A palette cleanser of a crossword -- see yesterday's podcast to see why! -- with a fun twist, and a few novel entries -- 13D, Serfs of olden days, HELOTS,  and an interesting variation on scathing, 46A, Denounce harshly, SCATHE. There were some entries that showed off the TLC that clearly went into this puzzle -- 2D, Aries animal, RAM, directly opposite it at the bottom of the puzzle, 69A, Son of Zeus, ARES.  And, of course, the entire theme was quite clever.

Definitely a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale!