The New York Times crossword puzzle
Across
1 Shade of red
5 Food drive donation
8 Highly skilled sorts
14 Like most job interviews
16 Heartily enjoy, as a joke
17 End of a plug, often
18 Greatly respect
19 Record executive’s stack
21 ___ Daily, popular podcast for armchair athletes
22 Packaged ration, for short
23 Number six in a group of five
24 Lux. locale
27 “___ true”
28 Ice cream thickeners
30 Makeup of some waste lines
33 Place for a bead
34 Dobermans and mastiffs, traditionally
35 Recreational sports association for adults
37 Tool used on a padlock
38 Couple’s enthusiastic R.S.V.P.
39 “Jiminy Christmas!”
43 Beverage option at early McDonald’s restaurants
44 Acrobat’s platform
45 Literally, “peace”
46 Info next to alumni names, maybe: Abbr.
47 ___-Mex (cuisine)
49 “This tastes delicious!,” maybe
50 Cut deeply
52 Nominee for the first two Nobel Prizes in Literature (1901-02), but never won
55 Treat commonly eaten with a wooden utensil
58 Foodies
59 Key of Beethoven’s Seventh 60 V formation?
61 Bee activity
62 ___ tax
63 Conference foes of the Buffaloes
Down
1 It shows the way
2 Experience
3 Dirty, in a way
4 Rationale for a dumb stunt, in modern slang
5 The emperor’s old clothes?
6 Smartphone payment that unlocks premium content
7 Double birdie?
8 In time?: Abbr.
9 Sow : pig :: ___ : koala
10 Projecting edge
11 Grand standing
12 Atlantic game fish
13 Pro with a pad
15 So and so?
20 Things that might be kept covered in a kitchen
25 Reason for a restart
26 Top of a chain, maybe
29 Like an evangelical Christian
31 Dear
32 Came down hard (on)
34 Attention ___
36 John Milton’s “Lycidas” is one
37 Finger food at a pastry shop?
38 Pen pal’s request
40 “Be my guest”
41 Eisenhower’s boyhood home
42 Adulterates
43 Series finales
44 Smart ___
48 “Still ___” (2014 drama that earned a Best Actress Oscar)
51 Mecca trekker
53 List of choices
54 Origin of some lyrics sung in “The Lion King”
56 Host
57 Ending of many a web address