The New York Times Crossword

ACROSS

1 Musky “cat”

6 Banned antimalarial

9 Direction to bow, for a violinist 13 Shifts from neutral, in a way 15 Lie about

16 What you might have to do for some highway construction … or a first hint to solving this puzzle’s theme

17 F in music class?

18 Falco of TV’s “Oz”

19 Causes to run without human

involvement

21 Loosening, as a joint

23 Shiner?

24 One who’s up to the minutes 25 Michigan college or its town 27 Key used for exiting

30 Before opening?

32 “Bésame ___” (bolero song) 34 Dedicatee of “Moby-Dick” 39 Collect all together

40 Pumped metal

41 Looked for facts in figures 43 “Blinking heck!”

45 Bit

46 [Cluck]

47 Geiger of Geiger counter fame 49 Slowpokes at the head of a trail 54 PBS’s “___ the Science Kid” 55 “I never look back, dahling. It distracts from ___”: Pixar’s Edna Mode

56 Honesty, kindness or respect, for

many people

61 Sports org. for students 62 Common operating system for

supercomputers, once 63 Gradually trims … or a phonetic

second hint to solving this

puzzle’s theme

65 Milk delivery point

66 How things have always been

done

67 IDs since the Great Depression 68 2013 biopic about actor Mineo 69 Crapshoots, essentially

DOWN

1 Many Stan Lee film appearances 2 Sealed the deal

3 Strong and energetic

4 Enter cautiously

5 It’s no loss

6 Hermès, par exemple

7 Expert

8 Sudden source of rain, informally 9 Temper, as fears

10 Nose (around)

11 With 12-Down, secretly plots

(with)

12 –

14 The Swiss fly a square one 20 Officer’s title

22 Creator of an animal shelter 25 With 26-Down, repeated

occurrences of things in turn 26 –

27 Major option for a future C.E.O.

28 With 29-Down, taught a lesson 29 –

31 Signal to proceed

33 News letters

34 With 35-Down, some common

attire for cooks

35 –

36 Tasks

37 Demolition material

38 Finish off

42 TV series with the all-time mostwatched episode

44 Prison weapon

48 Novelizes, e.g.

50 Bestow upon temporarily 51 Deploy, as wire from a spool 52 Disappear midtour, say 53 Proust’s “___ Way”

54 Blue notes?

55 Set up for a swing

56 With 57-Down, noble title

57 –

58 Johnson who directed “The Last

Jedi”

59 “___ Croft: Tomb Raider” 60 Europe’s third-longest river 64 Officer’s title