UNIVERSAL CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ACROSS

1 Parts of a day, briefly

4 Foul smells

9 What a great song does, in slang

14 Aye, in Marseille

15 The color of money

16 Comes down in buckets

17 Rock ___ boat

18 Checkbox alternative, on a digital survey (In this answer, note the first 3 letters + the last 2)

20 N.Y. baseball mascot with a ponytail

22 “Just watch me!”

23 “I” as in Ithaca 24 Safari sound

26 “Take a Chance on Me” group

29 Song of the summer, maybe (... first letter + last 5 letters)

33 “___ Poetica” 34 Reluctant

35 “Yeah, sure”

37 Small yet vocal subgroup, or a theme hint

41 Trolley noise

42 Foyer

43 Mountain ___ (soda)

44 Rams’ home (... first 2 letters + last 4)

50 One may trail a superhero

52 Castle protection

53 Hathaway or Heche

54 Broadcasting live

56 LGBTQ+ book genre 58 It covers current events (... first 2 letters + last 2)

62 EPA measure affected by smog

63 Couldn’t get enough of

64 What makes dough rise

65 “Delicious!”

66 Long-eared hoppers

67 Taste or smell

68 Observe

DOWN

1 Liability on a lapel

2 “Yikes!” from

Scooby-Doo

3 Afternoon nap

4 Fairy-tale beast

5 “Phooey!”

6 Ref. whose 2022 word of the year was “goblin mode”

7 Camping co-op

8 Piece of candy with a wintry name

9 Whirled

10 Heaps of, casually

11 German highway with no speed limit, for the most part 12 Ace

13 Personal ID

19 Expose

21 Swordfish relative 24 Mechanical learning method

25 “Hamlet” noblewoman

27 Champagne classification

28 Fire remnant

30 Hot dog handlers 31 Game with a freeze variety

32 Cuban dance

36 Peak popularity

37 Circus insect

38 Force of nature?

39 Clueless

40 Grocery payment option: Abbr. 41 Org. investigating outbreaks

45 Forget to include

46 Ventures

47 Dental fillings

48 “___ New York” (tongue twister)

49 Personal day, maybe

51 Come next 55 Nile reptiles

56 Rumors, in slang

57 Poker stake

58 “Hard pass”

59 Greek H

60 Shirt that may be upcycled into a quilt

61 Author and illustrator Falconer