The New York Times Crossword

ACROSS

1 They’re better than all the rest

13 “One Thousand and One Nights” character

15 Cocktails with

Southern Comfort 17 Pharmacy pickups,

informally

18 Went bananas

19 Food that’s eaten perpendicularly to how it’s usually made 20 “How’s it hangin’?” 23 Dishonor

24 Lead-in to science 25 Much smaller relative of the rhinoceros

27 “Get ___”

(1967 hit for the Esquires)

28 Clear

29 #1 song at the end of

October in 1962 31 Confection with a

hole in the middle 32 Classic video game

hero’s catchphrase 35 Input on eBay

38 Lo ___

39 Party that’s off the

hook

40 “Molto ___!”

(positive reply in Italy) 41 Grocery chain that closed in 2015 after 156 years in business 43 Kind of moon 44 Underlying,

as metabolism

45 Trims

47 Big name in weaponry 48 Short cut that bypasses

a canal?

52 By popular vote

53 Gets ready for dinner DOWN 1 Start of many

a speech

2 Going off

3 Actor Giovanni of

“Avatar”

4 Performed a pas de

chat, e.g.

5 Whip wielders,

for short

6 Undergrad deg. for a creative type 7 Letters for potential college students

8 Calder Cup org. 9 Relative of aqua

10 “___ World” (“Sesame

Street” segment) 11 Emphasizes forcefully 12 Composer of

“The Bartered Bride” 13 Who stabs the beast in

“Beauty and the Beast” 14 First, in Latin

16 Curry of the NBA

20 The guy of your dreams? 21 Overshadow

22 Workers making preparations to retire? 25 It comes in cyan, magenta, yellow or black

26 Bring up, as an old grievance 29 Quiet

30 “It’s a Wonderful Life” studio

31 U2, e.g. 32 Statement in an old Apple ad

33 Got misty, with “up” 34 Sites of congestion 35 “Hush, now!”

36 Way behind on payments

37 Dana of “China Beach” 40 A sidecar may be added to it 42 Founder of the Reform Party

44 ___ Fitzpatrick, author of the 2009 bestseller “Hush, Hush” 46 Ticks

47 “So ___” 49 “Without tradition, ___ is a flock of sheep without a shepherd”: Winston Churchill 50 “Pass”

51 ___ Genevieve (Missouri county or its seat)