LA Times Crossword 5 Jan 22, Wednesday

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Constructed by: David Poole
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: The Leaning Tower

The grid includes TOWERS spelled out in circled letters, and each LEANS to the left.

  • 39A Noted Italian campanile that hints at each group of circled letters in this puzzle : THE LEANING TOWER

Those TOWERS are:

  • ALOHA
    Aloha Tower is a lighthouse that sits at Pier 9 in Honolulu Harbor. Aloha Tower was the tallest structure in Hawaii for many years, standing at 10 stories with a 40 foot flag mast on top.
  • COIT
    Coit Tower is a renowned memorial in San Francisco that sits atop Telegraph Hill. The full name of the structure is the Lillian Coit Memorial Tower, recognizing a generous bequest to the city by wealthy socialite Lillie Hitchcock Coit. There is an urban myth in these parts that the tower was designed to resemble the nozzle of a fire hose, as Lillie used to like chasing fires and hanging out with firefighters.
  • EIFFEL
    The “Exposition Universelle” (World’s Fair) of 1889 was held in Paris, France. The 1900 fair is remembered for the magnificent entrance arch that was constructed for visitors. That entrance arch was to remain standing for only nine years, but the city decided to keep it and you can visit it today. Today we call that entrance arch the Eiffel Tower. The tower is sometimes referred to in French “La Dame de Fer”, meaning “the Iron Lady”.
  • SEARS
    Sears made a big splash in the world’s newspapers in 1974 when it completed its new headquarters in Chicago, the Sears Tower. At 110 stories, it was the tallest building in the world, and remained so until the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur were completed in 1996. Sears moved out of the building in 1993, but had the rights to the name on the building until early 2009. Since that time, the building has been called the Willis Tower, after the new owners.
  • CN
    When I last took the elevator to the top of the CN Tower in Toronto back in the eighties, it was the tallest freestanding structure in the world. It lost that title in 2007 during the construction of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the building which still has that honor. The CN Tower was built by the railway company Canadian National, which gave it the name. After “Canadian” National sold the tower in 1995, it has been known as “Canada’s” National Tower.

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 6m 24s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 One might be en route to the ER : EMT

An emergency medical technician (EMT) usually takes a patient to an emergency room (ER).

“En route” is a French term that means “on the way”.

13 Leachman tied for the most (eight) Emmy wins as a performer : CLORIS

Actress Cloris Leachman won more primetime Emmy Awards than any other person, mainly for her portrayal of Phyllis Lindstrom on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. She also won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in the 1971 movie “The Last Picture Show”. Back in 1946, she competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss Chicago.

16 Screenwriter Ephron : NORA

Nora Ephron had many talents, including writing film scripts and novels. Many of the movies that she wrote, she also directed. These would include some of my favorite movies of all time like “Sleepless in Seattle”, “You’ve Got Mail” and most recently, the wonderful “Julie & Julia”. And, did you know that Nora Ephron’s second marriage was to journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame? She wrote an autobiographical novel based on her life with Bernstein, which deals in particular with Bernstein’s affair with the daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan.

23 “Mangia!” : EAT!

“Mangia!” is Italian for “Eat!” and is often used in the names of Italian restaurants or in brand names of Italian foods.

24 Like Vivaldi’s “Spring” : IN E

“The Four Seasons” is the most famous work by Italian Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi. It is a collection of four violin concerti that evoke the seasons of the year. Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” is a favorite choice for background music in elevators and elevators. Personally, my favorite use of the piece is as a backdrop to the 1981 romantic comedy film “The Four Seasons”, starring Alan Alda and Carol Burnett.

Antonio Vivaldi was one of the great composers of the Baroque period. He achieved fame and success within his own lifetime, notoriety that faded soon after he died. Vivaldi’s music has reemerged in recent decades and I am sure everyone is familiar with at least part of his most famous composition, the violin concerto called “The Four Seasons”. Vivaldi was nicknamed “The Red Priest” because he was indeed a priest, and he had red hair.

25 Like cartoons : ANIMATED

The word “cartoon” was originally used for a “drawing on strong paper”, a durable drawing used as a model for a work of art. The term comes from the French word “carton” meaning “heavy paper, pasteboard”. Cartoons have been around a long time, with some of the most famous having been drawn by Leonardo da Vinci.

28 Fröbe who played Goldfinger : GERT

Gert Fröbe was a German actor best known, to us in the English-speaking world, as the man who played Auric Goldfinger in the Bond film “Goldfinger”. Fröbe had been a member of the Nazi Party before WWII and as a result of this, “Goldfinger” was banned in Israel for a while. But then the family of two German Jews came forward and explained that Fröbe had helped with their escape during the war by hiding them from the Gestapo. They formally thanked the actor, and the film was released.

“Goldfinger” is Ian Fleming’s seventh James Bond novel, and was first published in 1959. Fleming was in the habit of naming his characters after people in the real world. The novel’s colorful antagonist Auric Goldfinger was named after Hungarian-born British architect Ernő Goldfinger.

30 Martial arts rank : DAN

The dan ranking system is used in several Japanese and Korean martial arts. The dan ranking indicates a level of proficiency, and often only applies to practitioners who have already earned a black belt.

Martial arts are various fighting traditions and systems used in combat or simply to promote physical well-being. The term “martial” ultimately derives from Latin and means “Arts of Mars”, a reference to Mars, the Roman god of war.

31 Show with skits : REVUE

“Revue” is the French word for “review”.

38 Brunch standard : MIMOSA

Where I come from, the cocktail known in North America as a mimosa is called a buck’s fizz, with the latter named for Buck’s Club in London where it was introduced in 1921. The mimosa came along a few years later, apparently first being served in the Paris Ritz. If you want to make a mimosa, it’s a 50-50 mix of champagne and orange juice, and it is very tasty …

Our word “brunch” is a portmanteau of “breakfast” and “lunch”. The term was coined as student slang in Oxford, England in the late 1890s. However, “brunch” described a combined meal closer to the breakfast hour, and the term “blunch” was used for a meal closer to lunchtime.

39 Noted Italian campanile that hints at each group of circled letters in this puzzle : THE LEANING TOWER

The city of Pisa sits right on the Italian coast, at the mouth of the River Arno. The city is perhaps most famous for its Leaning Tower. The tower is actually the campanile (bell tower) of the city’s cathedral, and it has been leaning since it was completed in 1173. Just shows you how important good foundations are …

A campanile is a bell-tower. Ultimately, the term “campanile” comes from the Late Latin “campana” meaning “metal vessel made in Campania”. Campania is a region of Southern Italy.

43 Gregarious : SOCIAL

Back in the 1600s, the word “gregarious” applied to animals and meant “disposed to live in flocks”. The root word is the Latin “grex” meaning “flock, herd”. I guess the idea is that a gregarious creature plays nice with others.

44 Miller’s salesman : LOMAN

“Death of a Salesman” is a famous play by Arthur Miller that was first produced in 1949. “Death of a Salesman” won a Pulitzer and several Tony Awards over the years. The “Salesman” is the famous character Willy Loman. The play originally opened up on Broadway and ran for 724 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan, and the lead role was played by veteran actor Lee J. Cobb.

Arthur Miller was a remarkable playwright, best known for his plays “Death of a Salesman” and “The Crucible”. Famously, Arthur Miller left his first wife to marry Marilyn Monroe in 1956. The two divorced five years later, just over a year before Monroe died of an apparent drug overdose.

45 Name in book publishing since 1915 : KNOPF

The publishing house Alfred A. Knopf was founded in 1915 and is based in New York City. Knopf places a distinctive emblem on the title page of the books that it publishes. That emblem is a borzoi dog shown in silhouette.

46 “Silk Stockings” co-star Charisse : CYD

Actress Cyd Charisse was famous for her dancing ability and the many roles she played opposite Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Charisse carved out a career based on dance despite the fact that she suffered from polio as a child. In fact, she took up ballet at the age of twelve to help build up her strength as she recovered from the disease.

“Silk Stockings” is a 1957 musical film starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, The film is based on the 1955 stage musical of the same name by Cole Porter and Abe Burrows, which in turn is based on Hungarian writer Melchior Lengyel’s 1939 story “Ninotchka”. Charisse plays Ninotchka Yoschenko in the film.

56 Number of stars on Ghana’s flag : ONE

The flag of Ghana consists of three stripes of red gold and green, with a sole black star in the center of the gold stripe. That black star gives rise to the nickname of the national soccer team, the Black Stars.

The country name “Ghana” translates as “warrior king” in the local language. The British established a colony they named the Gold Coast in 1874, later to become Ghana, as part of the scramble by Europeans to settle as much of Africa as they could. One of Ghana’s most famous sons was Kofi Annan, the diplomat who served as General Secretary of the UN for ten years until the beginning of 2007.

60 Singer Ed with albums titled “+,” “x” and “÷” : SHEERAN

English singer Ed Sheeran has appeared as an actor quite a few times. After several cameos in various films, Sheeran had a substantial role playing himself in the excellent 2019 film “Yesterday”. Sheeran chose some novel names for his first three studio albums: “+” (also “Plus”, released in 2011), “x” (also “Multiply”, released in 2014), and “÷” (also “Divide”, released in 2017).

66 Dot-__ : COMS

A dot-com is a company that primarily makes it money by providing products and services using its online presence.

70 Retired boomer : SST

The most famous supersonic transport (SST) is the retired Concorde. Concorde was developed and produced under an Anglo-French treaty by France’s Aérospatiale and the UK’s British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Concordes were mainly operated by Air France and British Airways, with both companies buying the planes with substantial subsidies from the French and British governments. The final Concorde flight was a British Airways plane that landed in the UK on 26 November 2003.

Supersonic transports (SSTs) like the Concorde broke Mach 1, the speed of sound. As a plane flies through the air, it creates pressure waves in front (and behind) rather like the bow and stern waves of a boat. These pressure waves travel at the speed of sound, so as an aircraft itself accelerates towards the speed of sound it catches up with the pressure waves until they cannot “get out of the way”. When the aircraft reaches the speed of sound, the compressed waves merge into one single shock wave, creating a sonic boom.

71 Some HDTVs : SONYS

Sony was founded by Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation). The two partners met in the Japanese Navy during WWII.

Down

2 She took a day off with Ferris : SLOANE

The character Sloane Peterson in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is played by actress Mia Sara. Sloane is the girlfriend of the title character.

“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is one of my favorite movies of all time. It was written and directed by John Hughes and released in 1986. There are so many classic scenes in the film, including two wonderful musical interludes. The more sedate of these is a vignette shot in the Art Institute of Chicago that is beautifully filmed. The more upbeat musical scene is a rendition of “Twist and Shout” during a Von Steuben Day parade.

4 Sports med. branch : ORTH

Orthopedics (orth.) is the branch of surgery that deals with the musculoskeletal system. The term “orthopedics” was coined in 1741 by French physician Nicolas Andry. Actually, Andry used the French term “Orthopédie” for the title of a book. The term comes from the Greek “orthos” meaning “straight” and “paidon” meaning “child”.

5 Ranchero’s rope : RIATA

A riata is a lariat or a lasso. “Riata” comes from “reata”, the Spanish word for “lasso”.

A ranchero is someone who owns, operates or is employed on a ranch. The term “ranchero” has Spanish roots.

6 An official lang. of Malta : ENG

The island state of Malta is relatively small (122 square miles), but its large number of inhabitants makes it one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. Malta’s strategic location has made it a prized possession for the conquering empires of the world. Most recently it was part of the British Empire and was an important fleet headquarters. Malta played a crucial role for the Allies during WWII as it was located very close to the Axis shipping lanes in the Mediterranean. The Siege of Malta lasted from 1940 to 1942, a prolonged attack by the Italians and Germans on the RAF and Royal Navy, and the people of Malta. When the siege was lifted, King George VI awarded the George Cross to the people of Malta collectively in recognition of their heroism and devotion to the Allied cause. The George Cross can still be seen on the Maltese flag, even though Britain granted Malta independence in 1964.

7 Actor Freeman : MORGAN

Actor Morgan Freeman hails from Memphis, Tennessee. As well as his outstanding performances in front of the camera, Freeman is noted for his distinctive, deep voice. That voice gets him a lot of work narrating television shows and commercials.

8 One in a storm, maybe : TWEET

In the wonderful world of Twitter (said he, sarcastically), a tweetstorm is a series of related tweets by a single user on a related subject.

9 MSNBC rival : CNN

CNN (Cable News Network) was launched in 1980 by the Turner Broadcasting System, and was the first television channel in the world to provide news coverage 24 hours a day.

MSNBC was founded in 1996 as a partnership between Microsoft (“MS”) and GE’s “NBC” broadcasting operation. Microsoft only owns a minority share in MSNBC today, but is still an equal partner in the separate company that runs msnbc.com.

10 Solo, for Ford : ROLE

Han Solo is the space smuggler in “Star Wars” played by Harrison Ford. Ford was originally hired by George Lucas just to read lines for actors during auditions for “Star Wars”, but over time Lucas became convinced that Ford was right for the pivotal role of Han Solo.

Harrison Ford played at least three celebrated, recurring roles in movies: Han Solo in the “Star Wars” series, the title character in the “Indiana Jones” series, and Jack Ryan in the movie versions of Tom Clancy novels. In the early days, Ford became a self-taught carpenter in order to put bread on the table while he looked for acting roles. As a carpenter he worked as a stagehand for the rock band “The Doors”, and he built a sun deck for actress Sally Kellerman (from the movie “M*A*S*H”). George Lucas hired him to build cabinets in his home, and then gave him a part in “American Graffiti”, after which I think Ford hung up his tool belt …

11 Solo, for Fleming : ARIA

Renée Fleming is a marvelous soprano from Indiana, Pennsylvania. Famous for her appearances in opera houses and concert halls all over the world, Fleming is also noted for her willingness to bring her craft to the masses. She was a guest on “Sesame Street” singing “counting lyrics” to an aria from “Rigoletto”, and she has appeared a few times on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion”.

12 “The Resident” star Czuchry : MATT

Matt Czuchry is primarily a television actor. He is perhaps best known for playing Logan Huntzberger on “Gilmore Girls” and lawyer Cary Agos on “The Good Wife”. More recently, he has been playing Doctor Conrad Hawkins, the title role on “The Resident”.

“The Resident” is a medical drama TV show that is based on the book “Unaccountable” surgeon,professor and author Marty Makary. The title character is Conrad Hawkins, a senior resident at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital, played by Matt Czuchry.

19 Many a retired professor : EMERITA

“Emeritus” (female form “emerita”, and plural “emeriti”) is a term in the title of some retired professionals, particularly those from academia. Originally an emeritus was a veteran soldier who had served his time. The term comes from the Latin verb “emerere” meaning to complete one’s service.

21 Last of two Pennsylvania-born presidents : BIDEN

Future President Joe Biden was a US Senator representing the state of Delaware from 1973 until he joined the Obama administration. While he was a senator, Vice President Biden commuted to Washington from Wilmington, Delaware almost every working day. He was such an active customer and supporter of Amtrak that the Wilmington Station was renamed as the Joseph R. Biden Railroad Station in 2011. Biden has made over 7,000 trips from that station, and the Amtrak crews were known to even hold the last train for a few minutes so that he could catch it. Biden earned himself the nickname “Amtrak Joe”.

James Buchanan was US President just prior to the Civil War. He was the only president from the state of Pennsylvania (until President Joe Biden), and also the only president who remained a bachelor for the whole of his life. As he was unmarried, Buchanan’s niece Harriet Lane acted as First Lady. Buchanan earned the nickname “Ten-Cent Jimmie” during the 1856 presidential election campaign, as he famously claimed that ten cents a day was enough for a working man to live on.

26 Subject of a painting by Andy and a song by Elton : MARILYN

Marilyn Monroe was born in 1926 in LA County Hospital, the child of Gladys Pearl Baker. The young girl was given the name of Norma Jeane Mortenson on her birth certificate, but her mother changed this to Norma Jeane Baker almost immediately. She and her estranged husband, Martin Edward Mortensen, had separated before Baker became pregnant so it is suggested that the Mortensen name was used just to give Norma Jeane “legitimacy”. Norma Jeane married Jim Dougherty when she was 16 years old, and took his name to become Norma Jeane Dougherty in 1942. During WWII she was discovered by a photographer and became quite a successful model. The modelling earned her a screen test, at which time it was suggested that Norma Jeane change her name yet again. The first name chosen for her by studio executives was Carole Lind (after Carole Lombard and Jenny Lind), but then Norma Jeane chose “Jeane Monroe” for herself, using her mother’s maiden name. It didn’t take long before the studio intervened again, suggesting that they had too many “Jeans” already. The name Marilyn Monroe was floated as it had a nice ring to it. Along with the new name, Marilyn changed from a brunette to a blonde, and a star was born …

The “Marilyn Diptych” is a 1962 work by pop artist Andy Warhol. It features 50 images of actress Marilyn Monroe taken from a publicity photograph used to market the 1953 thriller film “Niagara”. Warhol created the painting by silkscreening 25 of the images in color on one side of the canvas, and 25 of the images in balck and white on the other side. The color and black-and-white images are said to represent Monroe’s life and death. Warhol created the “Marilyn Diptych” just weeks after the actress died from a barbiturate overdose.

“Candle in the Wind” is a 1973 song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin in honor of Marilyn Monroe, hence the lyric “Goodbye, Norma Jean”. Elton John rewrote some of the words in honor of Diana, Princess of Wales and performed it at the princess’s memorial service. The line most descriptive of Diana in the 1997 version is “Goodbye, English rose”.

27 Exorcism targets : DEMONS

An exorcist is a religious figure who is believed to be able to cast out demons that have possessed a person or perhaps a building.

29 Dutch exports : TULIPS

We usually associate the cultivation of tulips with the Netherlands, but they were first grown commercially in the Ottoman Empire. The name “tulip” ultimately derives from the Ottoman Turkish word “tulbend” that means “muslin, gauze”.

36 Ceviche or sashimi : SEAFOOD

Ceviche is a raw seafood dish that is popular in South and Central America. Ceviche is typically made from fish marinated in lemon or lime juice and spiced with hot peppers.

Sashimi is thinly sliced raw fish, although it can also be raw meat. The word “sashimi” translates literally as “pierced body”, which may be a reference to the practice of sticking the tail and fin to sliced fish to identify it.

37 Villain #13 on AFI’s “100 Years… 100 Heroes & Villains” : HAL

In Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” (famously adapted for the big screen as “2001: A Space Odyssey”) the computer system that went rogue was called HAL 9000, or simply “HAL”. HAL stands for “Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer”. Even though Clarke denied it, there’s a good argument that can be made that the acronym HAL is a veiled reference to IBM, the big player in the world of computing at the time of the novel’s publication (1968). The acronym HAL is just a one-letter shift from the initials “IBM”.

The top 5 movie villains in the American Film Institute’s list “100 Years … 100 Heroes & Villains” are:

  1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs”
  2. Norman Bates in “Psycho”
  3. Darth Vader in “The Empire Strikes Back”
  4. The Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz”
  5. Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

38 “Thelma & Louise” studio : MGM

The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film studio was founded in 1924 by Marcus Loew. Loew was already a successful movie theater owner when he purchased Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919, and then Goldwyn Pictures in 1924. Later in 1924, Loew also purchased Louis B. Mayer Pictures, mainly so that Louis B. Mayer could merge all three studios and run them himself as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

“Thelma & Louise” is a thought-provoking movie, and one that is very entertaining. It was directed by Ridley Scott in 1991, and stars two fabulous leads in Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. You’ll also spot Brad Pitt onscreen in his first significant movie role.

46 Third-stringers : C-TEAMS

We’ve been using the phrases “first string” and “second string” in athletics since the mid-19th century. The expressions come from archery, in which a competitor would carry a second bowstring in case the first broke.

48 Subway in an Ellington classic : A-TRAIN

The A Train in the New York City Subway system runs from 207th Street, through Manhattan and over to Far Rockaway in Queens. The service lends its name to a jazz standard “Take the ‘A’ Train”, the signature tune of Duke Ellington and a song much sung by Ella Fitzgerald. One version of the lyrics are:

You must take the A Train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem
If you miss the A Train
You’ll find you’ve missed the quickest way to Harlem
Hurry, get on, now, it’s coming
Listen to those rails a-thrumming (All Aboard!)
Get on the A Train
Soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem.

Duke Ellington was a bandleader and composer believed by many to have elevated jazz to the same level as other respected genres of music. Ellington tended not to use the word “jazz” to describe his compositions, preferring the term “American Music”.

52 Fast-food favorite : FRIES

French fries are called “chips” back in Ireland where I grew up. And what we call “chips” in the US are known as “crisps” in Britain and Ireland. In France, French fries are known as “pommes frites” (fried potatoes).

53 Branch of Islam : SHIA

The Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in the belief of who should have taken over leadership of the Muslim faithful after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Followers of the Sunni tradition agree with the decision that the Prophet Muhammad’s confidante Abu Bakr was the right choice to become the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Followers of the Shia tradition believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet Muhammad’s own family, and favored the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

56 Tolkien monsters : ORCS

According to Tolkien, Orcs are small humanoids that live in his fantasy world of Middle-earth (also called “Mordor”). They are very ugly and dirty, and are fond of eating human flesh.

57 Element #10 : NEON

Neon was discovered in 1898 by two British chemists, Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers. They chilled a sample of air, turning it into a liquid. They then warmed that liquid and separated out the gases that boiled off. Along with nitrogen, oxygen and argon (already known), the pair of scientists discovered two new gases. The first they called “krypton” and the second “neon”. “Krypton” is Greek for “the hidden one” and “neon” is Greek for “new”.

58 Madame Bovary : EMMA

“Madame Bovary” is the most famous novel written by Gustave Flaubert. The title character is a doctor’s wife named Emma Bovary, who lives a luxurious life beyond her means and has many adulterous affairs. The novel had a rousing reception, including an attack by public prosecutors who labeled it as obscene, which I am sure later helped “Madame Bovary” to become a bestseller.

61 Ticklish Muppet : ELMO

The “Sesame Street” character named Elmo has a birthday every February 3rd, and on that birthday he always turns 3½ years old. The man behind/under Elmo on “Sesame Street” for many years was Kevin Clash. If you want to learn more about Elmo and Clash, you can watch the 2011 documentary “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”.

63 Clairvoyant’s claim : ESP

The so-called sixth sense is extrasensory perception (ESP).

We’ve been using the term “clairvoyant” to describe a psychic since the nineteenth century. Prior to that, a clairvoyant was a clear-sighted person. The term comes from French, with “clair” meaning “clear” and “voyant” meaning “seeing”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 With regard to : AS FOR
6 One might be en route to the ER : EMT
9 Burn the midnight oil, perhaps : CRAM
13 Leachman tied for the most (eight) Emmy wins as a performer : CLORIS
15 Immediately : NOW
16 Screenwriter Ephron : NORA
17 Greet with a honk : TOOT AT
18 Gave the okay to : GREEN-LIT
20 Where a ring may be left : BATHTUB
22 Beauty : GEM
23 “Mangia!” : EAT!
24 Like Vivaldi’s “Spring” : IN E
25 Like cartoons : ANIMATED
28 Fröbe who played Goldfinger : GERT
30 Martial arts rank : DAN
31 Show with skits : REVUE
35 Theater director? : USHER
38 Brunch standard : MIMOSA
39 Noted Italian campanile that hints at each group of circled letters in this puzzle : THE LEANING TOWER
43 Gregarious : SOCIAL
44 Miller’s salesman : LOMAN
45 Name in book publishing since 1915 : KNOPF
46 “Silk Stockings” co-star Charisse : CYD
47 Yields to gravity : SAGS
51 Fur coat quality : SOFTNESS
55 Water tester : TOE
56 Number of stars on Ghana’s flag : ONE
59 Vein contents : ORE
60 Singer Ed with albums titled “+,” “x” and “÷” : SHEERAN
62 Like a tutor’s lesson, often : REMEDIAL
65 Wedding acquisitions : IN-LAWS
66 Dot-__ : COMS
67 Punk rock offshoot : EMO
68 Respect : ADMIRE
69 Lose one’s cool : SNAP
70 Retired boomer : SST
71 Some HDTVs : SONYS

Down

1 Feign toughness : ACT BIG
2 She took a day off with Ferris : SLOANE
3 Page number, often : FOOTER
4 Sports med. branch : ORTH
5 Ranchero’s rope : RIATA
6 An official lang. of Malta : ENG
7 Actor Freeman : MORGAN
8 One in a storm, maybe : TWEET
9 MSNBC rival : CNN
10 Solo, for Ford : ROLE
11 Solo, for Fleming : ARIA
12 “The Resident” star Czuchry : MATT
14 Flabbergast : STUN
19 Many a retired professor : EMERITA
21 Last of two Pennsylvania-born presidents : BIDEN
26 Subject of a painting by Andy and a song by Elton : MARILYN
27 Exorcism targets : DEMONS
29 Dutch exports : TULIPS
32 Promise : VOW
33 Employ : USE
34 Canal setting : EAR
36 Ceviche or sashimi : SEAFOOD
37 Villain #13 on AFI’s “100 Years… 100 Heroes & Villains” : HAL
38 “Thelma & Louise” studio : MGM
39 Sound of reproach : TSK!
40 Sweetie : HON
41 Friendly opening? : ECO-
42 Connection points : NODES
46 Third-stringers : C-TEAMS
48 Subway in an Ellington classic : A-TRAIN
49 Miss the mark : GO AWRY
50 Feels : SENSES
52 Fast-food favorite : FRIES
53 Branch of Islam : SHIA
54 Thrills : SENDS
56 Tolkien monsters : ORCS
57 Element #10 : NEON
58 Madame Bovary : EMMA
61 Ticklish Muppet : ELMO
63 Clairvoyant’s claim : ESP
64 Filming site : LOT