"Deck the Halls" ending LALALA
Switch magazines, maybe RELOAD [magazines are often mistakenly called clips]
One often follows a bullet ITEM [in a bulleted list]
Three less than once OCHO [in Spanish
once means
eleven and
ocho means
eight]
Despite my distaste for foreign words in English puzzles, given the cleverness of the clue, I'd go with it, especially given that OCHO is crossed with easy words. I appreciate that DOS was clued not as "Two in Mexico" but the more clever "
Suggested actions."
I have a hunch there is a covert theme, but it is beyond me. I see SPERM..., DNA..., and BLOOD...; they're related, but AUTO... it's a prefix for an antibody produced in one's own bloodstream.
SITPAT, even if it can be found in some reference or other, is at best outre. The idiom is "stand pat."
I just realized that there is a tomato in automaton.
