New York Times Crossword
ACROSS
1 10% donation
6 Makes a to-do about this and that 12 Air ticket abbr.
15 Disney mermaid
16 Because
17 “Seinfeld” uncle
18 *List for some binge watchers 20 Bit of a comic
21 Bearded beast
22 Freeze over
23 Setting of Kubla Khan’s palace 25 *Response to “Who, me?”
27 Body blow reaction 29 *“Balderdash!”
30 Much-used Twitter symbols
31 Line around the globe
33 State firmly
36 “Gil Blas” writer
37 Lou Gehrig’s disease, for short 40 *Lowest point on the earth’s surface
43 *Avon competitor
45 Move low toward the horizon 46 Like a curmudgeon
49 Quaker ___ 50 Sticky-leaved plant that feeds on insects
51 “Six-pack” 53 *Superman’s alien name 56 Longtime U.K. record label 57 *“For what reason, though?” 61 War-torn Syrian city
63 Flexible conjunction
65 Tow job provider, in brief 66 Thither
67 To understand this puzzle’s theme, read the ends of the answers to the starred clues and …
70 ___ Dunham, mother of Barack Obama
71 Marked down 72 First-stringers
73 Crucial
74 Excited, as a crowd 75 “Chocolat” director Hallström
DOWN
1 Having a zesty taste
2 Cara who sang “Flashdance … What a Feeling”
3 Emperor who finished the Colosseum 4 Mag mogul with a mansion 5 Mama Cass
6 Prix ___
7 ”
8 Drunken dazes
9 Ship’s pronoun
10 French waters
11 More passionate
12 Fish tank buildup
13 Having bags all packed, say 14 Animal that has strayed from the herd 19 Hosp. areas
24 Big Apple inits.
26 Almost a meter
28 Like whitecaps
32 Org. concerned with eagles and birdies 33 First few minutes of many podcasts 34 Geese formation
35 Sup
36 Summa cum ___
37 Rap sheet letters
38 Muscle below a delt
39 Lead-in to “ops”
41 Rodin, for one
42 Suffix with north or south
44 World Series-winning manager Ned 47 Spanish weeks
48 When repeated, what little stars do 50 Equinox mo.
51 “___ Ben Adhem” (Leigh Hunt poem) 52 Interment
53 Alternative to Travelocity or Orbitz 54 Without assistance 55 Comedian Bruce
58 Boat trailers?
59 Papa Bear of Chicago Bears history 60 “I rule!”
62 “Egads!”
64 Tossed out of the game, informally 68 The Cyclones of the Big 12 Conf. 69 Windy City rail inits.