Today's crossword

ACROSS

1 Chuckleheads

6 Marcus Aurelius, for one

11 Distraction in a dr.’s waiting room

14 Meet part

15 Confection typically flavored with saffron and rosewater

16 Make public

17 *Obstacle encountered at dawn?

19 Letters before a take

20 Ruse

21 Flamenco shout

22 Sleep study subject

24 *Plot where blue bars of soap grow?

27 Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy

31 __ roll

32 Certain crosscountry traveler

33 Two or three, say

35 Setup punches

38 Chest muscles, briefly

39 Conclude with, and a phonetic hint for the answers to the starred clues

40 Four-award acronym

41 Big Apple store

42 Fibber

43 “Pride Is the Devil” rapper

44 Soaks up the sun

46 Short revitalizer

47 *Time when tall, thick grass covers a golf course?

51 “It’s open!”

52 Soup container

53 Western gas chain

57 Avocado discard

58 *Shoutout to a ride-hailing app?

62 System starter?

63 “They were no match for me!”

64 Center of Renaissance art

65 Actor Cariou

66 Pert

67 Anti-anxiety drug

DOWN

1 Appliance alert

2 Not quite round

3 Round number?

4 Merely

5 Porcine pen

6 NFL coach with the most career wins

7 Scale allowances

8 Not fresh

9 Secret suffix

10 Ancient land on the Dead Sea

11 *Everyone’s favorite firebreathing monster?

12 Mann of pop

13 [But I don’t wanna do my homework!]

18 Windfall

23 Cast

24 Jaguar, for one

25 His and hers

26 Gala garb

27 Egyptian cobras

28 Maker of BILLY bookcases

29 *Controller part that gets worn out playing “Mortal Kombat”?

30 Text, e.g.

33 Star __: expensive spice

34 Rx overseer

36 Whirled weapon

37 Pedometer unit

39 Large deer

43 “SNL” alum Hooks

45 “I dunno” gestures

46 Post-op wear for some pets

47 Drive away

48 Waiting in the wings

49 Surveyor’s units

50 __ the Owl: Rice University mascot

53 Naan flour

54 “Glass Onion” filmmaker Johnson

55 Bar mixer

56 Black gemstone

59 Campy scarf

60 UFO aviators

61 Squash