The New York Times Crossword

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” 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.