NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

Across

1 Drops the ball

big-time

8 Home to about 60% of the world’s population

12 One with a whistle … who sometimes 1-Across? 15 Soccer superstar

Cristiano 16 Sporty car roof

option

17 Genre of Death

Cab for Cutie 18 Tot’s mount 20 Cold War jet 21 Cover, as tasks 22 Connecticut Ivy

Leaguer

23 Willy Wonka prop 24 Practically forever 25 Jim Beam

competitor 28 Gun

29 Auction action 30 Thinks the world

of

31 Hard to swallow,

in a way

34 Shake a leg, in

Shakespeare 35 Chinese poultry dish marinated in wine

40 ___-fi

41 Torments 43 Residents of

ancient Minos 47 PC key

48 Windy City rail

system, in brief 49 1980 boxing film for which De Niro won Best Actor 51 Criticize harshly 53 “Couldn’t agree

more!”

54 Name, as a price 55 ___ bear

56 Flat refusals 57 They’re always ready for a good time … or a description of 18-, 25-, 35- and 49-Across?

61 Tree creature of

Middle-earth 62 Brothers Grimm

villain 63 Legislative bodies 64 Marx’s “___

Kapital”

65 Cherry or walnut 66 Recliner feature

Down

1 Remark from one having cold feet, perhaps

2 Bit of unfinished

business 3 Cursory appraisal 4 Rouse

5 Pita pocket cuts,

e.g.

6 Passport fig. 7 Dress (up),

quaintly

8 Island like

Kiritimati

9 Jazz piano style played by Fats Waller and Mary Lou Williams 10 Siri’s platform 11 Copy

12 Fresh take on a

classic, perhaps 13 Slim Shady, by

another name 14 Some old-timers 19 Eric ___, 1980 Olympic speed skating gold medalist 23 Streaming sites? 24 Cardinals’ home,

in stats 25 Illusionist’s skill 26 Part of a casual

layered look 27 College city in

upstate New York 29 Blues legend with a guitar named Lucille 32 Hoffman who played Captain Hook

33 Early quinoa

cultivator

36 Like chewable

calcium, often 37 Place for a

concert or lecture 38 Get really serious

really quickly 39 Pitching statistic? 42 Rode the bench 43 Stretched to get

a better look, say 44 ___ Quimby, Beverly Cleary heroine 45 Discharges 46 Pizzeria chain 50 Formal “you,” in

Spanish

51 Sound of spring? 52 Former L.A. Laker

Odom

55 Banjo spot, in

song

57 “Right in the

kisser!”

58 Fourth word in the “Star Wars” prologue 59 Communication method in much of the 2021 film “CODA,” for short 60 Bygone Mach 1

breaker, in brief