Wednesday, Dec 4th, 2024 ~ Jay Silverman

  TO GO

A bottle of anything, and a glazed donut - to go~!

This is my second Jay Silverman puzzle this year, AND yet another 15 x 16 grid on a Wednesday . . . . The "4LWs" outnumbered the TLWs today, just a handful of names - but I knew them - and no circles.  On to the reveal first; 

41A. Speedy meal option, and what the answers to the starred clues literally are?: FAST FOOD

18A. *Speedy dinner option?: INSTANT RAMEN

Ah - the connoisseur version

66A. *Speedy beverage option?: BRISK ICED TEA - a tad meh; I usually think "brisk" means chilly, bracing, refreshing - but there's more here

12D. *Speedy breakfast option?: QUICK GRITS

I almost had grits when I lived in Jacksonville, FL

31D. *Speedy side dish option?: MINUTE RICE

I have this product in my kitchen for when I make General Tso's Chicken

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Whisky, e.g.: SCOTCH

Indiana Jones is not particular about the type...

7. Business entities: FIRMS

12. HSN alternative: QVC

15. Santa's laugh: HO-HO-HO - a timely clue; three weeks til Christmas~!

16. Wide open: AGAPE - I started with APART, but thought better of it

17. Dubai's fed.: UAE - United Arab Emirates

20. __-at-ease: ILL

21. Prefix with natal: NEO - neonatal

22. Bodies of water: SEAS

23. Didn't make the team's final roster: GOT CUT

25. Somewhat ruddy: REDDISH

28. Tools for fall guys?: RAKES - Har-har

29. Pop in for a scene, say: CAMEO

32. Hip-hop's __ Clan: WU TANG - One of their songs comes up on my Pandora station, but I cannot think of the title - and it's not Hip-Hop

34. Dover landmarks: CLIFFS - while listening to the radio waaay back in 1990, I heard this song in my headphones working for Grossmans Lumber, and prayed the FM radio DJ would mention the artist's name, and he did  - Eric Johnson; I went out and immediately bought the record; here's the full track, and this is Juliana Wilson doing the ridiculously fast and difficult intro

Cliffs of Dover - note the finger stretches

36. Wistful sound: SIGH - I have been doing a lot of this lately

37. Singer Kristofferson: KRIS - sadly passed Sep 28th, 2024 ( on my hiring anniversary date at the pipe organ company ); I remember him most for his role as the big boss in the movie Payback

40. Forever, figuratively: EON

44. Texter's "No clue": IDK - I Don't Know - Ozzy & Randy can tell you more . . . .

From the album Blizzard of Ozz, released in the US in 1981

after he was kicked out of Black Sabbath

45. Two, in Trois-Rivières: DEUX - Frawnche

47. Tidy: NEAT - ah, our friend Tinbeni took his 1A. this way . . . .

48. Strength of character: METTLE - I'm into Heavy Mettle

50. Wall Street figure: TRADER

52. Checked out before a heist: CASED - usually with "the joint"

53. Suffix with home or farm: STEAD - homestead, farmstead

55. Moisturizer target: DRY SKIN - AND - 30D. Ingredient in some 55-Across treatments: ALOE

Never gets old, Hahtoolah

59. Skeptical about: WARY OF - like maybe my humor~?

61. "Just joshing!": "I KID~!" - I really do~!

62. Pampering place: SPA

65. Japanese sash: OBI

70. __-A-Fella Records: Jay-Z label: ROC - not the extinct bird

71. Goose-bumps-causing: EERIE

72. Minolta partner: KONICA - not just high-end cameras - their Wiki

73. Mama deer: DOE

74. Pedometer units: STEPS - I did a lot of dog walking while visiting my brother on Thanksgiving - his fiancée has an Australian Shepherd, and I want a dog now~!

Cooper~!

75. Makes catty comments: SNARKS

DOWN:

1. Lower leg: SHIN - or CALF~?  Had to wait on perps

2. Gelato receptacle: CONE

3. Exceedingly: OH SO

4. Little one: TOT - little tater

5. Drive away: CHASE OFF

6. Made sharper: HONED

7. Iranian tongue: FARSI

8. Polish tennis star Swiatek: IGA - recently busted for doping - probably before the puzzle was submitted for publication - her Wiki

9. Male sheep: RAM - and the Zodiac sign Aries

10. Video file format: MPEG - Moving Picture Experts Group - the format's website here

11. Spanish title: SEÑORA

13. Hold in esteem: VALUE

14. Boston NBA team, colloquially: CELTS - the Celtics - not a basketball fan, at all

19. Bit: TAD

24. Scuba necessity: TANK - I am thinking about installing an in-wall TANK for fish

Technically, a Fish Tank Media Wall....

25. NFL flag thrower: REF

26. Taylor who was Time's 2023 Person of the Year: SWIFT - I cannot watch the KC Chiefs because any broadcast of that team focuses way too much on her; I don't go to a Van Halen concert to see a football game on the big screen behind them . . . .

27. "Les Misérables" novelist Victor: HUGO

29. Included on an email: CCed

33. Yorke of Radiohead: THOM - Not a fan; the only song I know from them is "Creep"

35. __ dollar: SAND

36. Comic strip reporter Brenda: STARR - I did not know it was a movie with Brooke Shields

38. Not busy: IDLE - Dah~! not FREE

39. List of appts.: SKED - abbr for schedule

42. Beginning of an idea: SEED - I had the "seed" for a song in a dream last week - what I heard was the lyric "the horses in the barn"  

43. Opt for: DECIDE ON

46. Dentist's procedure: X-RAY

49. Khaki kin: TAN

51. Some haciendas: ADOBES - I never actually read up on what a 'hacienda' really is - the Wiki

53. Excalibur, for one: SWORD

Why Arthur is King, according to Monty Python

54. Beyond discouraged: TABOO

56. "Jeepers!": "YIKES~!"

57. Hit the slopes: SKI

58. Sneakers, informally: KICKS

60. Guitar part: FRET - body, neck, and head work, too

62. __ the pot: STIR - I have to restrain myself from "stirring the pot" at work

63. Brief kiss: PECK

64. Smallish batteries: AAAs - anything smaller, and we're into hearing aid/watch batteries

67. Wrath: IRE

68. Small intake: SIP

69. CSI sample: DNA

Splynter