L.A. TIMES CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Persepolis ruins locale

5 Prickly plants

10 Former Supreme Court first name

14 iPod model

15 Garden nuisance

16 Protection org. since 1970

17 Lions in the city?

19 Slangy sweeties

20 Pulitzer-winning author Lurie

21 Spring

23 Conan's network

24 Willamette River capital

25 Fish with experience?

27 UFO fliers, presumably

28 __ bath

30 Luke and Leia's mother

31 Show-offs

35 Pats gently

36 Bees behind bars?

38 Inland Asian sea

40 Fixture in some no-parking zones

41 Starr man

43 One kept on a child at the pool

44 Hole goal

47 Whales on the run? 51 GE rival

53 “Alas!” prompter

54 Seafarers

55 USC athlete

56 Novel ending?

58 Wolves with a clean lair?

60 Miranda __ of “Homeland”

61 Dutch cheeses

62 Czech track legend Zátopek

63 Zen riddle

64 “Building a Mystery” singer McLachlan

65 Cook of comedy

DOWN

1 If

2 Scold harshly

3 Wile E. Coyote weapons 4 White __

5 Bo's'n boss

6 Loan fig.

7 Put on ice

8 Helped through a tough time, with “over”

9 Brainstorming session output

10 Director Reiner

11 Paper with Money and Life sections

12 Awesome, slangily

13 Bothers

18 Public town park

22 Narc's find

25 “Funny thing is ... ”

26 “I __ thought of that”

29 Home to the Ogden Raptors of MiLB

31 Hägar the Horrible's wife

32 Med. condition with repetitive behavior

33 Hurt in a ring

34 Take out, as a vampire

36 Italian bacon

37 Like difficult push-ups

38 “Do you and I need to clear the air?”

39 Dish with arborio rice

42 Withdraw, with “out”

44 __ party

45 Aleve rival

46 Really get to

48 Wasp nest sites

49 Red-carpet brand

50 NBA great Robertson nicknamed “The Big O”

52 Minibike kin

55 Derriere

57 Long time to wait, facetiously

59 Thurman in films