UNIVERSAL CROSSWORD PUZZLE
ACROSS
1 One who gets schooled?
6 Former jrs.
9 Drained of color
13 Yemeni’s neighbor
14 “Now,” to a nurse
15 Defendant’s statement
16 Vision correction surgery
17 Best Picture winner set in Iran
18 Ice balls, essentially
19 Peppery beef entree (In this answer, note letters 1, 3, 4 and 12)
22 Garden pond fish
24 Whole bunch
25 Common conjunction
26 “Same here”
28 “No ___ about it!”
30 ___-cone
33 “Molto ___” (“Very good,” in Italian)
34 Has debts
36 Stay home for dinner
38 Dessert named after a German region (... letters 1, 3, 5 and 9)
41 Wood-turning tool 42 “Ish”
43 Greek love god 44 Palindromic body part
45 Site for crafty people
47 Snuggle up 49 Chicken ___ king
50 Abandon a situation, informally
52 Pollen pouch 53 Mollusk popular in New England (... letters 1, 4, 7, 12 and 13)
58 Drive a getaway car, say
59 “Survivor” item bestowing immunity 60 Fuming
63 Skin lotion brand 64 Wee
65 Edmonton NHL player
66 Match, as data
67 “___ be my pleasure”
68 Stories
DOWN
1 D.C. dealmaker
2 Actress Thurman
3 Like some embraces
4 Still competing
5 “As I demonstrated”
6 One with a reddish beard, perhaps
7 Pasta sauce brand
8 Pull into, as a gas station
9 Little garden pest
10 Serb, for one
11 Next in line, legally
12 Meryl Streep’s Ivy
League alma mater
14 Drink served with sushi
20 Unlikely to wave hello
21 Beginning
22 Pet food in pellets
23 Grammy-winning Beck album whose title anagrams to “a yodel”
27 Smartphones, laptops, etc.
29 Takes advantage of
30 “Don’t overextend yourself at first”
31 Inventor Tesla
32 “Be right there!”
35 Courts
37 Examples of top-notch service?
39 Topples (over)
40 Sega hedgehog
46 Papeete’s South Pacific island
48 Surname of “Mama” Cass
49 Upper house?
51 One who has your back
53 Fifth Avenue retailer
54 Do as you’re told
55 Shade-loving plant
56 Prepare for publication
57 Diva’s solo
61 Piece of concert merch
62 Places to hear 14-Across, for short