Friday's puzzle solved: December 29, 2017

Today's time: 26:49, longer than my average Friday.

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A pretty straightfoward, but very tough to me, David Steinberg themeless.  I like some of this unusual fill, though: EVIL GRIN, DEAD SEXY, PANORAMA, PARTY GIRL, JOY BUZZER, OKEY DOKEY.

Percocet is an opioid pain reliever, and OXYCONTIN is as well.

"Lydia neighbor" is IONIA.  Ionia was an ancient region on what is now the west coast of Turkey, while Lydia was an Iron Age region of Anatolia, located to the east.

ETNA was an answer yesterday!  This time it's a more fun clue, though: "Zeus trapped Typhon under it."

QB protectors are RGS.  Right Guards, I guessed (correctly).  I have never heard that term before, despite being an American male.  Is the deodorant named after the football position?

Apparently, BALI ("The Island of the Gods") is known for its meditation retreats?

"Rockaria!" is a song on ELO's album A New World Record.  These guys were an answer for "Mr. Blue Sky" on December 10.

I way over-thought "Passover meal in Exodus."  I was thinking it had to be something about matzo or bitter herbs or something from Jewish lore.  But it's just LAMB ROAST.

Georgia ENGEL got two Emmy nominations for her role as Georgette Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Never heard of Jerome "The Bus" BETTIS.  He was a halfback who played for the Rams and the Steelers.

I don't think I agree that the Whigs were the ancestor of today's GOP.  There was a Democratic Party of the time that opposed them, but that doesn't mean their values are recognizable to today's GOP.

New Jersey's state tree is the stately RED OAK.

Erika SLEZAK has won six Daytime Emmys, presumably for her role as Victoria Lord on One Life to Live.

I've heard of Gay TALESE, but not Honor Thy Father, which is a nonfiction novel about the real-life Bonnano crime family.

"Container a spoiler, say" confused me for a long time.  It's SPORTY.  It means the spoiler on a car.

J.LO is a 4x platinum album.  (Which I would have known if I'd remembered October 31.) I have never heard her song "I'm Real."  I listened to some of it, and all I can say is that Ja Rule is very annoying.  I'm not really a Billboard Top Ten Hits listener.

Clever clues: "Checks for bugs" is BETA-TESTS.  "Ones concerned with stress" is POETS.  "Letters before Q" is LGBT; you got me, Steinberg!  "Stick it to?" is GORE (and not *GLUE). "Leopard spot" is ZOO.

DEARY ME, this took a long time.