I pulled out 9D Hose holder, or a kind of snake: GARTER because I absolutely thought that a garden snake was a thing. I didn’t know there was a garter snake. And I guess there still is. I didn’t even realize until writing this that the hose in question was for the legs and not for the plants.

Theme!

17A Telepathic sort: MINDREADER -> MIN(D)(R)(E)(A)(D)ER -> DREAD.
27A Embedded spy awaiting a mission: SLEEPERAGENT -> SLEEPE(R)(A)(G)(E)NT -> RAGE.
37A Scattered here, there and everywhere: ALLOVERTHEPLACE -> AL(L)(O)(V)(E)RTHEPLACE -> LOVE.
45A “Quit arguing, kids!”: STOPITYOUTWO -> STO(P)(I)(T)(Y)OUTWO -> PITY

61A Intuition without logical explanation, or a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters: GUTFEELING. DREAD, RAGE, LOVE, PITY. But the real crime is that the theme clues all ended in 7 except for the fourth one. Kind of annoyed at that.

Finished this one in 5:12