Zack

Fun puzzle, but I have to say I've never heard of the phrase NOT ON A BET. Might be a generational thing.

A great puzzle and theme! Today, incidentally, is the 50th Anniversary of the debut of Siskel & Ebert on public television. Great job, editors!

I, like others, apparently, am usually a little annoyed by themed fills that have nothing to do with any clues, but especially when the fill is something like GATECH. How on earth are you supposed to recognize that word isn't gibberish unless you've completed the whole row?

Super fun theme, but one nitpick: for 6D, my first answer was APUSH, as that would be the class that would focus on the U.S. Constitution, arguably moreso than Government. But perhaps it’s moot. I enjoyed getting halfway through the Across clues before I realized I wasn’t going crazy.

I really enjoyed 19A. LIKE-LIKED. Is that not a debut?

Not a complaint, but I found 49A very tricky. Plenty of potential four-letter words work with Ball/Board -- I tried ROOM and GAME, which tripped me up for several minutes each before I even thought of SNOW.

I originally had 47A filled in as CIRCLEDLIKEAHAWK, which would still work for the theme (‘circling’ a hawk on your list of birds). Fun theme.