NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Fail to invite, maybe 5 The Taj City 9 ___ toast 14 Home to a majority of the world’s alpacas 15 Spinnaker or spanker 16 Smith, sometimes 17 Drop 18 When prefixed with 72-Across, what a friend wishes for you 20 … A matter worth considering

22 Mythical meanie 23 “What ___?” 24 … Plaint upon going through one’s closet

26 Suggest gently 29 Whale’s closest living land relative 31 Words repeated in “___ right, or ___ right?” 32 Delights in 34 They’re taken in chess 38 … A small amount

40 Introductory course? 42 …“Piece of cake!”

43 Gladiatorial accessory 45 Watch surreptitiously 47 ___ shot

48 A, B and C, but not X, Y and Z 50 Bubbled, as a cauldron 52 … Dud

55 Calumnies 56 Unaltered 57 … Magician’s claim

63 … Surgeon’s goal

65 In the thick of 66 One in it for the long run? 67 Palindromic woman 68 Result of atmospheric inversion 69 Old kind of pool 70 Bridge scorecard heading 71 Where Bill and Hillary Clinton met

DOWN 1 Difficult situation 2 “Little ___ in Slumberland” (early comic)

3 “QB VII” author, 1970

4 …“Swish”

5 Widely banned building material 6 Part of a medical kit 7 It’s a tradition 8 Ski area in the Wasatch Mountains 9 Wild West? 10 Displace by force 11 Feudal superior 12 City whose name, appropriately, is an anagram of ARABS 13 Purple perennial 19 Address starter

21 Carrier that operates only six days a week

25 Go (for) 26 Overly theatrical sorts 27 Repeated cry after “Stop shaking me!” 28 Deserving, to Santa 29 Chips in 30 Opiner’s opener 33 Waterford offering 35 2 funny!!! 36 Shade of green 37 Drywall support 39 Does a surfing trick 41 Singer who played the

title role in “Calamity Jane” 44 ___ deer 46 Holiday song 49 Level 51 …“Keep at it!”

52 Comforts 53 Opening of a fitness motto 54 M-1, for one 55 Jeff of the Electric Light Orchestra 58 Totally dope, in dated slang 59 Ho Chi ___ City 60 Heiress of Hartfield, in an 1816 novel 61 Popular Renaissance instrument 62 Sharp part 64 Stereotypical frat member