NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 *Leave briefly

6 Follow

10 Colorful freshwater fish

15 Midwest hub

16 Mystical character

17 Celeb with a good friend named Gayle

18 World leader born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov 19 Hankering

20 Subdued hue

21 Seriously vex

22 *Final say

24 Aromatherapy provider, perhaps

25 How best to determine consent

27 Coral-based ecosystems

28 Went the distance

31 Pioneer in color TV

32 Start of all Washington, D.C., ZIP codes

35 Contingent of likeminded voters

37 Nation on the Gulf of Oman

39 Like some Quad Cities residents

41 *All for one

45 Louvre Pyramid architect

46 Witty Mort

47 Mulligan

48 ___ Wee Reese

49 Fund-raising group for the G.O.P.

52 Didn’t fail

54 Subs

56 Bit of body ink 57 TV screen type, for short

60 *Flies frequently

64 She released “30” in ’21

66 Broadcast again

67 Farming prefix

68 Word with wave and pool

69 “___ luck!”

70 Political commentator Joy

71 Arctic people

72 Get-go

73 Monopoly holding

74 Punctuation mark missing in “Let’s eat people!” (at least one would hope!) … as well as from the starred clues

DOWN

1 Animals that become different animals when their first letter is changed to an “M”

2 Oodles

3 Fruit often served in ball form

4 “Brava!” elicitor

5 Busybodies

6 Underhanded tactics

7 Not manually operated

8 Bring on

9 Longtime news anchor Jim

10 “Seeing the other side of the matter …”

11 Blunted blades

12 Cereal “for kids”

13 Musical form heard in some Bollywood films

14 [Don’t forget about me!]

23 Fleeting moment

26 Move about

29 Doxycycline target

30 Some playground attendants

32 Wonderland twin

33 Pixie stick?

34 Not conned by

35 Minor anomaly

36 Shiny fabric

38 Spring’s opposite

40 Brutish sort

42 No-good, backstabbing scoundrel

43 “How bizarre”

44 Disney’s Queen of Arendelle

50 Pedagogic org.

51 Unfounded rumor

53 Unchanging

54 State capital in the so-called “Treasure Valley”

55 “Me and Bobby ___” (posthumous #1 hit for Janis Joplin) 58 Something staked

59 Difference symbol, in math

60 Singer/songwriter Guthrie

61 Blindingly bright

62 D.C. nine

63 Buffalo’s county

65 Pet in the town of Bedrock