NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 “Don’t text and drive” spots, e.g., for short 5 Dallas pro, informally 8 Extemporizes, in a way 12 R&B artist with the 2004 hit “1, 2 Step” 13 Manhattan’s Park, e.g.: Abbr.

14 Shimmery stones 16 Substantial

17 Band’s booking 18 “Make sense?” 19 First-class, in slang 20 Gilt-y party?

22 Retro skyscraper style 23 Sports monitor, for short

24 Actor Cage, to friends 25 Org. that penalizes icing 27 Like the yin side: Abbr. 28 Uncomfortably close to home 30 Flashy event?

32 Brood

33 He said “If you even dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologize” 35 “Star Trek: T.N.G.” Klingon

36 One half of a 55-Across 37 “Les ___”

38 The other half

of a 55-Across 39 Candy sold in

stacked bricks

40 Airer of many public

affairs programmes 46 Naturally, in Britspeak 53 Spark

54 Gave a damn? 55 Challenge in a demanding job … or a feature of this puzzle? 59 Single

60 “Dead Souls” author Nikolai 61 Neighbor of Myanmar 62 Narrowly made, with “out”

63 Message on a

candy heart

64 Some briefs 65 Government org.

featured on “Narcos” 66 Grubby group 67 Positive feedback

DOWN

1 Unpleasant sort 2 Office-friendly, to YouTubers

3 Music and theater, e.g. 4 “Here’s a thought …” 5 Things from which genii are summoned 6 Passionate

7 Pie made with dairy-free cheese, maybe

8 Brief, abrupt change in direction

9 Made an impression? 10 Have an unchanging, monogamous relationship

11 Peek into the everyday 12 Put on the map 15 Tread not so lightly 20 Unaccounted for, for short

21 “Put a cork in it!” 24 Exchange business cards, maybe 26 Good-for-nothing 29 Overhaul

31 “L’chaim!”

34 Bit of fake news 40 Broke down, in a way 41 Edward ___, first popularly elected African-American U.S. senator (Massachusetts, 1967-79)

42 You can see

right through it 43 Reheated, in a way 44 Immigrant’s class: Abbr.

45 Puts on the 47-Down 47 What some black squares in this grid represent 48 Brynner of “The

Magnificent Seven” 49 Dental care brand 50 Org. for Carter and Bush Sr. before they became presidents 51 Puzzle out

52 Texas oil city

56 Cry ___

57 Frozen food brand with French Toaster Sticks 58 Fail ignominiously