Wall Street Journal Crossword December 30, 2023, Clues and Answers

ACROSS

• Add spirits to
  LACE
• Where to find sun bears and clouded leopards
  ASIA
• I know the answer! Call on me!
  OHOH
• Get smart
  LEARN
• Arthur of the court
  ASHE
• Remain undecided
  PEND
• Lola’s locale in song
  COPA
• Many a Sundance film
  INDIE
• You’ve piqued my interest tell me more
  OKILLBITE
• Remark from Holmes to Watson
  THEGAMEISAF
• Debonair
  STYLISH
• Servitude system
  PEONAGE
• Emperor whose name is Italian for black
  NERO
• Ellipsis component
  DOT
• Be a knight in shining armor
  COMETOTHERESC
• ___-Aztecan (language family)
  UTO
• Felt remorse for
  RUED
• Big oil producer
  WESSON
• Stock holder of a sort
  SOUPPOT
• It’s a 9 on the Beaufort scale
  STRONGGALE
• Less lively as a party
  DEADER
• Potential site of a George Washington confession
  CHERRYORCH
• Course org.
  PGA
• As ___ care
  IFI
• Grammy winner Jackson
  MAHALIA
• Jet Ski rival
  SEADOO
• Stop dawdling already!
  DOIT
• Baby ___ Star (Prince song)
  IMA
• Skirt option
  MIDI
• La Salle of ER
  ERIQ
• Effective insults
  BURNS
• Moniker for a ravenous teen
  BOTTOMLESS
• Undercover title role for Rob Schneider
  DEUCEBIGAL
• Les ___-Unis
  ETATS
• Bosch org.
  LAPD
• Jazz musician Macero and racer Fabi
  TEOS
• Personal driver of a sort
  EGO
• Boxing prize
  BELT
• Corn kin
  BUNION
• Admitted a humiliating mistake
  ATECROW
• Hedge fund pro
  ARB
• Secretary Xi’s nation: Abbr.
  PRC
• Recreation destination of northeastern Pennsylvania
  THEPOCONOS
• Like many Bluetooth headsets
  ONEEAR
• Took the car out
  WENTFORASP
• Sushi staple
  AHITUNA
• Sale proviso accompanying a photo on eBay
  ASSEEN
• Opposed to
  ANTI
• Sword beater
  PEN
• Response to a parent’s Because I said so
  BUTTHATSNOTFA
• Shay’s country music partner
  DAN
• Mare meal
  OATS
• Roman racer
  CHARIOT
• Frugal
  THRIFTY
• Lose focus and a visual hint to solving seven Across clues and a literal hint to seven Down answers
  DROPTHEBALL
• Newspaper command centers back in the day
  WIREROOMS
• Interest
  STAKE
• Surprised salutation
  OHHI
• Brain-freezing treat
  ICEE
• Clockwork part
  GEAR
• Some lawn mowers
  TOROS
• Granada grizzlies
  OSOS
• Last letters
  ZEES
• Digital IDs
  SSNS

DOWN

• Vientiane language
  LAO
• Takes the next step after a right swipe
  ASKSOUT
• Trivial talk
  CHITTERCHATTER
• Tough to grasp
  EELY
• Sitcom set at Whitlock High
  APBIO
• Quake
  SEISM
• Preventing progress
  INTHEWAY
• Cooler suffix
  ADE
• Large singing groups
  OCTETS
• Yule greeting
  HOHOHO
• Allowing for contingencies
  OPENEND
• Viking of the comics
  HAGAR
• Sprite’s kin
  LIMESODA
• Hydrocarbon suffix
  ENE
• Match point maybe
  ADIN
• Revolt
  RISEUP
• In the vicinity of
  NEARTO
• Inc. relative
  LLC
• Not remotely recently
  AGESAGO
• It gets snapped
  FOOT
• Tricky puzzles
  POSERS
• TV’s House and Howser e.g.
  DRS
• Scientific prefix meaning completed
  TELO
• It sinks when you scratch
  CUE
• Qatari capital
  DOHA
• A ___ (deduced)
  PRIORI
• First word of Dante’s Inferno
  NEL
• Jakob and Wilhelm of fairy tale fame
  GRIMMS
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade prop
  GRAIL
• Belle ___ (pre-WWI period)
  EPOQUE
• Bee follower
  CEE
• It’s often played in Congress
  HARD
• Digital counters
  FINGERSANDTOES
• Clear for takeoff
  ITSAGO
• Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones movie series for short
  MIB
• Tiny shape-shifter
  AMOEBA
• Losing strategy
  DIET
• Reggae offshoot
  DUB
• Dean’s partner in upscale grocery stores
  DELUCA
• This ___ outrage!
  ISAN
• Start of many box set titles
  BESTOF
• Kings goalie Cam
  TALBOT
• Cooperstown’s Master Melvin
  OTT
• Illegal diamond delivery
  SPIT
• Work together
  COACT
• Offer that’s easy to refuse
  LOW
• Homer holler
  DOH
• Labor request
  BREATHE
• Most recent
  NEWEST
• Brian of Roxy Music
  ENO
• Red Sox manager Alex
  CORA
• Fudges made with brown sugar
  PENUCHES
• Hammer part
  PEEN
• Warned
  ONNOTICE
• Main point
  NUB
• Cheers from the sidelines
  RAHRAHS
• Sam for whom a bridge bidding convention is named
  STAYMAN
• It has flippers and bumpers
  PIN
• Like two peas in ___
  APOD
• Builder of a San Simeon castle
  HEARST
• As a whole
  INTOTO
• Cry on spotting another vessel
  SAILHO
• Some vodka orders
  STOLIS
• Prohibited
  TABOO
• First odd prime
  THREE
• Lets loose
  FREES
• Shot that completely misses the basket
  AIR
• Train in the ring
  SPAR
• Steams (up)
  FOGS
• Ref’s ring decision
  TKO
• Rap’s ___ Khalifa
  WIZ
• Fourth-yr. class
  SRS