“Something Strange”— it’s their calling.

ACROSS

1 “The Lord of the Rings” army members

5 Hosp. employee

8 “First Blood” figure

13 Spring’s opposite, in tides

14 “I’m onto your scheme, forwards and backwards!”

15 “The Miracle Worker” subject 16 Vesuvius’s Sicilian counterpart 17 Mix-and-match

19 City where the Demon Deacons play home games

21 Wine bouquet

22 “SNL” cast member who plays Dionne Warwick

26 Strong longing

27 Okra unit

29 Grammy winner Erykah 30 Prepare eggs, in a way

32 Title words preceding “Cooking,” “Painting,” and “Missing Out” 33 Prokofiev orchestral work often played at children’s concerts 38 Angelic instruments

39 Slander counterpart

40 Fabric or liquid finisher? 41 Acronym for a drone-like robotic unit used for underwater research 42 Far from outgoing

45 Reason for optimism

50 Lauder of cosmetics fame 52 Movie (with a 2021 sequel) that features the characters in the circles

54 Burpee item that may yield a bunch

57 Can’t pay up

58 Perfect examples

59 Bollywood actress Aishwarya ___

60 Get higher

61 “The Silence of the Lambs” director Jonathan

62 Causes of some EMT calls 63 Piano layout

DOWN

1 Like many downtown streets, directionally

2 Leave some work?

3 “1812 Overture” sound effect 4 Hiccup, for example

5 Totally unhinged

6 Did with minimal effort, so to speak

7 Disclaimer for some seasoning blends

8 Get more InStyle, e.g.

9 Game scheduled for December 29, 2021 (Ducks vs. Sooners) 10 Orioles’ org.

11 Actress Powley of “The King of Staten Island”

12 ___-Ida (Tater Tots maker) 15 Potter’s appliance

18 Chinese dumpling, or a 2018 Pixar short named for one 20 Becomes narrower

23 “Banana Boat Song” shout 24 Object of devotion

25 Hand-warming tube 28 Plant gametes

30 Restore from brainwashing 31 The “bad” cholesterol, for short

32 Valet in P.G. Wodehouse novels

33 “___ Lap” (1983 racehorse film set in Australia)

34 “I’m hungry enough to ___ horse!”

35 Hall of Fame QB Aikman 36 Edge that sits on a car wheel

37 “And Just Like That ...” network

42 Cartoon kid who says “What the deuce?” 43 Doctrinal rejection 44 Affirmative votes

46 Violin aperture shaped like a curvy letter

47 Red-___ (cinnamon candies)

48 CIA forerunner during

WWII

49 Prefix with dactyl 51 Long-legged bird

53 Big name in gluten-free bread

54 El ___ (Spanish national hero)

55 Suffix with lime

56 “Orange Crush” band