Wednesday December 2, 2020 John Guzzetta

Theme: THE END IS NIGH (36. *Warning on a street prophet's sandwich board ... or a hint to the answers to starred clues) - The ends of four theme entries all have the same pronunciation as "Nigh".

16. *Southeast Asian monarch: SULTAN OF BRUNEI.

28. *Pentateuch peak: Abbr.: MT. SINAI.

 56. *Certain PAC-12 graduates: STANFORD ALUMNI.

46. *Guy who "Saves the World" on Netflix: BILL NYE.

Boomer here again. Filling in another slot. A slim 14x15 grid with lots of 3-letter words.

Good day everyone and happy Wednesday. Thanksgiving is over our shoulder so we can look forward now to vaccine and Christmas.  I'm sure most of you have heard that the new vaccines need be kept at extremely cold temperatures. Be careful if a guy walks into a bar and orders a cold one.    

Across:

1. Tale about Tantalus, say: MYTH.  'Tis a MYTH that the Grinch Stole Christmas.

5. Gear tooth: COG.  Also an acronym for Children's Oncology Group.

8. Sets upon: HAS AT.  Our Gophers could not have at Wisconsin last week due to the virus.  Paul Bunyan's AXE stayed at home.

13. Angelou or Dickinson: POET.

14. Celebrity chef Garten: INA. Many items in her cookbook. 

15. Cause to blush: ABASH.  DanA BASH is on CNN news.

19. Stat: PDQ.

20. Fancy dresser: FOP.

21. Common TV set-top box: DVR.

22. Tokyo okay: HAI.

25. Home of the Oregon Ducks: EUGENE.  They have had nasty air quality there all summer and fall due to all the fires.

27. Place with pillows: BED.  Or Maybe flowers.

30. Award named for Poe: EDGAR.  I think he was famous for "The Pit and the Pendulum".  Now he's famous for a museum in Virginia.

32. Catcher's need: MITT.  Yogi and others were the only ones to wear a MITT.  All others wore gloves.

33. They, in Tours: ILS.

35. PBS URL ending: ORG.

40. Adams of "American Hustle": AMY.  I have a sister of the same name.

41. Concert equipment: AMP.  A measure of current flowing through wire.

42. What 34-Down means in Swahili: LION.  34. He hung out with Pumbaa and Timon: SIMBA.

44. Befuddled: AT SEA.

48. __ constrictor: BOA.  Also fluffy neckware,

49. Smooth musical passage: LEGATO.

51. Roam (about): GAD.

52. Dogspeak syllable: ARF.  I think Dennis' dog says RUFF.

53. Roth __: IRA.  This has some tax benefits but I am too old to cash in.

54. Dr. Mom's skill: TLC.

62. Implied: TACIT.

63. __ choy: BOK.  It kind of looks like cabbage only long not round.  I'm sure C.C. knows more than I. 

64. FBI operation: RAID.  I think you spray it to kill bugs and such.

65. Colorado's __ Park: ESTES.  "A Rocky Mountain Colorado High".  John Denver.

66. Be in the red: OWE.  "I OWE, I OWE, so off to work I go.

67. Big show: EXPO.  No longer Montreal's MLB team.  Now known as the Washington Senators.

Down:

1. AWOL trackers: MPS.  I stayed away from those guys.  Never went AWOL.  You could get an Article 15 and/or lose a stripe.

2. Second person: YOU.

3. __ Aviv: TEL.

4. Start of many Web addresses: HTTP.

5. American literary form inspired in part by haiku: CINQUAIN. A 5 line poem.

"There once was a girl from St. Paul

 Who went to a newspaper ball

Her dress caught on fire

And burned her entire

Front page sports section and all." 

6. Tokyo-born artist: ONO.  John Lennon's Wife.

7. Diplomatic blunder: GAFFE.

8. Wouldn't stop talking about: HARPED ON.  MSNBC and CNN about the virus.

9. __ Dhabi: ABU.

10. Holding back to gain an edge: SANDBAGGING.  I have been SANDBAGGING my golf game for years.

11. Letter sign-off: AS EVER.  AS if I EVER

12. Almost-home base: THIRD.  Could also be last strike of an at bat.

17. Port on its own gulf: ADEN.

18. Skeleton part: BONE.  "Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones."

22. "Let me think ... ": HMM.

23. "They're __ again!": AT IT.

24. "Oh, really?": IS THAT A FACT.  That's a fact, Jack.

26. Radner of "SNL": GILDA.  An original cast member of 'Saturday Night Live" back when I used to watch.  Unfortunately passed of cancer at age 42.

29. List components: ITEMS.

31. Cookout feature: GRILL.  We got rid of ours.  Impossible to keep clean and a hassle sitting on the deck.

37. Ocular surgical procedures: EYELIFTS.  Eye surgery does not look like much fun.

38. Comedic reaction involving a sprayed beverage: SPIT TAKE.

39. Georgetown athlete: HOYA.  Great basketball teams.

43. Outlaw Kelly: NED.

44. Large arteries: AORTAS.  Probably the largest.

45. Prefix with dynamic: AERO.

47. Hang loosely: LOLL.  Durham Bulls - A bunch of "LOLLYGAGGERS". Kevin Costner as Crash Davis.

48. Moisten while cooking: BASTE.  Gave our BASTER a workout last Thursday.

50. Movie legend Greta: GARBO.

55. Medical research goal: CURE.  Or at least a VACCINE please!

57. Nuremberg "never": NIE.

58. Part of DJIA: DOW.  I think his second name was JONES.

59. Highest output: MAX.

60. Something in the air: NIP.

61. Altar promise: I DO.

Boomer