Thursday August 13, 2026 Desirée Penner & Jeff Sinnock

When Desirée Penner and Jeff Sinnock were standing at the altar, the minister asked them, "What's an oath of acceptance? Three letters." She immediately said, "YES," and he said, "VOW." The minister shook his head. "Try again." They eventually came up with, "I DO," and the Crossword Couple was born.All these answers are answers...to questions from celebrities. The resulting common phrases end with a pun using the celebs first names. 18. Reply when Mr. Nicholson asks, "How do you like your coffee?": BLACK, JACK. JACK Nicholson. Like most of today's celebs, he needs no introduction. Yay!24. Reply when Mr. Garfunkel asks how everyone is doing?: FINE, ART. ART Garfunkel. My favorite reply of the bunch.39. Reply when Mr. Nye asks why there are so many wind turbines?: ELECTRICITY, BILL. BILL Nye, the Science Guy. Perhaps this phrase is more commonly known as an ELECRTIC BILL.51. Reply when Ms. Deeley mentions her new TV gig?: COOL, CAT. CAT Deeley is a British television presenter? This is the only person I didn't know, but was very inferable. So, it's COOL. 60. Reply when Mr. Hamill says, "May the Force be with you"?: DITTO, MARK. MARK Hamill, AKA Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. A DITTO MARK looks like a double quote symbol " or " " under a word or words you want to repeat.I liked the execution of this puzzle better than some punster themes we see. No awkward spellings or twisted phrases made to fit. And, with the possible exception of CAT, all the celebrities are well known. Good, clean fun all around!And now, on with the show:Across:1. Biblical queen's land: SHEBA.6. "Hurry!" letters: ASAP. As Soon As Possible. I can hear the groans already, and I mostly agree. So, I wrote STAT.10. Mojito garnish: MINT. I wrote LIME and voilà! I had two of the first three answers wrong!14. Cultured sort?: PEARL.15. Interpretation: TAKE. What's your TAKE on this clue?16. Chimps and gorillas: APES.17. Like 11-Down and 27-Across, often: ON TAP. It's a "pony keg"-sized mini-theme!18. [theme]20. Lode load: ORE. 21. Bam Adebayo's team: HEAT. Bam Adebayo plays on the Miami HEAT basketball team. In March, he scored 83 points against the Washington Wizards (I guess they left their wands at home). That is the second-highest single-game scoring performance in NBA history!23. Merchant stalls: KIOSKS. In related news, music KIOSKS are bandstands like the one in Henri Rousseau's painting at 2-Down.24. [theme]26. Beloved: DEAR.27. Beer with a Grillo's Pickles flavor, briefly: PBR. Pabst Blue Ribbon. I've heard of people putting a pickle spear in their beer mug, but this concoction seems like a bad idea. 28. Short clip?: VID. Short for VIDeo. 29. Warbled: SANG. 33. Bicycle spokes, essentially: RADII. A single spoke is a radio. Or maybe I'm thinking of an antenna.36. Grand-scale tales: SAGAS. Anyone seen The Odyssey yet?38. Battle (for): VIE. Like Matt Damon as Odysseus, taking on giants.Except this pic shows his stunt-double, Devyn Dalton, a woman!39. [theme]42. Yahoo! alternative: AOL. So last century...although my brother still uses LOL AOL.43. Midsize car: SEDAN. 44. Great Grandma?: MOSES. I grew up with a Grandma MOSES print hanging by our dining table. I always thought it was just a winter scene of people playing in the snow. It wasn't until returning home as an adult that I really looked at it and noticed everyone was working, making maple syrup."Sugaring Off" 195545. Lat neighbor: DELT. Lats (Latissimus Dorsi) and DELTs (Deltoids) are upper body muscle groups.47. "Mean Girls" screenwriter Tina: FEY. She of SNL fame, among other things.48. Center prefix: EPI. EPIcenter - the exact spot on the ground above where an earthquake starts. Being at the epicenter was disastrous for the poor souls of Venezuela and Columbia recently.49. Big bustles: ADOS. In the late 1800's, women with big ADOS were all the rage.51. [theme]55. One with an eye for dotting i's: EDITOR. EDITORs and proofreaders may correct a missing dot (called a tittle) on a lowercase "i", although in modern digital text it's usually caused by a font glitch rather than forgetfulness.58. Downsides: CONS.59. Director DuVernay: AVA. AVA is an award-winning director of TV and movies, including a Best Picture nod for Selma.60. [theme]62. Along for the ride, say: IN TOW. Kinda sorta.64. Nerve: GALL.65. Lake at the Detroit River's end: ERIE. 66. Track star Bolt: USAIN. He's just the fastest man alive. 67. Fashion monthly: ELLE. Unfortunately, my subscription ran out, so I'm left wearing t-shirts like this.68. Informal claim: DIBS. 69. Moore of "This Is Us": MANDY. MANDY made a successful pivot from teenage pop star to Emmy-nominated actress. Then and now.Down:1. "Weird Al" specialty: SPOOF. "Weird Al" Yankovic has four gold records and six platinum ones, and has won five Grammy's. "I Love Rocky Road!"2. Postimpressionist painter Rousseau: HENRI. HENRI paints in a Naive or Primitive manner. He's like the Grandma Moses of France! They also have something else in common - they both started painting late in life."View of Montsouris Park, the Kiosk" 19103. All finished, say: EATEN.4. Wacoal garment: BRA. Wacoal is a major international manufacturer of women's lingerie and intimate apparel from Japan. But I didn't know this as my subscription to ELLE expired as noted earlier.5. Cereal that once featured a crossword puzzle in magazine ads: ALPHA-BITS. This one came out in 1959. I'm still working on it because I can't find a Q.799 boxes later...6. Currently hitting: AT BAT.7. Curing agent: SALT.8. Otherwise called: AKA. Also Known As the answer to this clue.9. Like a bird feeder: PECKED AT. 10. College paths: MAJORS. College paths: DESIRE. Desire to graduate and get a good job? Maybe, but desire paths are unofficial trails leading more directly to a destination, as often seen on campuses.11. Some craft pours, for short: IPAS. India Pale Ales.12. Make out: NECK. This is canoodling, but if you crane your NECK, you can make out a couple in the back row.