The New York Times Crossword

No. 0712

ACROSS

1 Hard to understand

7 Vegan protein source

11 Electric guitarist’s need

14 It makes an auto shine

15 Spirited horse

16 Luau finger food

17 Song lyric before “short and stout”

20 Turn down, as lights

21 “Check this out!”

22 Out of practice

23 “The Simpsons” character voiced by Nancy Cartwright

24 ___ to the throne

26 Attorney general under George W. Bush

33 Sully

34 1960s Ron Howard TV role

35 Eggs in a fertility lab

36 End of a cigarette or rifle

37 Were in accord

39 Nephew of Donald Duck

40 Number that never goes down

41 Morrison who said “A writer’s life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity”

42 Some pork cuts

43 Appeasing, idiomatically

47 Writes

48 Gape

49 What designated drivers should be

52 Taurus symbol

53 Give silent approval

56 Grilled Japanese dish on skewers

60 What a dipstick measures the level of

61 Prep for publication

62 Where this puzzle’s circled letters can be found

63 Part of the body that’s

stubbed

64 Trick

65 ___ network

DOWN

1 The “A” of DNA

2 Oscar-winning Malek

3 Do some last-minute studying

4 Leatherworker’s pointed tool

5 Fancy work from a manicurist

6 Squeeze money from

7 Format of much AM radio

8 Metal in a mine

9 What Jack Sprat couldn’t eat, in a nursery rhyme

10 Transform using mobile technology, as a market

11 TikTok and Zoom, for two

12 Not worth debating

13 Feel sorry for

18 Band with the 1983 #1 hit “62-Across”

19 Surrounding glow

23 Like the wire in paper clips

24 “Cross my heart and ___ to die”

25 Oklahoma city

26 Facing the pitcher

27 Ha-ha

28 Dog to avoid

29 Pull out all the stops

30 Nephew of Donald Duck

31 100- or 200-meter, e.g.

32 Final authority

37 Enlist

38 Quaint lodgings

39 Sound of a car or goose

41 Brought up the rear?

42 Disreputable sort

44 International grp. with a

1970s U.S. embargo

45 Water: Sp.

46 Southeast Europe’s ___ Peninsula

49 Person who may speak with a brogue

50 Home of Cincinnati

51 Ill humor

52 Unit that may be preceded by kilo-, mega- or giga

53 Black: Fr.

54 Killer whale

55 Telephone

57 Univ. URL ending

58 ___ in the bud

59 ___TV (cable channel with “Impractical Jokers”)