Solution: Lead-in to a grave pronouncement - NYT Crossword

“Lead-in to a grave pronouncement” is an interesting clue that has stymied me, frankly. At first I figured that NOW MORE THAN EVER must have been famously said by someone referring to something dramatic, but I came up with nothing. I’m open to the idea that there’s wordplay involving “grave,” but the entry isn’t associated with eulogies or funerals. For a minute, I placed NOW MORE THAN EVER and “this too shall pass” in the same mental folder and wondered if that was the trick — “grave” and “pass” — but it seems far-fetched.