NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

Across

1 Team leader 9 Aidy of “Saturday

Night Live” 15 “Yeah, I’m breaking up with you”

16 Kind of board at

the beach 17 Prepare for everything, maybe 18 Journalist’s

secret

19 Bulrush, e.g. 20 Zoom call background effect

22 Coveted magic item in Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” 23 Retirement spots 24 “Absolutely!” 27 Check in

28 Really tiny

machines 34 Explosive

feedback?

38 A heavy one may want a lighter

39 Largest of the

Society Islands 40 Calculus AB or

Physics C, e.g. 41 Showbiz

sappiness 43 Bottle of rum

go-with

45 “I can’t say for

sure”

49 Gift tag word 53 Snack item since

1912 54 Fruit-bearing shrub known botanically as Prunus spinosa 55 Food you might

eat in a bed 56 Davy Jones was

one

59 Portrayer of the lawyer Robert Shapiro in “The People v. O.J. Simpson” 61 Regard 62 “You’re on!” 63 “Who, me?”

rejoinder

64 A 50/50 chance … or a description of the lengths of this puzzle’s Across and Down answers, respectively

Down

1 “Can we talk?,”

tersely

2 Bank regulator 3 Show vanity, in

a way 4 Accomplishes the impossible with cats

5 Big inits. in

payroll services 6 Surround sound

pioneer

7 Ready

8 They make up

families

9 Some shot 10 Joey who doesn’t wear pants 11 “Absolutely!” 12 Match 13 Common kind

of battery 14 Minute

21 Light (into)

25 0°

26 Free movie starring yourself?

28 Big employer of U.S. mathematicians, in brief 29 Something that may be toted on a tour 30 ___ at all

31 “Yep, that’s

fine”

32 Get drunk,

formally 33 Straight: Prefix 35 Something you

might strike 36 Old telecom

inits. 37 Cheney of

politics 41 Scottish sheepdog, informally 42 Small-screen milestone of the 1950s 44 Extra periods, for

short

45 Cozy

46 Popped up 47 Signs a 48-Down 48 See 47-Down 49 Ring bearer of

note

50 All ___ up

(irritated) 51 Eightsome 52 Board, so to

speak 57 Antidiscrimination inits. 58 Layer of green

eggs

60 Mover’s need,

maybe