Day 16: Black Lagoon

The Solution

Let's do the surface first.

Surface

Some of the cells contain the whole word PIT.

H O S PIT A L PIT T E R
O P E A E
P U L PIT E PIT A P H S
E I S O S PIT
D O N T PIT Y M E E
E F I K
J H I T Z F E L D
U PIT R E E E
PIT V I P E R S PIT E S
E N S U PIT
R O O T N I P P L E

Across

1. Setting for House or Grey's Anatomy: HOSPITAL
3. Device for removing avocado interiors: PITTER
7. Preacher's position: PULPIT
8. Inscriptions on tombstones: EPITAPHS
10. 1978 single from Faith Hope and Charity: DON'T PITY ME
13. Coach/Olympian/mathematician Ottmar: HITZFELD
16. Crotaline serpent: PIT VIPER
17. Irritates maliciously: SPITES
18. Board game featuring Eyrie Dynasties and Lizard Cult: ROOT
19. Cover this with a pasty: NIPPLE

Down

1. Aspired or expected: HOPED
2. Requires reticulation before you can play SimCity: SPLINE
4. Sends a message via pipes or prison cell wall: TAPS
5. Chance to collect oneself: RESPITE
6. Personify, embody: EPITOMIZE
9. British fighter planes of the 1940s (or hot-tempered people): SPITFIRES
11. Don't stop now! You'll get there!: KEEP IT UP
12. Jollity-bearing planet: JUPITER
14. Notwithstanding: DESPITE
15. Red Storm coach Rick: PITINO

Next, let's do the underwater part.

Underwater

These are HARD TO CONSTRUCT.

P R O F E S S O R A L
E P L E B E M I D J I
M O U S E R S C R U B
M E A G A N D H O N I
E X C E L I K I N G S
F E R M O E N O L A
E N M I T Y L E A R N
N I F T Y A D O R E D
U E M A T S U B E T A
E V E N I R E G N A L
M A N E P O P P I N S

Rows

  1. Avow: PROFESS
    Mouth-related: ORAL
  2. Apple, in Oslo: EPLE
    Town in first season of Fargo: BEMIDJI
  3. Cat's job description: MOUSER
    Drag a playhead: SCRUB
  4. Good of Stomp the Yard: MEAGAN
    2006 MTV India Youth Icon Mahendra: DHONI
  5. Great application for constructing crosswords, when you can't connect to Google Sheets: EXCEL
    Book featuring the Judgment of Solomon and the widow of Zarephath: I KINGS
  6. Current name of Firmum Picenum: FERMO
    Sister of Sherlock and Mycroft, apparently: ENOLA
  7. Bad blood: ENMITY
    Something to do at school: LEARN
  8. Neat!: NIFTY
    Loved, revered: ADORED
  9. Composer Nobuo: UEMATSU
    Symbol for a voiced bilateral fricative: BETA
  10. No less than myself!: EVEN I (terrible)
    Monarch-related: REGNAL
  11. Glorious hair: MANE
    Mary with a talking umbrella: POPPINS

Currents

  1. Lecturer with a PhD: PROFESSOR
    Phone records that show you were arguing with customer service at the time the victim was garrotted, e.g.: ALIBI
    Footwear for Bible movie or surfing movie: SANDALS
    Bite playfully: NIP
    "Leo" is a good one, but "Benedict" doesn't hit my ear well, and "Innocent" just sounds suspicious: POPE NAME
    A woman in France: UNE FEMME
  2. Commoner
    Between min and max: MIN
    Psychology and Alchemy author: JUNG
    The IDEA says an IEP should arrange this for students, to make sure they all get a FAPE: LRE
    Jazz standard named for a citrus: TANGERINE
    Tube for blood: VEIN
    Rebranded Audi A4 B7: EXEO
  3. People who don't abstain: USERS
    SNES protagonist who wields a Swallow or a mop: CRONO
    100 square meters: ARE
    A Dante or Pallas to set on your shelf: BUST
    Flexible type of radio: AM/FM
    Red, white, and yellow plugs: RCA
  4. "Where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence," he "would advise violence": GANDHI
    Revitalizing prefix: NEO
    Period when you should be safe from vampires: DAYTIME
  5. Probabilistic phrase in yearbook superlatives: LIKELY TO

The cells that correspond to the PIT cells in the surface puzzle—the places the Creature might pull you down into—spell the answer, FOSSIL FUEL.

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