Greek goddess of the hearth / TUE 12-24-24 / Yosemite peak, familiarly / Trounce, informally / Image on a "Fleece Navidad" sweater, perhaps / Invasive amphibian introduced to Australia in the 1930s / ___ Push (N.F.L. play also known as the Brotherly Shove) / Office monitor, in brief / Subject of a famous F.D.R. quote

Constructor: Sarah Sinclair

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: THE NUTCRACKER (39A: Classic ballet set on Christmas Eve, with a hint to four black squares in this puzzle) — four black squares have little nutcracker teeth in them, and each squares is "cracking" a kind of "nut" (i.e. the square separates the first letters of the "nut" from the latter letters)

Theme answers:

• ESCAPE = CANETOAD (17A: Word before room or key + 18A: Invasive amphibian introduced to Australia in the 1930s)
• LIPBALM = ONDRAFT (23A: Moisturizing stick + 25A: Available from a keg)
• PAYCASH = EWGROSS (54A: What you may have to do if someone doesn't take charge + 56A: "That's disgusting!")
• EUROPEAN = UTOPIA (62A: Latvian or Liechtensteiner + 66A: Perfect world)

Word of the Day: TUSH Push (41D: ___ Push (N.F.L. play also known as the Brotherly Shove)) —

What is a tush push?

The tush push is a play in American football in which the quarterback receives the ball and is immediately pushed from behind by other players.

The tush push, also known as the Brotherly Shove, is a new variation of an older football play known as a quarterback sneak. In the quarterback sneak, the quarterback receives the ball and immediately surges forward by themself to gain any yards they can. In the tush push, the quarterback is pushed forward by other players positioned behind them.

The popularity of the name tush push for this play and the popularity of the play itself are linked to the 2022 Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles performed the play 46 times during the 2022 season and had a 92 percent success rate (the rate at which the play resulted in a first down or a touchdown). The play was often said to be unstoppable largely due to the skill of the Eagles’ offensive linemen, especially center Jason Kelce, and the strength of quarterback Jalen Hurts. The Eagles reached the Super Bowl in 2022, helped by the frequent success of the tush push. The play was so effective that it was rumored that the NFL would ban it following the 2022 season. (dictionary.com)

• • •

Everything I could ask of a holiday puzzle. First, it appears on the day (you'd be surprised, or you wouldn't, how often this one criterion isn't met). Second, the whole puzzle is holiday-saturated, with (in this case) Christmas, or the spirit of Christmas Eve, I guess, expressed not just in the theme, but in many of the clues. It's just soaking in there, like brandy soaking into a fruitcake. SHEEP, RED, even PATH gets a bit of the White Christmas treatment—all without making the clues feel forced or awkward. Third, the puzzle comes at its theme kind of obliquely. If you'd asked me "how would you do a Christmas Eve theme?" it's possible I would've hit on the ballet eventually, but it is unlikely. I'd be all in the weeds, looking at "things that come before ... other things" and "people named Eve doing ... something" etc. I actually forgot / didn't exactly know that THE NUTCRACKER was Christmas Eve-specific, despite having seen it many times (as a child—they made us go to that **** every year!). Then you've got a pictorial element that actually makes sense. At first I had no idea what was happening with those thematic "black" squares. I thought they were bridges from one Across answer to the next. And even when I got the "nutcracker" bit I thought "HMM, those don't really look like nutcrack- ... oh, wait, the actual nutcrackers From The Ballet! OMG yes, those scary weird teeth, YES!" Strange to see them disembodied, but still: iconic. The last wonderful thing about the theme (and this goes beyond the holiday element) is that it doesn't find the nuts for you! I mean, they aren't in shaded squares or circled squares or whatever. It lets you pick them out for yourself. It trusts you to Get It. Thank you for that, puzzle. (I mean, you're unlikely to miss the nuts, but still, I appreciate the fact that they weren't specifically highlighted). Throw into the mix the fact that the grid is varied and polished and bright, and you've got a very good puzzle. Just a lovely holiday offering.

Grinch Rex says: "Why don't the nutcrackers work in both directions? What about the Downs? I've never heard of a CHELCA nut? And why in the hell would you put a CAPON in your nutcracker? The whole damn chicken? Unlikely." You may be wondering: "How is 'Grinch Rex' at all distinguishable from Actual Rex?" To which I would reply, [flat tone, expressionless face] "ah, yes, ha ha, good one." The only thing Actual Rex didn't like about this puzzle was ONE-ALARM, which is a ridiculous adjective with no real application beyond fires and dubious chili heat rankings (68A: Mild chili designation). I'm also still trying to warm up to EL CAP as an abbr. (I grew up in central California and don't remember this being a common abbr. for El Capitan, but there's a reasonable amount of attestation out there, including at Yosemite's own website) (31D: Yosemite peak, familiarly). Surprised to find that EL CAP is a NYTXW debut today, as I have definitely seen it in other puzzles (nearly put it in the commissioned puzzle I made last year when I got a little desperate). But I can't say I have any real significant complaints at all today.

I did have some trouble, minor trouble, here and there, starting with forgetting that HESTIA existed at all (2D: Greek goddess of the hearth). I was like "VESTA ... is Roman ... and doesn't fit ... H- ... HE ... yeesh, is her name actually just HEARTH?" I've heard of HESTIA, but yeah, barely. But then I made up for not knowing that one with knowing CANE TOAD cold, no problems, no crosses needed (18A: Invasive amphibian introduced to Australia in the 1930s). The Simpsons helped me with that one.

I struggled to spell WHUP, for sure (57D: Trounce, informally). WHUP, whomp, whap, I don't know! WHUP seems best, in retrospect, but sadly I don't solve in retrospect. The puzzle gets a little name-y there for a bit with the TARA HUEY OCHOA line-up, but those were all easy enough. HUEY Lewis & the News sang several songs on the Back to the Future soundtrack (well, at least two: "Back in Time" and the band's first #1 hit, "The Power of Love"). 

Notes:

• 4D: Uber calculation, for short (ETA) — "for short"!!!! I really should read the whole clue. I had TAX and TIP in here at various points.
• 33A: Confidentiality contract, for short (NDA) — non-disclosure agreement.
• 60A: Office monitor, in brief (OSHA) — true enough, though I was expecting one person (like a "hall monitor" in grade school) not the whole damn Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
• 51D: Ado (HOOPLA) — wow, that is one hell of a kealoa.* I had the "H" and wanted only HUBBUB. (actually, technically kealoas are supposed to be short and common, which HOOPLA/HUBBUB is not, but the principle still applies—the clue works for two different answers that share a letter (in this case, the initial "H").
• 1A: Image on a "Fleece Navidad" sweater, perhaps (SHEEP) — I got the ("Feliz Navidad!")  pun but somehow thought that "fleece" was the "sweater" material, and so got kinda confused. Wrote in SANTA at one point.
• 64D: Color associated with Santa since an 1881 Thomas Nast cartoon (RED) — Nast was a famous political cartoonist. He did Christmas illustrations for Harper's Weekly, and that's how Santa got his iconic look. Not sure which illustration the clue is referring to. One site I read had Santa turning RED in 1869, when one of Nast's Santa cartoons was reprinted in color for an edition of "A Visit from St. Nicholas." As for 1881, I keep turning up this image, which was later colorized, I think, but appeared originally (it seems) in B&W:

That's all for the puzzle today. Let's look at a few more Holiday Pet Pics now.

Poor Willie. This looks like a hostage photo. He better have gotten a mountain of treats for this.

[Thanks Leena]

Mindy here is a Morkie, which I believe means "Maltese + Yorkie," but may also mean that she's from a space alien (Morkie ... Mindy ... Morkie Mindy ... Mork & Mindy ... oh, you saw that on your own, did you? Sorry). Anyway, she loves Chanukah.

[Thanks, Karen]

Momo is a rescue greyhound. Look at this sweet face. No more racing, only treats and silly hats.

[Thanks, Rex]

Kathie sent me this picture of Sophie—an actual Yorkie, no Mork involved. It's not even Kathie's dog. It's her daughter's. But you can see why she couldn't resist sending it in. Santa's Little Sleeper (and in RED, too):

[Thanks, Kathie]

Finally, a pair of cats from reader Andrea—here's Chobani, who is all about Christmas, when she isn't about yogurt (presumably):

And then Theodore ("Teddy Bear"), who isn't much for Christmas, but Andrea didn't want him to feel left out, so she sent his picture in too.

[Thanks, Andrea]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] => ATON or ALOT, ["Git!"] => "SHOO" or "SCAT," etc.   

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]