NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Wood strip

5 Circus animal balancing a ball on its nose

9 Cook, as vegetables 14 Farmland measure 15 ___ Major (the Big Dipper)

16 Issue to discuss 17 Former CNN anchor with a true-crime series on the Investigation Discovery channel 19 Apple tablets 20 Shrimp dish

21 On the ocean 23 German article

24 Places where kids can feed goats and sheep

30 College entrance exams 32 “Approximately speaking” 33 Obsolescent TV hookup

34 Annoying

37 Round trips? 40 Classic Nintendo character named after F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife 43 Like Mr. Spock’s ears

44 Failed epically 45 Hoppy quaff, in brief

46 Body part that a Manx cat lacks 48 Western lily 52 Warsaw currency 57 Neighbor of Syria: Abbr. 58 ___ (the Jet) Walker, Basketball Hall-offamer 59 Long-haired, potsmoking 1960s stereotype 61 Eyelashes

64 So simple … like 17-, 24-, 40- and 52-Across? 67 Ballpark purchase in a bun

68 Study, study, study 69 Tennis great Arthur 70 Overhang

71 Eyelid affliction 72 Warty fly-catcher

DOWN

1 Unwanted gaps 2 Thorny tree

3 School skipper 4 Captain’s post 5 “The World of ___ Wong”

6 Timeline segment 7 Wood for a baseball bat

8 Hawaiian porches

9 Larsson who wrote the “Millennium” trilogy

10 November birthstone 11 Smog-monitoring org.

12 Lend a hand

13 Ones making introductions, in brief

18 Tiktok, Instagram or Google’s Find My Device

22 Kind of alarm often activated in the morning

25 Puff from a pipe or cigarette

26 It’s hoisted on a brig

in high winds

27 “Ars Amatoria” poet 28 Twice tetra29 Many takers of

30-Across: Abbr. 31 Whirl or twirl 35 Sinus doc

36 Grim Reaper’s

implement

38 Big retailer of

outdoor gear 39 Three-ingredient sandwiches, for short

40 Law officers, in

slang

41 Iranian money 42 Normandy battle

site in W.W. II 43 Backup singer for

Gladys Knight 47 Montezuma’s

people

49 Only major Texas city on Mountain Time

50 Performer in a

kimono

51 Did as directed 53 Sweet cake topper 54 Malted, e.g.

55 Spice whose name consists of two consecutive pronouns

56 Bark like a lap dog 60 Fuel from a bog 61 North-of-theborder sports org. 62 Fury

63 Young fellow 65 Good name for a museum curator? 66 “___ what?”