The New York Times crossword puzzle

Across

1 Positive

particles 8 Fending (off) 15 Brand X 16 Precipice of exposed bedrock

17 & 18 Emmywinning “Ugly Betty” actress 19 Festive French

season 20 Goddess often depicted holding a staff of papyrus 21 Lunch with

Skippy, briefly? 24 Tricky thing to

get caught in 25 Nabokov’s

longest novel 26 QB Newton who popularized dabbing

29 Ate away 31 Author of “An Inconvenient Truth” 33 Spelling of

“BH90210” 34 Enlighten 38 Deeply

regrets 39 65-Across justifiers, in a saying 40 Year, in ancient

Rome

41 “The Queen’s Gambit” actress TaylorJoy 42 Newswoman

Paula 44 Remark further 45 Sondheim’s “___ the Woods” 46 Fellows 47 When viewed 50 ___-runner

(bootlegger) 52 One calling you

out, perhaps 53 Bunch of numbers for crunching 54 N.B.A.’s ___

Ming

55 Charge

56 Come over the

top, in poker 57 Certain camera,

for short 58 Journalist ___ Rogers St. Johns

60 Path of a popup

61 Threepio’s “Star Wars” companion 63 Site of a Massachusetts tourist shop named “Witch Way Gifts” 64 Nothing

65 See 39-Across 66 Amazon voice

assistant 67 Actor Billy ___

Williams 68 Shopping ___

Down

1 ___ Tour 2 Sleep stage, in

brief

3 Unified

4 Bird on a beach 5 Baltimore bird 6 “Great

thinking!” 7 Common bathroom device 8 Bulgaria’s

capital

9 They always come 48 hours before Thanksgiving 10 Relating to a

heart chamber 11 Some old tape

players, briefly 12 Wrath 13 Here/there gobetween 14 Transcript

fig.

21 Court great

Sampras 22 Prize for third

place 23 Oscar-winning director of “Get Out”

26 Grand Ole Opry performer … or a hint to 17-/18-Across and 23- and 36-Down 27 “Can we talk

privately?” 28 Bit of Southwest topography 30 Share juicy

gossip

32 2008 Clint Eastwood film “___ Torino” 35 Half of a double

helix 36 Grammywinning singer of “Little Things” 37 Chocolate treat

on a stick 43 Rhyming descriptor for Obama 45 Groups fixing computer crashes, for short

46 Scar’s brother in “The Lion King”

48 Scot’s

refusal 49 “Mama ___ Crazy,” 1984 hit by the Judds 51 Gloomy 59 “Superman” antagonist ___ Luthor 62 Dem.’s

opposite