Relative difficulty: Challenging
THEME: TAKE A STEEP NOSE DIVE (61A: Plummet ... or what this puzzle's theme answers do?) — this answer and two others start out Across, head Down, and then resume their Acrossness. Down and second Across parts are unnumbered in print version; in e-versions, they are numbered, but have "-" for their clues ... *and* the part that "dives" spells out NOSE. Ta da!
Word of the Day: THOR (31D: Onetime part of the U.S. arsenal) —
Thor was the first operational ballistic missile in the arsenal of the United States, operated by the US Air Force. Thor was 65 feet (20 m) in height and 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter. Named after the Norse god of Thunder, it was deployed in the UK between 1959 and September 1963 as an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) with thermonuclear warheads. It was later augmented in the U.S. IRBM arsenal by the Jupiter. // A large family of space launch vehicles—the Delta rockets—were derived from the Thor design. A modified version is still in use today as the first stage of the Delta II.
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This would have been a whole lot better if a. the theme answers hadn't leveled out ("Plummet" only tells part of the story), and b. the phrases involved were tight—far tighter than these. Are the phrases supposed to be commentary on the solving experience? If so, that's kind of clever. I have to DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM 
(with this puzzle) because at first IT MAKES NO SENSE TO ME. OK, I like it better now. [Addendum—the letters NOSE make up the part that "dives" — how I didn't see this last night is beyond me.] The top half was hardest, probably because I just gawked at 1A for so long—wanted DIG IN, but had DIA- in place. Ugh. Also, those long Acrosses right underneath did Not come easy. Moses' wife was ETHIOPIAN (14A: Like Moses' wife, per Numbers 12:1)? I tried ETRUSCAN at one point (didn't fit, and is absurd). The train robbers I've seen on film generally took valuable stuff, not MAIL SACKS (though, of course, there could be valuable things in the mail, theoretically) (17A: Loot in an old train robbery). Seemed too pedestrian to be right. Didn't think PATTIE had that many letters (15D: Peppermint ___) (clue wanted the candy, not the character). Couldn't get ON SPEC from 8D: Without assignment for the life of me. FT DODGE means nothing to me (9D: Old Army base on the Santa Fe Trail, briefly). Even 6A: Squad leader, e.g.: Abbr. (NCO) wasn't helping me. I wanted SGT. So there was the problem of not knowing the gimmick and the added problem of not getting a ton of help from crosses. At some point I noticed the pattern of the "-" clues (which, in print, are just unnumbered Acrosses and Downs), and finally the DIAGNOSE answer went in. Rest of the puzzle wasn't nearly as tough, but initial struggle still made this feel Fridayish.Theme answers:
- 1A: Find out what's wrong (DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM)
- 30A: "Huh?" ("IT MAKES NO SENSE TO ME")
Sadly, though I've taught DANTE even more than I've taught Shakespeare, I had No Clue about the quote used to clue him (18A: "A great flame follows a little spark" writer). Another part of my woes in the northern climes of this grid. 4D: Jazz great Evans (GIL) had me wondering if BILL spelled his name with one "L." REV didn't make any sense to me even after I solved it (44D: Short circuit?). I'm guessing that REV is supposed to be short for "Revolution." No idea that Helen Keller even went to Japan, let alone that she brought back a dog (54D: Dog breed Helen Keller introduced to the U.S. in 1937=> AKITA). Never heard the slogan in question at 59D: "More colorful" sloganeer (NBC TV), though with the peacock logo, it makes sense. ICBM was cake (30D: Part of the U.S. arsenal), but THOR ... was not.Bullets:
- 19A: Monogram of 1964's Nobel Peace laureate (MLK) — Not a gimme. I'd forgotten he won this. Figuring it out helped me get "A HIKE!" (3D: "Take ___!")
- 43A: Jug handle, in archaeology (ANSA) — textbook crosswordese. The only problem it gives me nowadays is that I have to stop and think "is ANSA the jug handle or the Faulkner character?" (the latter is ANSE).
- 66D: Robert Langdon's field in "The Da Vinci Code" (SEMIOTICS) — Like "Lost," the whole "DVC" phenomenon is something I've deliberately completely avoided. "Ooh, if you like puzzles and mysteries, you'll like ..." Uh, no. No I won't. I promise you.
- 6D: Actor in the Best Picture winners of 1975, 1983 and 2006 (NICHOLSON) — wanted this but refused to put it in because I believed there was a Nicholson Best Picture date missing: 1997. Turns out "Titanic" won that year, not "As Good As It Gets" (for which both NICHOLSON and co-star Helen Hunt won Oscars).
- 70A: Milan-based fashion label (PRADA) — helped me decide if LASAGNA was spelled with a final "E" or final "A" (46D: "Mangia!" dish).
- 43D: Clara and Harriet, in 1960s TV (AUNTS) — cute but tough. I think the former is from "Bewitched." I don't know who AUNT Harriet is (the "Batman" TV series!? Wow).
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