I pulled out 7D Best Musical Tony winner of 1975, with “The”: WIZ and 9D Cousin of a trumpet: CORNET because when I was a child, I was in a production of The Wiz through the Youth Academy of Dramatic Arts, which was at The Coronet Theater in LA. I could have sworn there was a sign out front of a cornet, but a small crown is not the same as a trumpetlike instrument.
This puzzle has a pieceful theme.
16A Inject new life into: REVITALIZE. Literally what that means.
24A Bridge and highway designers: ENGINEERS. Nobody ever remembers the train operators.
44A Hawaii _ National Park: VOLCANOES. I had initially put in HALEAKALA, but that wasn’t it.
57A End of the world: APOCALYPSE. Yes.
36A Technology used by smartphones nowadays … or a hint to the ends of 16-, 24-, 44- and 57-Across: FACERECOGNITION.
Because:
16A REVITALIZE->EYES.
24A ENGINEERS->EARS.
44A VOLCANOES->NOSE.
57A APOCALYPSE->LIPS.
Finished this one in 7:51.
| Day | This Wk | Best | Average | 4-Wk Avg | Streak |
| Monday | 7:01 | 3:49 | 9:28 | 8:20 | 67 |
| Tuesday | 7:51 | 5:22 | 13:38 | 12:38 | 10 |
| Wednesday | 7:38 | 17:28 | 12:35 | 7 | |
| Thursday | 12:12 | 29:19 | 28:05 | 7 | |
| Friday | 16:23 | 34:56 | 29:22 | 7 | |
| Saturday | 27:43 | 34:06 | 33:36 | 7 | |
| Sunday | 15:11 | 56:47 | 42:24 | 7 |