The New York Times crossword puzzle

Across

1 “Caught you!” 7 Rapidly increase in size 15 Britain, Spain or France, once 16 Shrub used to make tea 17 Bachelorette party attendee 18 *Seek surreptitiously 19 Author Kingsley 20 Under the weather 22 Faculty heads 23 Mormon’s donation 25 Got ready to run? 28 Woman’s name that’s an anagram of a European native 30 Stylish, ’60s-style

31 All the rage 34 Maker of Team USA swimsuits 37 Nada 38 Comic strip opossum 39 *Fight imaginary enemies 42 “Such a shame!” 43 Clearance item holder

44 “For sure!” 45 Deep desire 46 Ashen 47 Occasion to dress up 48 Intestines’ locale 50 Airheaded 54 Hard effort, metaphorically 57 “The Cask of Amontillado” writer 59 “Toodle-oo!” 60 *Baseball throw that might thwart a squeeze play 63 Captain Ahab, e.g. 65 “Regrettably, it’s true” 66 Coleridge’s “The ___ Harp” 67 Get wasted 68 Commoners’ superiors

Down

1 Sired 2 So-called “fifth taste” 3 Tricky bowling situation 4 *Bettors’ aids 5 ___ of Good Feelings 6 New York’s Katz’s, for one 7 Burn with water 8 Indian flatbread 9 “U can’t b serious!” 10 Joined with a torch

11 Not be colorfast 12 ___ Romeo 13 Meaning of “Simba” in Swahili

14 Film director

___ von Trier 21 Grassy expanse 24 Source of medieval Norse poetry 26 Declaration made while anteing up 27 “What’d I say?!” 29 Halfway decent

31 Fit to be canonized 32 Eye hungrily 33 Throw out

34 Bit of training accompanying “Sit!” and “Speak!” 35 Stack (up) 36 Verve 37 Diarist Anaïs 38 Home to this puzzle’s featured structure, as hinted at by the starts of the answers to the starred clues 40 Improvise, with “it” 41 Gin rummy combo 46 ___ reason 47 1960s muscle car 48 Former colony that’s a gambling mecca 49 Supermodel and actress Kate 51 Shire of “Rocky” 52 Total bargain 53 Exaggerated accounts 54 Dustup 55 Surfing aid 56 Raison d’___ 58 Wide-mouthed jug 61 Tribute that may be urned? 62 Nonprofit grp. that works with the Defense Department 64 “Boo-___!”