NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Explosions 7 Like the posture of humans 12 Person in a detached state? 13 Hit 2017 Jordan Peele thriller 15 With 25-Down, alchemists’ quest in a book released on June 26, 1997 17 Office head 18 Money back 19 Evidence for determining paternity 20 Swear (to) 22 Victory 23 Deadly snakes 26 Units in stables 31 Lion in “The Chronicles of Narnia” 35 Coup d’___ 37 Enthusiastic 38 Alphabet chunk after D-E-F 39 Column’s counterpart 40 Specialist’s vocabulary 41 Distinctive atmosphere 42 Jay once seen nightly 43 Fund, as a chair 44 Coming from two speakers 46 Singer Fitzgerald 48 Bill who’s a science expert 50 Small program 55 Lawyers’ org. 58 “The Descent of Man” author 61 Widespread 62 Star of the film version of the book referenced in 15-Across/25-Down 65 Comparable to a pin, in a phrase 66 Goes “Ah-choo!” 67 Persistently torment 68 Crafty person at a wheel?

DOWN

1 Given benediction, the old-fashioned way 2 Run out, as a subscription 3 ___Wednesday 4 Evades 5 Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s ___” 6 Hoity-toity type 7 Self-centered sort 8 Be in a sorry state? 9 Biblical verb ending 10 Like volleyball that’s played jointly by men and women 11 Not go straight 12 “Cat on ___ Tin Roof” 14 Passenger-screening org. 15 Letters on a schedule meaning “We’ll let you know” 16 Went on dates with 21 What the Titanic did, famously 24 Father: Fr. 25 See 15-Across 27 Of similar character 28 Advance, as money 29 Toy block brand30 Cold fall 31 Turkish pooh-bahs 32 Open’s opposite 33 Abandoned European capital 34 Not quite closed 36 Soldier who’s gone missing 40 Jump 42 Allegiance 45 Cause to be cherished 47 Surgical knife 49 Exemplify humanity, say 51 Contest award 52 Subject of a long sentence? 53 Letters before gees 54 Golf peg 55 Palindromic Nabokov title 56 Big party 57 “___ and the King of Siam” 59 Big stinger 60 Nine-digit fig. on a Social Security card 63 Comparative suffix 64 Tennis umpire’s call