The New York Times crossword puzzle
Across
1 Like a
hermit 9 Response to a sophomoric comment 15 Score after opening with an ace, informally 16 Secret ___ 17 Catch of all catches, of a sort
18 Singer of the Wagner aria “Liebestod” 19 Least cool 20 Make a feast of 21 Looks forward to the next spring? 22 Feature of Namibia and Libya
24 Root used in
perfumery 25 James ___, 1990-94 New Jersey governor 26 Noodle soup
noodle
27 Joint flare-up? 31 Got some
action 32 Method of
fishing 33 Station that people once looked up to 34 Goes over the
line? 36 Company added to the Dow 30 in 2013
37 Dr. Brody of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” 38 Draw toward
dark
39 Scenery
chewer 42 Grinders, of a
sort
43 Tree favored by
giraffes 44 Dubonnet or
Campari
46 Box at the
gym?
47 Bad news on the stock market
48 Part of a
record 49 Lowdown
sneak
50 Quick shots 51 Many people take them to bed nowadays
Down
1 “Should there be any question …” 2 Corn on the
cob, e.g. 3 Replaced, as on a computer 4 Shows the way 5 Force in the Battle of Dunkirk 6 Shakespeare’s First and Second Folios, e.g. 7 Spacewalks, in NASA lingo
8 It covers bridges, typically 9 Primitive cooking equipment 10 Situated (in) 11 Alito’s predecessor on the Supreme Court
12 Toon who uses his middle initial
13 High styles 14 Ones always banging their heads against things? 23 Female factory workers in W.W. II, informally 25 West Coast locale mentioned in “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” 27 Some fruit
pastries
28 Like store brands visà-vis name brands, typically 29 Waterway that lent its name to two French departments 30 Students arriving late?
32 Most
airheaded 35 Clam
36 T.S.A.
requirement 38 ___ Ochoa, 2017 Golf Hall of Fame inductee 39 Papa Bear of
the N.F.L. 40 Kind of squash 41 Photog’s lens 42 Intervening, at
law
45 “How ___ are they that have not patience!”: Iago