The New York Times crossword puzzle
Across
1 Vehicles on snow-covered hills 6 Watering place for a camel 11 Indoor animal 14 “The Fox and the Grapes” storyteller 15 Trick-taking card game 16 Messenger ___ 17 Large bird of prey with a brownish-yellow neck 19 Suffix with cynic or skeptic 20 Pleased 21 Hombre 22 Pool stick 23 Make excited, as a crowd 26 Smooshed into compact layers 28 ___ carte (ordered separately) 29 Blue race in “Avatar” 31 Kind of pickle 32 ___ for tat 33 Actor Kevin whose last name shares four letters with his first 35 Eric Clapton hit that’s over seven minutes long
38 Light bulb unit 40 Butchers’ offerings 42 Like tops and tales 43 Speak extemporaneously 45 Boringly proper 47 Conclude 48 Greek god of love
50 Away from the wind, nautically 51 It’s just a number, they say 52 Single, double and triple, on the diamond 55 Shows mercy to
57 Plant bristle 58 Poet’s “before” 59 Olla podrida, for one 60 Sheep’s cry 61 Where you can find a 17-Across perched on an 11-Down devouring a 25-Down 66 Noah’s construction 67 Opening remarks 68 One of the Allman Brothers 69 Envision 70 Valuable item 71 New York’s Memorial ___ Kettering Cancer Center
Down
1 Droop 2 Zodiac sign before Virgo 3 Course for some immigrants, in brief 4 Historic Kansas fort name 5 Explore caves 6 Like debts 7 “Bingo!” 8 Letter after rho 9 Cuba or Aruba 10 Sign maker’s pattern 11 Cactus with an edible fruit 12 Follow as a consequence 13 No longer feral 18 Incendiary bomb material 23 Formal ruling on a point of Islamic law 24 Trojan War epic poem 25 Venomous predator with a vibrating tail 26 They get smashed at parties 27 “Sadly …” 30 Strives for victory
34 And others: Abbr. 36 Sudden forward thrust 37 World’s longest continental mountain range
39 Lose stamina 41 Afternoon nap 44 European region that lent its name to a nonconforming lifestyle 46 “Could be …” 49 Ambulance sounds 52 Rum-soaked desserts
53 In the loop 54 Messages that sometimes contain emojis 56 Really, really bad
59 Get off ___-free 62 Fury 63 Philosopher ___-tzu
64 Get ___ on (ace) 65 Four-star officer: Abbr.