THE NYT CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Little rascals 7 Man ___ 13 Joined the fray 15 Like some roars 16 Say, say, say? 17 Web feed? 18 Player of Molly on “Mike & Molly” 20 Some hosp. tests 21 Excessively tan 22 Like tritium and triplets 23 Thirsts 24 Suddenly changes direction 25 Received high marks 26 Change affiliations 28 Flask material 29 Gist of a Dear John letter 31 Mont Cervin and others 34 Tennis star nicknamed Le Crocodile 38 Unearthly 39 See 53-Across 40 Annoyance 42 Take off 43 Sender of a billet-doux 44 “Ish” 45 Where Roger Ebert’s reviews appeared for 47 years 49 Gets one’s feet wet 50 Team “spawned” in 1993 51 Certain trysts 52 “The great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition,” per Adam Smith 53 With 39-Across, teethcleaning aid 54 Registered, as a complaint

DOWN

1 Shake on the dance floor 2 One serving a function 3 Virginia Woolf’s given name at birth 4 ___ Mayer, Yahoo C.E.O. beginning in 2012 5 Ed promoters 6 Goes unused 7 Cross swords 8 Gift on el 14 de febrero 9 Mistakenly 10 State for the record 11 One of the “Big Four” thrash metal bands 12 “All right already!” 14 Things steeped in tradition? 15 Affection from a pooch 19 Pair on Mississippi’s state quarter 24 Dreaded dermal development 25 Street cart offering 27 Home security measure 28 Hit with the bill? 30 Suckers 31 Song sung to Lilo in “Lilo & Stitch” 32 Intermediary 33 Kind of yield 35 Like a rained-on parade 36 Giving a name 37 Pith 38 Move up the ranks 39 Drones 41 Got rid of 43 Female hip-hop fan 46 Between ports 47 It reacts with H2SO4 48 The Magi, e.g.