The New York Times crossword puzzle
Across
1 Breaded and topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella, for short 5 “Holy mackerel!” 9 Instrument played by indie rock’s Sufjan Stevens 13 Black-andwhite item in a sleeve 14 V.I.P. on base 15 Winter bugs 16 With 26-Across, game that uses a blindfold 18 Part of the food pyramid 19 Gardening tool 20 Fruit in the William Carlos Williams poem “This Is Just to Say” 22 Edward Snowden’s former employer, in brief 23 Black History Mo. 26 See 16-Across 29 “Why?” 31 Puts up 32 Bird that had no natural predators until humans arrived 33 Tick (off) 35 Babe Zaharias was the first woman to compete on its tour, in brief 36 Item exchanged in a so-called “yankee swap” 41 John Lewis was born here: Abbr. 42 Org. that oversees O.T.C.s 43 Campaign expense 45 Get situated 48 Pacify 50 Frequent reveler, or a hint to 16-/26and 36-Across 53 Hit the slopes 54 “___ be my pleasure” 55 Lots 56 Hearty laugh 58 Tidy 60 Cartoonist suggested by this puzzle’s theme 65 Brand in the ice cream aisle 66 Aches (for) 67 Words after a gasp 68 Its underside might be covered in gum 69 The first cloned mammals 70 Yarn
Down
1 Dad 2 “Midsommar” director Aster 3 ___ faire (historical re-enactment event, for short) 4 Fly-by-night type? 5 Fuel up, in a way 6 Visual in an annual report 7 Nimble 8 Hornswoggle 9 Toggle option 10 Artist’s starting place 11 Get-go 12 Guest ___, what The New York Times calls op-eds 14 What an asterisk might suggest 17 Centaur’s foot 21 Transform 23 Repeated string in a chain letter subject line 24 Website with articles like “10 Surprising Ways to Use Mayonnaise Around Your Home” 25 Things best kept under one’s hat? 27 Data structure with a root node 28 Undo 30 Half of a halfbathroom 34 Tiny toymaker 37 Tucker who had her first hit in 1972 and won her first Grammys in 2020 38 Cheese used in Babybels 39 Fruits whose seeds can act as a substitute for black peppercorns 40 Something to do 44 Latin gods 45 Shared one’s views 46 For all ages, as a video game 47 Tell 49 Also 51 At all, in dialect 52 Combined 57 Pretzel, basically 59 Shaming syllable 61 Drug dosages: Abbr. 62 Light bulb moment sound 63 Show with the recurring character Target Lady, in brief 64 “Piggy”