Friday, December 20, 2024 - ESSO, the NYTimes Crossword's favorite gas station 😀

As the week progresses, the NYTimes crosswords get tougher, and here on a Friday, things can get really sticky. Today's was about a 7-8 out of 10 on the stickiness scale, but the cluing was still entertaining. We had 15D, John, in Portuguese, JOAO (ok, now we know); 32A, The symbol of America's first transcontinental railroad, THEGOLDENSPIKE; and 46D, Member of the golden horde, TATAR. We also liked the joint appearance of 9D, Spanish 101 verb, SER, and 37D, French 101 verb, ETRE -- viv...