The New York Times crossword puzzle

Across

1 Sorority letter 5 Spread around 10 Leader in white 14 Mao Zedong or Mahatma Gandhi 15 Castle with

famous steps 16 ___ Karakum

(Asian desert) 17 Conservative 18 “Bring it on!” or “Let’s rumble!” 20 Narrow margin 21 Fictional home

in Georgia 22 Spinny billiards

shot

23 Potato

harvesting aid 25 Hardly 27 Writing/editing

aid

30 Band with the aptly titled album “Powerage” 34 Girl’s name that’s a body part in reverse 35 Argentine author Jorge ___ Borges 36 “Yeah, right” 38 Haute couture

inits.

39 Shape on a suspension bridge 40 School yardstick, for short

41 No mas! 42 Bring about 44 Pupil

surrounder 45 ___ budget 46 Dum-dum 47 Recommend,

as an applicant 50 Was on first 52 One might be

nervous 53 Where many people make connections 56 Take a header 58 Honker 61 Classic letter puzzle — or, when parsed differently, a hint to three Down answers in this puzzle 63 Like goo 64 “Don’t look at

me!” 65 Playwright

Chekhov 66 Gritty genre 67 Kind of terrier 68 Awkward

period, often 69 Up (for) or

down (for)

Down

1 Baked pasta

dish

2 Taxing subject,

briefly? 3 Pre-Olympic

event 4 “Moving right

along …” 5 Strain

6 Period when mammals first appeared 7 Backslide 8 Treat as a saint 9 Monsoonlike 10 Wide-brimmed

hats 11 Assns. 12 Things at the ends of dogs’ legs 13 Otherwise 19 Texter’s

qualifier 24 Show of

brilliance 26 Pay a visit 27 How some jokes are delivered 28 Evening

stroll

29 Blue area on a Risk board 31 Place for a

marshmallow 32 Product with a pipe on its packaging 33 Annual cinéma award 37 Attacks 40 Where a bowl is set 43 Last-ditch 44 Repeat for

emphasis 48 Disharmonize 49 Entertaining,

in a way 51 Foot: Lat. 53 Has control

over

54 Tee shot

goof 55 Bohemian 57 Writes

59 Take the top off 60 Literary heroine who says “Even for me life had its gleams of sunshine” 62 Chewed stimulant in the Mideast

No. 0301