The New York Times Crossword

ACROSS

1 Random _ _ _ of kindness

5 “What’s more ...” 9 Loser to scissors, winner over rock 14 Eating plan 15 Slightest little sound

16 Future fungus

17 Tim Duncan’s longtime N.B.A. team

20 Feminine article in Spanish

21 “I’ll do that right away, boss!” 22 Source of draft beer

23 Metaphor for some special-interest government spending

27 Dust ___ (tiny critter)

28 Taylor Swift’s

“We ___ Never Ever Getting Back Together”

29 Little hopper 30 Sudden overwhelming fear 31 Energy drinks that “give you wings” 34 Choose 35 Mouth-related 36 Versin’ person? 37 Spins

40 Titular soccer coach on a hit Apple TV+ series 44 Improves, as a skill 45 Greek salad cheese 46 ___-to manual 47 Shapes of rainbows

48 Attention seeker at school

51 “I did NOT need to know that!” 52 Stretched tight 53 Sound in a “Batman” fight 54 “Done this before, you know!” ... or a hint to the last words of 17-, 23-, 31-, 40- and 48-Across

60 Do a bit better than

61 College head 62 Annoying thing to find unmatched in the laundry pile 63 Doorstop’s shape 64 Certain risqué message

65 Swelled heads

DOWN

1 Interruptions in Youtube videos 2 Spy org.

3 Like professors with job security 4 Performed poorly, informally 5 Well-suited

6 Sign before Virgo 7 Ladies of Spain 8 Stated a viewpoint 9 “Hey, you! Over here!”

10 Smartphone download 11 Canadian friesand-gravy dish

12 Unpredictable 13 Aretha Franklin hit ranked #1 on a Rolling Stone magazine “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list

18 Catch in the act 19 Frying need

23 Golf standard 24 Underground metal

25 Book of maps

26 “Let the good times ___!”

27 Island nation south of Sicily

30 Banana discard 32 Tiresome sorts 33 Addresses with links, for short 34 Cokes and Pepsis 36 Nonhuman household residents

37 “Where do we go from here?” 38 Estrogen or testosterone 39 Provoked

40 Source of an extract used in aromatherapy 41 Entrant in a Westminster Kennel Club event 42 Scatter, as seeds 43 Take responsibility for

45 Liquids

48 Half-_ _ _ (rhyming coffee order) 49 Lifesaving skill, in brief

50 “_ _ _ lips sink ships”

52 Use a keyboard 55 One might read “#1 Dad”

56 “Wailing” instrument 57 Explosive inits. 58 Prefix with conscious 59 Approves