The New York Times

ACROSS

1 Part of V.A.T.

6 Curious

9 Taste

15 Aerial view

provider

16 “I was stuck in

traffic,” maybe

17 Titania’s spouse,

in Shakespeare

18 Fencer’s cry

20 Like “h” among

“h,” “i” and “j”

21 Link between two

names

22 Sean of “Stranger

Things”

24 Scene in Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks”

25 Wishy-washy

R.S.V.P.

27 Style of diamond

with a flat base

29 _ _ _ dog

30 Apple on Apple

Music

31 Tesla had one in

2010, for short

32 K-12 subj.

33 Like someone receiving baseless accusations, maybe?

35 Generates dubiously, with “up”

37 Spot for a dinner

plate

40 Takes (down)

41 Actor Rhames

42 Sign of a hit

45 Gen ___

46 Rapper featured on Flo Rida’s “Low” 49 Long Island home of Brookhaven National Laboratory

51 Roadside

restaurant sign

53 Roger on the high

seas

54 Giant on both the Nikkei and N.Y.S.E. indexes

55 N.B.A. great with a doctorate in education

57 Screening grp.

58 “Alice in

Wonderland” cry

60 On and on … or how to read 18-, 27-, 37- and 51-Across to understand this puzzle’s theme?

63 Fix, in a way

64 Expert

65 Spouts

66 Completely cover

67 Ottawa N.H.L.er,

to fans

68 Discussion group

DOWN

1 Wood-shaping tool

2 “Pigs will sooner

fly!”

3 Rumble in the

Jungle promoter

4 Get involved

5 Org. with strict

schedules?

6 Parents and grandparents, in slang, with “the”

7 Slimming aid

8 Co-star of 2019’s

“Joker”

Edited by Will Shortz No. 0902

9 Scatter

10 Bear

11 Something that nearly one million Americans practice regularly

12 Union

agreements?

13 Not beat

14 French lead-in to

“chat”

19 Snitch

23 Prefix with binary

25 Contents of a

certain shelf

26 Hilton alternative

28 Astronomer Carl

30 Key ring item

34 Throw it away

36 He can help you

after a crash

37 Spreadsheet

command

38 Prints, perhaps

39 Low point: Abbr.

40 First name on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

42 Harold who sought the Republican presidential nomination nine times over 48 years

43 “I”

44 It appears twice in the Fibonacci sequence

45 Buckingham

Palace figures

47 Expert

48 Trojan War hero

50 Where lab coats

get cleaned?

51 Be a kvetch

52 Gives zero stars,

say

53 ___ ears

56 Mideast locale of

Sira Fortress

59 Lead-in to long

61 Rafael Nadal’s home country, in the Olympics

62 Designer inits.