The New York Times Crossword

By Nate Cardin

ACROSS

1 Random _ _ _ of

kindness

5 “What’s more ...”

9 Loser to scissors,

winner over rock

14 Eating plan

15 Slightest little

sound

16 Future fungus

17 Tim Duncan’s longtime N.B.A. team

20 Feminine article in

Spanish

21 “I’ll do that right

away, boss!”

22 Source of draft

beer

23 Metaphor for some special-interest government spending

27 Dust ___ (tiny

critter)

28 Taylor Swift’s “We ___ Never Ever Getting Back Together”

29 Little hopper

30 Sudden

overwhelming fear

31 Energy drinks that

“give you wings”

34 Choose

35 Mouth-related

36 Versin’ person?

37 Spins

40 Titular soccer coach on a hit Apple TV+ series

44 Improves, as a skill

45 Greek salad

cheese 46 ___-to manual

47 Shapes of

rainbows

48 Attention seeker at

school

51 “I did NOT need to

know that!”

52 Stretched tight

53 Sound in a

“Batman” fight

54 “Done this before, you know!” ... or a hint to the last words of 17-, 23-, 31-, 40- and 48-Across

60 Do a bit better

than

61 College head

62 Annoying thing to find unmatched in the laundry pile

63 Doorstop’s shape

64 Certain risqué

message

65 Swelled heads

DOWN

1 Interruptions in

Youtube videos

2 Spy org.

3 Like professors

with job security

4 Performed poorly,

informally

5 Well-suited

6 Sign before Virgo

7 Ladies of Spain

8 Stated a viewpoint

9 “Hey, you! Over

here!”

10 Smartphone

download

11 Canadian friesand-gravy dish

Edited by Will Shortz No. 0108

12 Unpredictable

13 Aretha Franklin hit ranked #1 on a Rolling Stone magazine “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list

18 Catch in the act

19 Frying need

23 Golf standard

24 Underground

metal

25 Book of maps

26 “Let the good

times ___!”

27 Island nation south

of Sicily

30 Banana discard

32 Tiresome sorts

33 Addresses with

links, for short

34 Cokes and Pepsis

36 Nonhuman household residents

37 “Where do we go

from here?”

38 Estrogen or

testosterone

39 Provoked

40 Source of an extract used in aromatherapy

41 Entrant in a Westminster Kennel Club event

42 Scatter, as seeds

43 Take responsibility

for

45 Liquids

48 Half-_ _ _ (rhyming

coffee order)

49 Lifesaving skill, in

brief

50 “_ _ _ lips sink

ships”

52 Use a keyboard

55 One might read

“#1 Dad”

56 “Wailing”

instrument

57 Explosive inits.

58 Prefix with

conscious

59 Approves