The New York Times crossword puzzle

Across

1 Mail inits. since

1971 5 ___-Carlton

(hotel chain) 9 Lettuce or

cabbage 14 Small recess 15 Drill (into) 16 Hero of Narnia in C. S. Lewis novels 17 Evidence of a day at the beach

19 In a deadpan

manner 20 Spleen 21 Middle of a classic boast from Caesar 22 Spanish

girlfriend 23 "Phooey!" 25 Chocolate confection with a molten core 28 Partner of

"ceases" 31 "Science is like ___: Sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it": Richard Feynman 32 Cleric's title, for

short

33 Tiki bar drink 35 Part of a decent-sized plot

36 Effect of secondhand pot smoke 39 Uber-fan

41 Ted ___, author of the bestselling shortstory collection "Exhalation" 42 Make a mistake 43 "Well, lahdi-___"

45 Made an irreverently sarcastic comment 49 Flight of fancy 52 Crooner Mel who was called "The Velvet Fog" 53 Common sight along the Norwegian coast

54 Male admirer 57 Signature Obama achievement, in brief

58 Held on (to) 59 Description of 17-, 25-, 36and 49-Across, in different senses? 61 Where it's at 62 Afghan's place 63 Bottom of a

boat

64 Army squad

leaders: Abbr. 65 Rudely "welcome" the away team 66 "Toy Story"

boy

Down

1 Remove the

fastenings from 2 Evening party 3 Tools for

fireplaces 4 Winter item on a car's roof rack

5 Hank Aaron holds the M.L.B. record for these, for short (2,297) 6 Smidgen 7 Fishing net 8 Mindfulnessbased practice 9 Cop-turnedvigilante in a postapocalyptic film 10 Courtier who oversees Hamlet's duel with Laertes 11 Member of a powerful ruling elite

12 B-baller in

California 13 "___ takers?" 18 Altima maker 22 "___ Maria" 24 Shakespeare's

"___ of Athens" 26 "Given the way things appear ..." 27 12/24 or 12/31 29 Small songbird 30 Upper part of a Vandyke beard, informally 34 German "Geez!" 35 Belligerent, in

British slang 36 Swiss founder of analytical psychology 37 Largest Chinese ethnic group 38 Like "three men" of nursery rhyme

39 Patch things up, say? 40 Unimportant

things 43 Funereal

compositions 44 Chip in

46 N.H.L. team with a mythological eponym 47 Presided over a

roast, say 48 Lethal 50 Dunkable

edible 51 Degrade 55 Nobelist

Wiesel

56 Miles

away

58 Big name in

pharmacies 59 One of Islam's Five Pillars

60 Inits. before a

nickname