Tag Archives: John Ewbank

NYT Crossword Puzzle 12-30-21 Complete (contains spoilers)

Update on the rain in LA from yesterday’s post!

I pulled out 55A “Man, that’s something!”: OHWOW because check out what has happened here in Los Angeles over the past couple days:

Total rainfall yesterday was 1.2″ as measured at LAX.

But partway through today we were at 3.09″ at LAX, which is more than double the now-second-rainiest December 30 on record.

Final numbers will be greater. OH WOW, indeed.

Theme!

18A They stay and bite: ADULTTEETH.
27A Emmy-winning comedy series of 2007, 2008 and 2009: THIRTYROCK.
46A Gains favor using abject flattery, informally: KISSESBUTT.
58A Souse: BOOZEHOUND.

38A Symbol for the starts of 18-, 27-, 46- and 58-Across: XXX.

18A: Does XXX symbolize teeth? Or is 30 adulthood?
27A: XXX in Roman Numerals is 30.
46A: XXX means kisses.
58A: A bottle with XXX on it means it’s alcohol. And according to reddit, each X means a time distilled. Triple distilled means much higher alcohol concentration.

And on the topic of distillation, here’s a photo I took at Laphroaig pre-COVID:

Finished this one in 13:20.