Joseph Knecht

    A Multi-media Meta-theme   Today's constructor is Lin Josephson and I believe this is her debut in the LA Times.  I hope she stops by and tells us a bit about herself.  Lin cleverly hides today's theme with 3 clues, sans circles or asterisks, that point to what turns out to be an implied reveal at 57A .  As we'll see each of these refers to an 18th Century innovation, but each also has at least one other meaning.  Here are the themers: 20A. Only way to tackle a 57-Across : PIECE BY PIECE .   An album/song by singer/songwriter Kelly Clarkson ( lyrics ) ... 28A. Question muttered while tackling a 57-Acros s: WHY WON'T IT FIT ? .  " If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit " famously spoken by Johnnie Cochran, the defense attorney at the O.J. Simpson murder trial in September of 1995 . 48A. Popular theme for 57-Acrosses: NATURE SCENES .   Who doesn't like NATURE SCENES ?  Here's a recent picture of the Patapsco River that I took at sunset while we were h

 Julie Bérubé last visited us on September 4, 2019 .   She is a native of Qu é bec (hello CanadianEh! ) but currently lives in the U.S.  She has had puzzles published in the NYT and the Wall Street Journal, and she was one of the constructors for the 2017 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament .  Today Julie has dropped by to drop the ON s from four idiomatic expressions consisting of pairs of themers split across non-consecutive fill.  NO circles ( CSO to AnonymousDNLC ), NO asterisks, and NO reveal.  But mercifully she parenthesizes the ( beginning ) and the ( end ) for each pair.  If there's more to it than that then I've dropped it: 14A. Act cautiously (beginning): WALK . [ON] 17A.                                      (End): EGGSHELLS . 25A. Require formality (beginning): STAND [ON] 27A.                                           (End): CEREMONY .   43A. Vacillate (beginning): SIT [ON] 46A.                            (End): THE FENCE . 55A. Have financial difficultie