Thursday, January 11, 2024 - X marks the spot!

Today's puzzle, by Damon Gulczynski, has an ingenious and well-disguised theme: and thanks to the revealer's position in the bottom-right, we are kept in suspense / befuddlement, until the very end -- just the way we like it! A few clues that didn't make it into the episode but are worthy of note include 26D, Groups of hands, CREWS (brilliant!); 41D, Instrument notary featured in George Michael's 1984 hit, "Careless Whisper", SAX (wait, a SAX can whisper? 😀); some very sage advice, 12D, Good...