The New York Times crossword puzzle

Across

1 Podcasters’

needs

5 Meaty pasta

sauce

9 “Hey, by

the way …” 14 Apple with

multiple cores 15 Eurasian river 16 Abstain from 17 *Job for a coxswain with rowdy rowers? 20 What’s tolerated by every body? 21 Natural

hairstyles 22 Poorly 23 *Review for a

so-so bakery? 26 2007 Michael Moore documentary about health care 28 “You’ve got

___ nerve!” 29 Melody

30 It’s often

in stock 34 Chose a course 37 Dorothy Parker

quality 38 *Person who assigns the order of opening presents? 40 “Yes,” in Japanese 41 Check box of last resort 43 Norse protector

of humankind 44 Complain querulously 45 Kyrgyzstan

mountain range 47 Extremist

sects 49 *Completes a superhero transformation?

54 And others too numerous to mention 55 Nary a soul 56 Island nation whose currency is the tala 60 Preschool teacher’s mantra … or a hint to the answers to the starred clues 63 Have a

nibble of 64 Brazilian

berry

65 She, on

the Seine 66 Expression that might accompany a mustache twirl 67 Word repeated in a 1956 Doris Day single 68 Brighter

times

Down

1 It’s catching 2 “Not sure yet” 3 Something to make or break 4 “Magic that works,” per Vonnegut 5 Runner on

the ground? 6 Like an excited

crowd

7 Social

blunder 8 Marine

leader?

9 Small ice

cream order 10 Ad ___ 11 “Never mind what I just said!” 12 One of the Astaires 13 Caterwauls 18 Cozy

corner 19 Romantic attraction, slangily, with “the”

24 Its name means “waterless place” in Mongolian 25 Hype (up) 26 Something to follow, in cards

27 “If so, then …” 29 Number of graduates in the first class at West Point (1802) 31 Poetic

frequency 32 Utmost 33 Writer

Umberto 35 Buds go

in them 36 Dance floor

flourish

38 Less sharp, as footage 39 Animal whose brain has the most gray matter of any mammal 42 They’re raised

in Chi-Town 44 Found innocent 46 Part of,

as a plot 48 “___-daisy!” 49 Tales of daring 50 Frome of fiction 51 Classical

cover-ups 52 Chilling 53 Labor activist

Chavez

57 “___ 18” (novel by

Leon Uris) 58 Exclusively 59 Wrinkles

in time?

61 Its ways are numbered: Abbr.

62 O.S.S.

successor