The New York Times crossword puzzle

Across

1 ___ cheese (cheese that isn’t yours, in a classic joke)

6 Camera type, in brief

9 Chef Ming ___, whose last name is hidden in “condiments aisle”

13 Was sore

14 Layer of paint

16 Going ___ (squabbling)

17 *What might be kneaded in the kitchen

19 Abstract artist Joan

20 Satirizes

21 In a spooky manner

23 Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500

25 A tough ___ to swallow

26 Physicist Einstein

29 Taken care of, on an invoice stamp

31 Savings plan option, for short

34 Poke fun at

35 Lacking originality

36 Many a Scott Joplin tune

37 Pants holderupper

38 Flights of fancy

39 Pioneer in digital recording

40 Certain knee tissue, for short

41 Obtains

42 ___ tag (game with target vests)

43 “OTOH …”

44 Focus of many an engagement photo

45 One-named “Queen of Tejano Music”

46 Death notice, in brief

48 Bone-in cut of lamb, e.g.

50 Los Estados ___ (the U.S., in Spanish)

52 Performing a play, say

56 Grumpy mood

57 *Person to keep an eye on for future success

59 Smooch

60 Word after tall or tell

61 Surrounded by

62 Teensy

63 Foxy

64 Green pasta sauce

Down

1 Apt rhyme for “grabs”

2 Parcel of land

3 Olympic figure skater Nathan

4 Adjustable part of a car seat

5 “It’s likely that …”

6 Check (out), like competition

7 Singer Rawls or Reed

8 Craze

9 Ethnic group of Sri Lanka

10 Classic Maya Angelou poem … or a hint to the answers to the starred clues and the circled letters, in two different ways

11 Well-ventilated

12 “Who am ___ judge?”

15 A truly unpleasant situation

18 Word before tape or after tear

22 Be a passenger

24 Mattress coils

26 Chance to hit, in baseball

27 Bloodsucking parasite

28 *One being propelled by hot air

30 Prepares to shoot a target

32 Black bird

33 Ancient Greek marketplace

35 Slender

38 Do nothing during the course of, as a storm

39 “I’m listening”

41 Part of a crossword that gets filled in

42 Protective cover for a camera

45 Beach grit

47 Teensy

49 What catches more flies than vinegar, in a saying

50 Cup or pint

51 Places for peels or scrubs

53 Singer Tori

54 Proper fellow

55 “Cogito, ___ sum”

56 Hit the slopes

58 Everyone or everything