Sometimes the times and tides of fortune swing in your favor. Sorry, that metaphor was more mixed than Hilaria Baldwinβs accent. When I created the puzzle, and had Baldwin and Geena clued in the bottom left corner, I was thinking of Alec, not Hilaria/Hillary, and the recently deceased Maitlands from Beetlejuice. Then the media firestorm took off, and so I made the change. The title of the puzzle is from the movie Beetlejuice; the handbook for the recently deceased advises the Maitlands that living people tend to ignore the strange and unusual. That is probably true; thereβs no other explanation for how Hilaria Baldwin managed to pass as a Spaniard all these years.
The grid:

The answers, explained:
ACROSS
1A:Β ZESTY β Z&Y (Coordinates, as in z and y axis) around EST (Eastern Standard Time, NYCβs fall and winter)
4A: SCHOLARLY β S (small) + CH (tech ending) + OL (on line start ups) + ARLY (almost entirely too soon β early)
9A: ARUGULA β the primary, or first, letters of Anthropomorphic Raccoon Unlikely Guardian, Unusually Lovable Avenger, referring to Rocket Raccoon, a character in Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers. Rocket is the British word for Arugula.

10A: REPAIRS β REP (congresswoman) + AIRS (publicizes)
11A: OVA β a lot of (N)OVA – lox
12A: GENIAL β ALE mixed with GIN
13A: GOBI β I (one) + BOG (quagmire), contrarily, or backwards
15A: STARTING β STING (smart) about ART (creative endeavors)
16A: BODEGA β AGED (Elderly) + OB (person who helps with deliveries) returned, or turned around
19A: BAKERY β BAKER (QB Mayfield) + Y (Playβs completion)
20A: PASTICHE β filling of antiPASTI CHEf
23A: LOGO β LOG (record) + O(zero)
25A: URGENT β UR, as in old or original, GENT – Adam
26A: ALASKANS β foremost, or first letters, of Ancestral Primate Entities
28A: WEEKEND β KEN (Barbieβs boyfriend) in WEED (cannabis) cloud β WEE KEN D

29A: IRON MAN β IRAN (Middle Eastern country) takes ON + M(Mutant leader) = IR ON M AN
30A: NEATFREAK β KAREN and FATE anagrammed, or fused together
31A: ELDER β EL (the in Spanish) + DER (Communist, or Red, overturned, or backward).
Down
1D: ZEALOUS β ALO (Iberian introduction) in ZEUS (Greek divinity)
2D: SCUBA TANK β NAB A STUCK tangled, or anagrammed
3D: YOUNGSTERS β wild, or anagrammed OYSTERS surround overturned, or backwards GNU = YO UNG STERS
4D: STAGNANT β STAG and ANT (animals) around N (basinβs end).
5D: HARHAR β RAH RAH (cheer) going up, or backwards
6D: LOPE β ELOPE without the initial e (ecstasy)
7D: RHINO β RH (Rhesus factor) + IN + O (blood type)
8D: YESHIVA β YES (Alright) + HI (hello) + VA (Virginia)
14D: POSTITNOTE β I TEST ON TOP no longer confused, or anagrammed
17D: EXCLAIMED β EX (former partner) + CLAIMED (medical organization, or anagrammed)
18D: MAVERICK β AVER (Attest to the fact that) + MICK (Jagger) on the outside = M AVER ICK
19D: BALDWIN β BALD (outright) + WIN (victory)
21D: ELEANOR β LEAN (lo-fat meat, or middle) + ROE (caviar upscale, or backwards) = E LEAN OR
22D: BRIDGE β B (Bomber, as in B-52)Β over RIDGE (mountain range)
24D:GEENA β tamper with, or anagram, A GENE

27D β LEAF β double definition β look through/foliage