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New York Times, Wednesday, December 17, 2025

December 18, 2025

By Gary Larson and Doug Peterson • 78 Clues

Across Clues

1. Lock combinations? → COIFS
6. ___ League → ARAB
10. Single instruction → STEP
14. Enemy W.W. II vessel → UBOAT
15. Turner of old movies → LANA
16. Powerful impulse → URGE
17. Group of grumps sitting around kvetching? → POUTYPARTY
19. Elmer's nemesis → BUGS
20. Meeting, casually → SESH
21. A smartphone has lots of these → USES
22. Centerpiece of "The Hobbit" → QUEST
23. Community property pronoun → OUR
25. Like barked orders → CURT
26. Ali vs. Frazier, e.g.? → CHAMPSATTHEBOUT
34. Genre for GloRilla → RAP
35. Official mandate → DECREE
36. Fellow fighter → ALLY
37. Brand once known as "Standard Oil Company of Indiana" → AMOCO
39. Mardi Gras day, in brief → TUE
40. Works on a muffler, say → KNITS
41. Welcome figure on Wall Street, unwelcome figure in a china shop → BULL
42. See 50-Down → NOSTRA
44. To and ___ → FRO
45. Welcome sight on a whale-watching cruise? → SPOUTINTHEOCEAN
48. Poindexter → GEEK
49. TV freebie of a sort → PSA
50. Easter Island's country → CHILE
52. Dark-skinned fruit → SLOE
55. Pieces of advice → TIPS
59. Primordial substance → OOZE
60. Painstakingly explain something ... or a hint to 17-, 26- and 45-Across → SPELLITOUT
62. Takes a tour of → SEES
63. Compassionate → KIND
64. Terra ___ → COTTA
65. Does the math, in a way → ADDS
66. Pot grower? → ANTE
67. H, on the N.Y.S.E. → HYATT

Down Clues

1. Tarot suit associated with the element of water → CUPS
2. Yamaha product → OBOE
3. What makes a stud become studious? → IOUS
4. Fully get → FATHOM
5. Hog's home → STY
6. "That's a real shame" → ALAS
7. Steakhouse order → RARE
8. Marchers in sidewalk cracks → ANTS
9. Howl at the moon → BAY
10. Chevy S.U.V. → SUBURBAN
11. Authentic → TRUETOLIFE
12. Ones from platypuses have leathery shells → EGGS
13. Fly by night ... or by day → PEST
18. Compact holder → PURSE
22. Neighbor of Ont. → QUE
24. Red carpet hairstyle, perhaps → UPDO
25. Jost's longtime "Weekend Update" co-anchor → CHE
26. Food you might eat wearing a bib → CRABS
27. Overplay for the audience → HAMUP
28. Was the bigger person, say → APOLOGIZED
29. Follow, as advice → ACTON
30. Have faith in → TRUST
31. Canines, e.g. → TEETH
32. Mega- → ULTRA
33. Big name in chicken or boxing → TYSON
38. 1990s comedy inspired by "Emma" → CLUELESS
40. "Get Smart" bad guys → KAOS
42. Suffix with beat or neat → NIK
43. Throw off → REPEL
46. Stick in the ground? → TEE
47. Just about anything on a string → CATTOY
50. With 42-Across, the Mafia → COSA
51. Cultivated, in a way → HOED
52. Start a turn in Twister → SPIN
53. Time to do without → LENT
54. Gary's ___ Towne Tavern (rival bar on "Cheers") → OLDE
56. Minuscule amount → IOTA
57. Short stroke → PUTT
58. Batting avg., e.g. → STAT
60. Rocksteady relative → SKA
61. "___ bin ein Berliner" → ICH