The last NYTXW of the decade. How crazy. Sure, there’s debate as to whether the decade starts on the 1-year or on the 0-year, and while those who say the 0-year very obviously are wrong, it’s still America, and the incorrect 0-argument (with equal quantity of merit) is protected as free speech. I’m not an attorney, but I think that’s how that works.

Also now there’s enough writing so as not to reveal any answers in the text capture in the preview when this posts on twitter.

I pulled out 22A Product with the slogan “Trust the power within”: DURACELL because everyone knows the Duracell Bunny. Wait, no, everyone knows the Energizer bunny. But the Duracell Bunny came first. They had commercials and everything. Like this one:

But when the stodgy, British fools at Duracell let the trademark lapse, the sprightly, American Energizer jumped at the opportunity to take that over and throw it in the faces of their across-the-pond rivals.

Like in the late 18th century, a booming defeat of the British by the Americans.

——–

I decided to use the rebus feature of the puzzle to put many letters into single squares. I’ve avoided that in the past, but why not try this time? In this screenshot, you can see how I started out strong but not without incorrect answers.

The theme was about what’s both hurting during this pandemic.

7D Local economy makeup … or a hint to this puzzle’s theme: SMALLBUSINESSES.

19A Broker’s request for funds: MARGincALL.
4D Diner or sleeper: TRAincAR.
It’s incorporated but smaller!
26A Digital currency: BITcoIN.
8D Faces of the digital age?: EMOTIcoNS.
It’s company but smaller!
38A Epic collapse: MEltdOWN.
31D Winner of a record 26 Oscars: WAltdISNEY.
It’s limited but smaller!
46A Highlighter of tihs clue?: SPEllcHECK.
40D Violently temperamental sorts: HEllcATS.
It’s limited liability company but smaller! Also it is limited liability COMPANY, not limited liability CORPORATION.

Happy new year, everyone! Let’s make 2021 way better than 2020 has been.