My wife and I are in Ireland right now, for Christmas and to start off the New Year with family. I just managed to slip away to solve the puzzle, and write up this abbreviated post. I will get to the full post just as soon as I can.
1 Crooked, as a painting on the wall : ASKEW
6 Nine-digit ID : SSN
9 How revenge (or pizza for breakfast) is best served : COLD
13 Steeple : SPIRE
14 Noshed : ATE
15 Corporate rule or regulation : BYLAW
16 Concept that can’t be criticized or questioned, metaphorically : SACRED COW
18 Tennis’s Agassi : ANDRE
19 Torah holders : ARKS
20 Bigeye or yellowfin tuna, at a sushi bar : AHI
21 Feel great sorrow : GRIEVE
22 Shout made with a fist pump : YES
23 Seafood often served with picks : CRACKED CRAB
25 Dab, as with a paper towel : BLOT
27 Chicago trains : ELS
28 Not showy : PLAIN
30 Language spoken in Bangkok : THAI
32 Ballet dancer’s knee bend : PLIE
36 Pre-employment investigation : BACKGROUND CHECK
39 “A guy walks into a bar …” may start one : JOKE
40 Caesar’s words to Brutus : ET TU?
41 Music Mann? : AIMEE
42 Shoofly ___ : PIE
43 Norway’s biggest city : OSLO
44 Cocktail named for two iconic beverage brands : JACK AND COKE
50 Catch forty winks : NAP
53 Changes, as a hemline : ALTERS
54 22-Across, in French : OUI
55 Regarding : AS TO
56 Latin for “in itself” : PER SE
57 Behaved in a laid-back way : ACTED COOL
59 Connections for car wheels : AXLES
60 Author Edgar Allan ___ : POE
61 In an unusual way : ODDLY
62 Army’s football rival : NAVY
63 Mr. Potato Head piece : EAR
64 Sell illegally, as tickets : SCALP
Down
1 Test for purity : ASSAY
2 What a diagonal line represents on a bowling scoresheet : SPARE
3 Relaxes : KICKS BACK
4 Commits a fumble : ERRS
5 Small, to a Scot : WEE
6 Borat creator ___ Baron Cohen : SACHA
7 Showing no emotion : STOIC
8 Either “N” in NY, NY : NEW
9 Jaded doubter : CYNIC
10 More ancient : OLDER
11 Stage in a butterfly’s development : LARVA
12 Socially inept sort : DWEEB
15 Poets of yore : BARDS
17 It’s tossed toward a bull’s-eye : DART
21 Frozen : GELID
23 Viet ___ (armed force of the 1960s-’70s) : CONG
24 Reeves of the “Matrix” films : KEANU
26 Thumbs-up on Facebook : LIKE
28 Gooey lunchbox sandwich, informally : PBJ
29 Language spoken in Vientiane : LAO
30 Schlepped : TOTED
31 Primitive dwelling : HUT
32 TV’s Dr. ___ : PHIL
33 San Pellegrino offering : LEMON SODA
34 “Rocks” that clink in a drink : ICE
35 ___ out a living : EKE
37 Rider’s handful : REINS
38 Assignment for a lawyer : CASE
42 Removes skin from : PARES
43 “The Grapes of Wrath” figure : OKIE
44 Mount Fuji’s locale : JAPAN
45 Amazon “assistant” : ALEXA
46 PC command to paste : CTRL-V
47 Ken who wrote “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” : KESEY
48 Hot drink with marshmallows : COCOA
49 Word before space or limits : OUTER …
51 Coral islet chain : ATOLL
52 Coral reef producer : POLYP
55 “Highway to Hell” rock group … or a hint to electrical switches found in 16-, 23-, 36-, 44-, and 57-Across : AC/DC
57 Gorilla, e.g. : APE
58 Uno + uno : DOS
