Sunday's New York Times puzzle solved: February 4, 2018

My time: 17:45.  Two seconds too late for the record.  Two seconds!
  
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David Levinson Wilk gives us "Cracking Wise," in which, for some reason, the Y in some answers is meant to be read as VI on the downs, but as Y going across.

There's no capper or explanation in the puzzle as far as I can tell.  I did like some of the unusual, conversational fill: THAT'S HYSTERICAL, I WAS ONLY KIDDING, DRY SENSE OF HUMOR, EVERYBODY'S A COMEDIAN, and YO' MAMA JOKE.

But this leaves "poison ivy" as YNE (vine), "some sneakers" as AYAS (Avias), "concoct" as DEYSE (devise), and so on.  I really did not understand Y at all, but only after staring at it for many minutes, did I realize that a Y is a V on top of an I, or a VI going down.  Ha ha!

So anyway.

"52-story Boston skyscraper, familiarly" is THE PRU, or Prudential Tower.  I guess that explains my question from November 17, 2017.  Bostonians do.

Never heard of Zugspitze, but that's an ALP.  It's the highest peak in Germany, at 9,700 feet over sea level.

The OISE is a river in Belgium and France.  It's 212 miles long.  The French department OISE is named after it.

Geoffrey BEENE was a designer who worked in women's wear, but the company that bears his name makes men's clothes as well.  Beene's clients included Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Nancy Reagan, Faye Dunaway and Glenn Close.

"Carrier to Karachi" is PIA, which stands for Pakinstan National Airlines.

I didn't know that the president of Russia had an official DACHA, much less that its name is Novo-Ogaryovo.  Being a dabbler in languages, the DACHA part didn't stymie me, however.

"Terrif!" is FABU!  Who says FABU??  Me, from now on.

Peter NERO is a pianist and pops conductor.  He has worked with a long list of notable musicians including Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Andy Williams, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, Diane Schuur, Johnny Mathis, Roger Kellaway and Elton John.  His 1974 album Greatest Hits is still on sale, but as a CD-R.  It seems to be out of print.

Mount Narodnaya, a URAL, stands 6,214 feet above sea level.  Its name means "the people's mountain."

I did not know that JFK dedicated O'HARE airport in 1963.  It was named after a WWII fighter pilot, Edward "Butch" O'Hare.

Erin MORAN played the title role on "Joanie Loves Chachi," Joanie Cunningham, Ritchie's baby sister, who falls in love with bad boy Chachi.  Reports suggest her later years were filled with drug and drink abuse, and she died young, 56, of throat cancer.

UTA Hagen pops up again, but unlike the last times, I spelled her name correctly first thing!

And here's SAC fly again!  Like UTA, it also appeared November 27, 2017.

STP and USO, old crossword buddies, also appear.

Clever clues: "Something carried onstage?" is TUNE.  "Night vision?" is DREAM.  "Bad state to be in" is COMA.  "Like some angels and dominoes" is FALLEN.

This was a very easy puzzle for a Sunday!  No time to chat.  Busy.