The New York Times Crossword Puzzle

DAVID W. TUFFS

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.