The New York Times Crossword

ACROSS 1 Reality checks?

9 Raze 16 Austin Powers catchphrase 17 Family tree 18 Highway crossing 19 Fail 20 N.B.A. impossibility 21 Perp alert 23 Mob man 24 Sequentially arranged 28 Explains in detail 32 Container weight allowances 33 Clever quip 35 LAX scanners (but not lax ones, one hopes) 36 Unit of cellphone reception 37 Uncle Sam’s land, informally 40 Dating axiom ... or a hint to interpreting four pairs of answers in this puzzle 46 “Natural” at the craps table 47 “Unbelievable!,” in internet shorthand 48 Hypothetical degree 49 Road runners? 52 Jazz great Shaw 54 Like an impromptu remark 56 Keep wearing 58 Name for two Spice Girls 59 Well-seasoned 61 Mobile ___ 62 Rehearsed to perfection 66 Excite, as a crowd 71 Conforming to accepted values 72 Some desert dwellers 73 Eerie 74 Many country-and-western dances 1 Admit (to) 2 “Now I remember who sang ‘Take On Me’!” 3 “Washington Week” airer 4 One being quizzed 5 Conductors may conduct them 6 “Never ___ ever ...” 7 Boston’s Mass. ___ 8 Lab liquids 9 It goes viral in winter 10 Director Justin of the “Fast & Furious” franchise 11 “Wait, there’s more ...” 12 Prop used for kickoffs 13 Entering after the bell 14 Food items originally called Froffles 15 It may glow in the dark 22 Luau side dish 24 Title role for Tom Hanks in 2022 25 Scraping tools 26 Arrange loosely 27 Without ice or mixer 29 “Agreed!” 30 Where trailers wind up 31 Spanish love 34 Start to fix? 36 “You got it!” 38 Colorful Coke brand 39 End of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” 41 Place to put the dough 42 Email function depicted with a paper plane icon 43 Brasilia-to-Rio dir. 44 Playground retort 45 “America” pronoun 50 “I wish!” 51 Jets pass in it, for short 52 Lead dogs 53 Split hairs again? 54 Where Lear exclaims “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!” 55 Despite the fact that, informally 57 ___ cheese 58 Video format 60 Tidy up, in a way 63 Bad-mouth 64 L.G.B.T. History Mo. 65 Mart start 67 Dog on a cat? 68 Emmy-nominated Issa 69 Economic fig. 70 End of days?