The New York Times crossword puzzle

Across 1 The challengers 5 Sailor’s quaff 9 Presidential

perk until 1977 14 Speck

15 Roof feature 16 Jibe

17 Roald who wrote “James and the Giant Peach”

18 Sea nymphs, in Greek mythology 20 Like Edward

Snowden 22 Tear in two 23 Rank for Jay Landsman on “The Wire”: Abbr.

24 Munch

Museum city 25 Gives comfort 27 Generation ___ 29 Had by heart 32 1,000 in a

metric ton 33 Certain operating system 35 Check closely 37 Gobble

down 39 Muckraker

Tarbell 40 An American

abroad

44 Like Brutalist

architecture 47 Top-notch 48 Utah’s ___

Canyon 50 Annual Austin festival, for short

52 Prince George, to Prince William

53 Like a dog on a

walk, usually 55 Haul

57 Tuna type 58 Non-humanities subjects, for short 60 Immature 63 Vain queen who boasted that she was more beautiful than 18-Across 66 Object of

worship 67 “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” musical 68 Actor Epps 69 Chasers in many a chase scene

70 Mails 71 Upscale 72 Place to play

musical spoons Down 1 It ebbs and flows 2 Hoodwink 3 Where 63-Across ruled prior to her banishment 4 Locales for many food courts

5 Finish

6 “Go, team!” 7 Finished

8 Big factor in

longevity 9 Football field

marking 10 Mature 11 Shortening

brand

12 Garden dividers 13 Lab work 19 Long, thin

mushroom 21 Herd at

Yellowstone 26 “She” responds to voice commands 27 Director Van

Sant

28 Writer Beattie 30 One end of a

maze

31 Moves like a

heron

34 Checks for a fracture, perhaps

36 “Das Kapital”

author 38 Purplish-red

flowers

41 God who banished 63-Across to the sky, as depicted by the constellation formed by the X’s in this puzzle’s finished grid 42 Year abroad 43 Base ___ 45 Handle 46 Where a river meets the sea

48 Sit quietly,

perhaps 49 Cereal fruit 51 Took gold 53 Gets ready to play hockey, with “up” 54 Train stop 56 Guessing a number an audience member has thought of, e.g.

59 Office note 61 Alexander who wrote “The Dunciad” 62 Besides 64 Norm: Abbr. 65 English novelist

McEwan