Aha! It's this year's Christmas present
from Obinray Earsstay. She tweeted last
year at this time, “It's just not Christmas unless we push our bodies to the
brink of alcoholism and diabetes.” Now
there's a woman who gets it! You can
visit her for
more examples of her quirky sense of humor.
As I was
working this one, knowing I was going to have to 'splain it to you guys, I kept
scratching my head. What does OVERSTAY
have to do with chocolate? And in what
world does EASTBAY mean “savage?” The
perps demanded that those answers be correct.
I finally came to the reveal:
58a.
What four puzzle answers need to be written in: PIG LATIN...and
the V8 can came flying. Utecay!
17a. Big name in chocolate: OVERSTAY (Stover, as in Russell)
21a. Savage:
EASTBAY (Beast)
35a. Loot:
UNDERPLAY (Plunder)
52a. Lay waste to:
ASHTRAY (Trash)
Let's see
what other presents Robin put under our tree...
Across:
1. ___ appeal: SNOB
5. “The Girls Next Door” co-creator, for
short: HEF. Hugh Hefner.
8. Torus-shaped gaskets: O-RINGS.
Per Wiki: In geometry, a torus (plural
tori) is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in
three-dimensional space about an axis coplanar with the circle. But you knew that...
14. Lift one's
spirits: TOPE. If you lift them too often.
15. Pay dirt: ORE
16. Secure again: RESEAL.
[Meh] I get it, but that doesn't
mean I have to like it.
19. Against: CONTRA.
In another time (and what seems like another world), the CONTRAs battled
the Sandinistas for control of Nicaragua.
20. Crème de
___: MENTHE. Because “la Crème” was too long and “Cacao”
was too short.
22. NATO member since
2009: ALB. No, not American League Baseball, but the country,
ALBania. Remember, we went to war
against them in Wag the Dog.
23. Says “y'all,”
say: ELIDES. “Resides in Texas” was way too long. DRAWLS would have worked, though.
26. Time of one's life: AGE
27. Reunion group: CLASS.
“Aunts” would have fit, too.
29. Beats Electronics co-founder: DRE
(See 42d.)
30. Danube tributary: ILLER
Those are
the Allgäu Alps in the background – beautiful area of southern Bavaria.
32. Early 20th-century poet ____
Crane: HART. No idea.
33. Layer:
PLY. Let's see the hands of those
who confidently wrote HEN.
34. The Beatles, e.g.: IDOLS.
Tried BRITS first.
38. IQ test name: BINET.
I remember those standardized Stanford-BINET tests from my ute.
40. Abu Dhabi is its cap.: UAE. United
Arab Emirates. I was there in the
'80's. I asked about a Stephen King
novel in a bookstore, and was told, not so politely, not to mention that name
there. Okey dokey...
41. Sounds from toys: ARFS.
Wasn't fooled.
45. “_____ run!”: GOTTA.
Or as JzB puts it, IMBO.
46. AC/DC song with the words “I'm
dynamite”: TNT. Easy enough to suss.
47. Road challenge: GLARE
48. Pharm. drop-offs: RXS
49. “WarGames” computer.
JOSHUA. Should have remembered
that. Didn't.
51. Muscle mag subject: PEC.
Mag indicates it'll be an abbrv.
55. Biblical escape obstacle: RED SEA.
“Holy Moses, Batman!”
57. Get hot under the collar: SEE RED.
Could be tough to parse. RED dupe.
60. March:
PARADE
62. Bluster:
RANT
63. Treat badly: STEP ON
64. El ___:
CID. Spanish hero played by Charleton
Heston with a cast of thousands.
65. Energy units: ERGS. Hello again, old cw friend.
Down:
1. Acid producer: STOMACH.
Should have been easy enough to guess.
Wasn't.
2. “Breakfast at Tiffany's,” for one: NOVELLA.
Some might recall a minor movie.
3. Spot for free spirits: OPEN BAR.
Nailed it.
4. Friend of Mary Poppins: BERT.
All perps.
5. Monopoly buy: HOTEL
6. Big time:
ERA
7. Early 2000s “SNL” standout: FEY.
Tina.
8. “Blackfish” creatures: ORCAS.
Political documentary. Nuff sed.
9. Model T contemporaries: REOS.
Named for Ransom Eli Olds. Many
people think the Oldsmobile was named for him.
Correctomundo!
10, “____ that special?!”: ISN'T .
Made famous by Dana Carvey.
11. Court
surprise: NET BALL. Tennis, I'm guessin'.
12. Parking
places: GARAGES
13. Buffy, for
one: SLAYER
18. Tom Jones' “____ a
Lady”: SHE'S
21. Shoebox
letters: EEE
24. Between jobs: IDLE
25. Rehearsals: DRY RUNS
28. Double's job: STUNT.
Stunt-double in the movies.
30. Wash.
neighbor: IDA (Washington/Idaho)
31. Steadfast: LOYAL
33. Wash. hours: PDT.
The same Wash., not D.C.
34. Key for Debussy?: ILE.
Debussy was a French composer, and a key is an island.
36. Teachers'
org.: NEA. Standard crosswordese.
37. Buddha's Noble
Eightfold ____: PATH. Perps to the rescue.
38. Choice ballpark
location: BOX SEAT
39. “I found what
you're looking for!”: IT'S HERE
42. Drake or
Nelly: RAP STAR. If you say so. Actually, I had first perped it as RAPSTER,
but “Bluster” = RANT, not RENT, straightened me out.
43. Letting go: FREEING
44. Cosine reciprocals: SECANTS.
Thank you, high school trigonometry.
45. Comprehends: GRASPS
46. Stocking
stuffer: TOY. Tried TOE first.
47. Certain Celt: GAEL.
There are several Celtic languages.
GAELic is one of them.
49. Will Smith's
second son: JADEN. Just how were we supposed to know that?
50. Goaded: URGED
53. Sting,
perhaps: TRAP. Narcotics sting.
54. Modernize: REDO
56. Have the
gumption: DARE
58. ___-Man: PAC.
Many a squandered hour in my younger days...
59. In this
emplacement: ICI. More French. Shouldn't “In this” also have been in French?
Oh, well...
That'll do it for me. Glad
to have had the opportunity to fill in today.
Lemonade will be back next week with his Christmas Special, same Bat Time,
same Bat Channel. Desper-otto signing
off.
Note from C.C.:
I would like to tell you about two coupled puzzles by my neighbor Steve Bachman (with some help from George Barany): Wit and Wisdom, as explained further on this bachblog post. Even if you don't have time to try these puzzles, click on Steve's name for his inspirational personal story.
