The New York Times Crossword Puzzle
ACROSS
1 Small groups of conspirators
7 Charitable offerings of old
11 Sheepish utterance?
14 Catching some Z’s
15 Italy’s outline
16 Relative of an ostrich
17 Command for a soldier to relax
19 Post-disaster help, e.g.
20 Like a low, horizontal throw used by shortstops
21 Unhinge mentally
23 D.C.-based teachers’ union
24 One of the Kardashians
26 Pretends
27 Weekend comedy hit, in brief
29 Financially solvent
31 Passing craze
34 Snoopy’s breed
36 Spits rhymes, so to speak
39 Tableware for special guests
41 Classic car inits.
42 Melville’s “___ Budd”
43 Mafia chief
44 Fail to keep a promise
46 “The Spanish Tragedy” dramatist Thomas
47 Have as one’s residence
49 ___ room (play space)
51 Goes out of business
53 In the manner of
55 Blockhead
58 Bemoans, as a loss
60 42 weeks pregnant, e.g.
63 One of the Gershwin brothers
64 Betray … or a hint to what’s found in this puzzle’s shaded squares
66 Plastic used in piping, for short
67 Cookie once promoted with the line “Take a lick — you’ll love it”
68 Stock market purchases
69 State out loud
70 Take a breather
71 Ohio city on Lake Erie
DOWN
1 Mama ___ Elliot of 1960s folk
2 Sean who voiced the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Raphael
3 Ice skate part
4 Trojan hero in a Virgil epic
5 Yeats’s “___ and the Swan”
6 Glisten
7 “Honest” guy on a five
8 Trucker’s haul 9 White wine named for the European river valley where it’s produced
10 Sound upgrade from mono
11 Means to a goose laying golden eggs, in a fairy tale
12 Compañero
13 Poet W. H. ___
18 “I don’t need to hear all that!”
22 PONG Quest gaming company
25 Reddish purple
28 Org. overseeing court battles
30 Drifting ice mass
31 U.S. TV regulator
32 “Now I see!”
33 Negotiator’s skill
35 Square footage
37 Thickness, as of yarn
38 Name that’s hidden in “Easy does it”
40 Assault on the ears
42 Helpful pollinator
44 Bring back to its original condition
45 Most serious
48 One with a booth at a flea market
50 Pen for horses on a ranch
51 Promotional snippets from a film
52 Caterpillar or tadpole
54 Texter’s chortle
56 Be crazy about
57 Joined together by heating
59 Hauls into court
61 Sound that rebounds
62 Former Exxon name
65 Nonhuman internet “account holder”