 70s-'80s televangelist show "The __ Club": PTL. Praise the Lord (and pass the ammunition).

37. Vinegary prefix: ACETO. Latin vinum acetum "wine turned sour"

39. Be in the running: VIE. A form of Middle English envie "make a challenge," from Old French envier, from L. invitare (invite).

40. State capital component, often: SALES TAX. Capital as in money.

43. Old fallout source: A TEST. Video from 1953.

45. Apollo 11 destination: MOON. Go back far enough and the same word is used for moon and month.

46. Trading places: EMPORIA. Places for buying and selling, not a scene from the Prince and the Pauper.

52. Skunk's weapon: ODOR.

53. "Children of the Poor" author: RIIS. Jacob. I remember now looking him up previously, but forgot again. Muckraking journalist and photographer trying to help the impoverished in New York over 100 years ago.

54. Reason for the downfall of many kings?: ACES. Oh, playing cards.

58. __-secret: TOP.

62. Rollover subj.: IRA. Individual Retirement account.

63. Turn away: AVERT.

64. Kitchen tubes: PENNE. Hollow pasta.

65. Turk's topper: FEZ. Fezzes are cool if you're a Doctor Who fan...

66. Fills (up): GASES. Going up to $4 a gallon this summer?  What, are we living in Europe now?

67. Germs may lead to them: IDEAS.

DOWN:

1. Yeats's "__ and the Swan": LEDA. The swan was Zeus in disguise, who seduced Leda, and in turn bore Helen (of troy) and Polydeuces (Pollux, twin of Castor) about which an opera was written.

2. Copies: APES.

3. Sweet Sixteen initials: NCAA. National Collegiate Athletic Association. Yes, it's time for March Madness (basketball) again.

4. 7-Down athlete: DOLPHIN. with 7D. Home of a 4-Down: MIAMI.

5. Place to play favorites, briefly: OTB. Off-Track Betting.

6. Score direction after accelerando, perhaps: A TEMPO. Return to the original speed.

8. Words of aggression: TAKE THAT!

9. Rush find: ORE. Gold rush, not the radio personality.

10. Galley tool: OAR.

11. Fifth wheel: SPARE.

12. Broadcast: AIRED.

13. Some are blind: DATES.

18. Doctor's suggestion: REST.

22. Kitchen meas.: TBSP.

24. Come-__: lures.: ONS.

25. Bronco or Charger: AUTO. Looking for a football word, but no, Ford and a Dodge vehicles.

26. "Taking Woodstock" director: LEE. Ang.

27. "House" actor Omar: EPPS.

28. Wasatch Mountains resort: ALTA.

29. One way to stand: TALL.

32. First name in comics villains: LEX. Luthor. One of the many LL initialed characters in Superman's life.

33. Say and mean: AVER. From Old French averer "verify from Latin ad- "to" + verus "true". Related word very, which also meant true.  Verily so, sire.

34. Speedy Gonzales assent: SI SI. Spanish.

35. __ precedent: SET A. What goes before (precedes) may be taken as a rule for later cases.

37. Loads: A TON.

38. Cops' favorite birds?: CANARIES. Canaries sing (tell all, confess).

41. Dubai big shot: EMIR.

42. Jack of "Barney Miller": SOO. Detective Nick Yemana, who made very bad coffee. Characters galore in this show, Barney Miller in his NY precinct was the updated Andy Taylor from Mayberry RFD.

43. NYPD broadcast: APB. All Points Bulletin

44. Beyond repair: TOTALED. There are no auto "accidents" anymore, they are now termed crashes.

46. Orders from above: EDICTS. Proclamations having the force of law.

47. Screen door material: MESH.

48. "__ you paid me!": NOT IF.

49. Hold precious: ADORE. To speak (and think) highly of, Latin ad + orare (root of orate)

50. Birthstone after opal: TOPAZ. A Hitchcock movie, A B52's song.

51. Petrol unit: LITRE. "English" spelling. Hopefully, I used the correct term, because the language is English. Cuppa? But if you want to be confused, or perhaps enlightened, have a look at this chart of how to refer to our cousins from across the pond.

55. Mr. Peanut prop: CANE. And a top hat.

56. Tracy Turnblad's mom in "Hairspray": EDNA. Played by John Travolta in the 2007 John Waters remake.

57. Gets it: SEES.

59. Show age, in a way: SAG.

60. Sen. Byrd's state: WVA. West Virginia.

61. Electronic storage density meas.: BPI. Bits Per Inch. A bit being the smallest datum, on/off, a 1 or a zero.  8 bits make a byte, the standard for grouping.  Each letter you read on a computer takes up 8 bits to store, except for some of the Asian character set, which are termed multi-byte characters.

Answer Grid.

Al

Theme revealed in 36 Across: One of six in this puzzle: ANAGRAM CROSSING.

 1A. SPOUTS crosses 5D. TOSSUP
18A. MANATEES crosses 10D. EMANATES
28A. PASTA crosses 24D. TAPAS
48A. TOTEM crosses 35D. MOTET
61A. PEAR TREE crosses 37D. REPARTEE
68A. MENTAL crosses 49D. MANTLE

Al here.  I eliminated the clues in the above, hopefully to make the theme answers and their relationships clearer, but left them in, down in the rest of the write-up. I made a colored picture of the grid showing the theme layout, but there are so many crossings with other answers, I'm not sure it helps all that much. One of those puzzles where the theme really didn't come into play for me. Just as with Dan's puzzle yesterday, this "solved" like a themeless puzzle. Even once I knew they were supposed to be there, I had to look for places where the across and down were the same length, and of course the symmetric positions, after I was done solving.  Very heavy theme count, 13 answers, 79 squares.  Lots of tricky cluing as well, so a fun solve, but not a walk in the park by any means.  At the bottom there are notes from Don about constructing something like this.

ACROSS:

1. Orates: SPOUTS. As in a fountain spouting, comes from a root word meaning to spit.  It was also the slang term for the lift in a pawnbroker's shop, up which articles were taken for storage, hence fig. phrase up the spout "lost, hopeless, gone beyond recall"

7. Hourly wage, e.g.: BASE RATE.

15. Refuses to: CANNOT. This one took me a long time to agree with, so I held off filling it in at first, but when someone says "I cannot help you", it does usually mean they won't, not that they are unable to.

16. Astronomy measurements: AZIMUTHS.  The definition is just confusing: Distance of a star from the north or south point of the meridian. A picture works better.

17. Engrave: INCISE. Cutting into.

18. Sea cows: MANATEES. Dugongs are in the same family.

19. Brief needlework?: TATS. Tatting is making knotted lace.

20. Megan's "Will & Grace" role: KAREN. Megan Mullaly, Karen Walker. Grace's secretary, who doesn't really need to work because she married into money several times.

21. Label for some Glenn Frey hits: MCA. Music Corporation of America.

22. Physicist with a law: OHM.  I was taught this as V=IR (voltage = amperage times resistance)

23. Acting teacher Hagen: UTA.

25. "It __ far, far better thing...": Dickens: IS A. From Tale of Two Cities, It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known.

26. Wages: PAY. Can't argue with that...or else you'll get canned.

27. Get: SEE. I get it, see?

28. Noodles, say: PASTA.

30. The Simpsons, e.g.: TOONS.

32. Wedding dance: HORA. The chair dance, right?

34. Fabled mattress lump: PEA.

35. Mal de __: MER.  Sea sickness. Also once meant scurvy.

42. Some tech sch. grads: EES. Electrical Engineers.

43. Top ten item: HIT.

44. Sign: OMEN.

45. Pricey: STEEP.

48. Pole symbol: TOTEM.

50. Wall St. exec's degree: MBA. Master of Business Administration.

51. Collar: NAB. Variant of nap "to grab or seize" as in kidnap.

52. "Aladdin" monkey: ABU. The Disney version.

54. Frat letter: ETA. College Greeks.

55. Food scrap: ORT.

56. Geneva-based workers' gp.: ILO. International Labour Organization.

57. Babe and Baby: RUTHS. A candy bar and a baseball great shaped like one.

59. Gijon goose egg: NADA. Spanish for nothing. A numeric zero on a scoreboard looks like a big fat goose egg.

61. Orchard grower: PEAR TREE.

63. An iamb's second half gets it: STRESS.

65. Noteworthy: ESTEEMED. As in estimated, from ais-temos "one who cuts copper," i.e. mints money.

66. Mount McKinley's home: ALASKA. Did Mrs. McKinley ever visit? I dunno, I'll ask her.

67. Relax: REST EASY.

68. Word with health or illness: MENTAL. I was disappointed when this show was canceled. I should go work for the networks, I think.  If I like a show, they'll know not to even bother making it and save a lot of money. Firefly, New Amsterdam, John Doe, all too short-lived. The networks are all Mental.

DOWN:

1. __-fi: SCI. An "old" abbrev for Science Fiction.  SF writers prefer it to be called SF these days, but that's too short for a crossword answer.

2. Temple of the gods: PANTHEON.

3. Being filmed: ON CAMERA.

4. Platoon, for one: UNIT.

5. Anybody's guess: TOSSUP.

6. Chateau __ Michelle winery: STE. A new and different way to clue a French abbrev for a female saint.

7. The Tide: BAMA. They call Alabama the crimson tide. Deacon Blues.

8. Hank who voices many 30-Across: AZARIA. Also played three roles in the "Night at the Smithsonian" movies: Kahmunrah/The Thinker/Abe Lincoln.

9. Cosecant reciprocals: SINES. A graph showing the relationship.

10. Arises: EMANATES. Directly from Latin emanare "flow out, arise, proceed,"

11. Groove: RUT. Sure, they mean the same thing, except when they don't idiomatically. If I'm "in the groove", I'm certainly not "in a rut".

12. At the original speed, in music: A TEMPO.

13. Jail, in slang: THE CAN. If you played kick the can, someone had to go to jail. I wonder if one is related to the other.

14. Tests that are hard to guess on: ESSAYS.

20. Deejay Casey: KASEM.

22. Dept. of Labor agency: OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

24. Spanish appetizers: TAPAS. Lots of different kinds.

29. Speed: Pref.: TACHO. Straight from the Greek.

31. Meeting time qualifier: OR SO.

33. One-time Time critic James: AGEE.

35. Sacred choral piece: MOTET.

37. Comeback: REPARTEE.

38. Solemn acts: RITES.

39. Bold: IMMODEST.

40. Big 12 school soon to be in the Big Ten: NEBRASKA.

41. No-see-um, say: GNAT.

45. Hard-to-see shooter: SNIPER.

46. "Thy Neighbor's Wife" author: TALESE. About "free love", i.e. a marriage-less society.

47. WWII torpedo launchers: E-BOATS. The "E" is thought to mean Enemy, but could be from Eilboot (hurry boat).  They were called Schnellboots by the German navy.

48. Some learners: TUTEES.

49. It's beneath the crust: MANTLE. Layers of the earth, crust, mantle, core. (OK, two mantles and two cores if you're picky).

53. Siam neighbor: BURMA. Today's geography lesson.

58. Actress Lamarr: HEDY. Along with being quite the looker, she co-invented an early technique for spread spectrum communications, a key to many forms of wireless communication from the pre-computer age to the present day.

60. Sweater style named for Irish islands: ARAN.

62. Like some mil. officers: RET. Military, retired.

63. Yosemite __: SAM. The rootinest tootinest shootinest bob tailed wild cat in the west.

64. ESPN reporter Paolantonio: SAL. Not in my sphere of awareness.

Answer Grid

Al

Here are some thoughts from Don about today's puzzle:

"Anagram Crossing
Sometimes a theme shows up while one is constructing another puzzle.  In this case, I noticed two words in a grid crossing each other that were anagrams of each other.  I thought that was interesting, and started to play with the possibilities.  One needs a unifier in this case, and ANAGRAM CROSSING was a lucky choice, being exactly 15-letters long.  That meant that it had to be in the center, because anywhere else would require another 15-letter word to reflect it, and that would disrupt the theme pattern.  I thought that I could get six anagram crossings, and it ended up that I could barely do that.  The central 15-letter answer makes it a great challenge.  On the plus side, there are many anagrams to choose from.  On the down side, they have to cross in my scheme, and possibly cross the central answer, and I wanted to enter them symmetrically in the grid and cross at the same places.  I don’t know why.  It just looks prettier that way.  So I just kept hunting, and eventually worked it out.  On my first submission, Rich thought that I shouldn’t have a brand name entry, so I had to change things.  I think I ended up with five different grids, if that is an indication of how difficult it is to change something like this.  I don’t think I’ll try that again!"