Courteous behavior, formally / SAT 12-16-23 / Trash hauler / First band to surpass one billion streams on Spotify (2014) / Singer Bobby with a brave-sounding last name / Custom car built with old parts and a shabby aesthetic / Classic video game character portrayed by John Leguizamo (1993) / Follower of one or single in biology / Musical effect that comes from the Italian for "to play on a harp"

Constructor: Garrett Chalfin

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: The 1521 Edict of Worms (39A: One subject to a religious ban from the 1521 Edict of Worms) —

The Edict of Worms was a decree issued on 25 May 1521 by Emperor Charles V. Its contents proscribed Luther's writings, declaring him a heretic and an enemy of the state, even permitting anyone to kill Luther without legal consequence. Though it was never enforced, (the movement for reform and protection from Protestant supporters acted in his favour) Roman Catholic rulers sought to suppress Luther and his followers, and Luther's travels were restricted for the rest of his life.

It was the culmination of an ongoing struggle between Martin Luther and the Catholic Church over reform, especially concerning the practice of donations for indulgences. However, there were other deeper issues that revolved around both theological concerns:

• On a theological level, Luther had challenged the absolute authority of the Pope over the Church by maintaining that the doctrine of indulgences, as authorized and taught by the Pope, was wrong.
• Luther maintained that salvation was by faith alone (sola fide) without reference to good works, alms, penance, or the Church's sacraments. Luther maintained that the sacraments were a "means of grace", meaning that while grace was imparted through the sacraments, the credit for the action belonged to God and not to the individual. (wikipedia) 

I could tell right away from the shape of this one that it was more likely to be a puzzle to endure rather than savor. That thick tube of 8s running through the middle would, at best, hold up OK, but would be unlikely to provide much sizzle, and the highly cut-off corners would play like puzzles unto themselves, with maybe one winner in each corner if I was lucky. And I wasn't wrong, though this one probably did come out on the higher (i.e. cleaner / smoother) end of what I was expecting. It's fine. REAL NEAT, you might say (if you were Theodore Cleaver). Actually, REAL NEAT is pretty effusive, coming from Beaver. My feelings are more tepid, but I will say there was nothing truly off-putting ... except maybe the desperate attempt to be racy, which eventually felt a little juvenile and had me thinking "OH, COME ON!" even before I hit PORNO (17A: Film unlikely to have a costume designer). By that point, I had already endured two side-by-side answers that were trying to evoke the idea of group sex or sex with multiple partners. Now, the first one ended up being a fake-out—nothing to do with group sex, just GROUP DATES, but the clue was clearly like "wink wink, nudge nudge, made you think of orgies, didn't I?" (13D: Situations involving multiple romantic partners). Well, yes, great, thanks. Obviously THRUPLES are just boring things by now, not particularly racy, but something felt slightly Trying Too Hard (TTH) about the sexual suggestiveness here. PORNO just confirmed the tone for me. The icing on the erotic cake. GROUP DATES or THRUPLES, either one on its own, and I don't blink. Side by side, and ... well, now you're doing a bit. Less cute.