NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Criticize, in slang 4 Something computers cannot write to or erase 9 Bottomless pit

14 “We ___ the World” 15 Nice smell 16 Like some handwriting … or tipplers 17 Up to, informally 18 Traveled in the front passenger seat

20 ___ at the wheel

22 Lye, chemically 23 Rainbow’s shape 24 “Heavens to ___!” 26 Two-part 28 Captain of the 2012 and 2016 U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics teams 31 Degs. for C.E.O.s 35 Chap 36 Pants part that might need patching 37 Join a conference call, say 39 Silly 41 Monopoly properties you can’t put houses on, in brief

43 End of a lasso 44 Screen ___ Guild 46 Rating between excellent and fair

48 Cry in a soccer stadium 49 Watermelon part that’s spit out

50 Main ingredient in a protein shake, maybe 53 Great Lake with the shortest name 55 Mommy’s sister 56 Kind of connection port on a PC 59 Overly fussy, say

61 Hit Broadway musical set partly in Paris, for short 64 What you might do to pass on an Interstate … or a phonetic hint to the starts of 18-, 28- and 50-Across 67 Letters before an assumed name 68 Sudden forward thrust

69 “___ could’ve told you that!” 70 ___ center 71 Choice words? 72 Believer in Jah, informally 73 Pack animal of Tibet

DOWN

1 Facts and figures 2 Part of the eye 3 Stamp on a milk carton 4 One tending a house during the owner’s absence 5 Stops by 6 Towel holder 7 Eclipse or a black cat, some say 8 Ancient fortification overlooking the Dead Sea 9 Hi in HI 10 Spam spewer 11 Some quiet exercise

12 Appendage on a cowboy’s boot 13 Align, informally 19 Elvis’s “___ Dog” 21 Always, to a poet 25 Belgian river to the North Sea 27 “Hilarious!,” in a text 28 Assumed name 29 Knight’s weapon 30 Join the flow of traffic 32 Cocktail with tomato juice 33 Seating request on an airplane 34 Mocking smile 38 World’s largest island nation 40 Lymph ___ 42 Tofu bean 45 Hogs 47 Luxurious 51 Doctor, ideally

52 Lbs. and ozs. 54 Wild party, in slang 56 Sch. whose home football games used to include a live bear on the field 57 Avoid 58 Extracurricular activity for a musician 60 Molten flow 62 International furniture chain 63 “The Suite Life of ___ & Cody” (bygone teen sitcom) 65 Amnesty International, e.g., in brief 66 Super ___ (1990s game console)