THE NEW YORK TIMES

ACROSS 1 Recruits 8 They’re covered by boards 15 Commercial break? 17 Problem in the Tower of Babel story 18 Gets into the game 19 Depart unceremoniously? 20 Female koala 21 Depart unceremoniously, in slang 22 Mountain ridge 23 Be down with 24 School extension? 25 Copies illegally 26 Circumflex lookalike 27 Passé, so to speak 29 Tunneling machines 30 Fully in agreement 32 1991 self-titled debut album 35 Microsoft Surface surface 39 ___ acid 40 Manufactured drug, for short 41 Speed 42 They’re answered once and for all 43 Manages to avoid 44 Basic spreadsheet command 45 Japanese carrier 46 Dulce de ___ (Latin American confection) 47 “A Room With a View” clergyman 48 Montreal’s Bell Centre and others 51 Fierce opponent of patriarchy 52 Crack filler 53 Gets clean, in a way

DOWN 1 Prepare for return shipping, say 2 Song that debuted on Saint-JeanBaptiste Day in 1880 3 First name in the Gospels 4 Foreign news correspondent Richard 5 Under: Fr. 6 “___ Ramblin’ Man” (#1 Waylon Jennings country hit) 7 Naira spender 8 Ones hoping for prior approval? 9 Flip out 10 Lake ___, Australia’s lowest point 11 Big A.T.M. maker 12 Timorous question 13 Dined at someone else’s place 14 Composition of some grids 16 Childlike personality? 22 Specializations 23 Abrasive 25 One “whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be,” per Ambrose Bierce 26 Express carefully 28 Capital where the Arab Spring began 29 Card makeup 31 Fiddled (with) 32 Business, either personal or otherwise 33 Limitation for borrowers 34 Literally, “the foundation” 36 Renaissance symbol 37 Starting site for sorties 38 Can’t take 40 Nurse 43 Football helmet item 44 “___ Evil” (1971 Mia Farrow thriller) 46 Overwhelming favorite, informally 47 “Blimey!” sayer 49 Fruit juice brand 50 D.C.’s historic Metropolitan ___ Church: Abbr.