UNIVERSAL CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ACROSS

1 Muscle contraction 6 Feud, informally 10 Type of guitar that typically has four strings

14 First Greek letter 15 Prefix meaning

“super”

16 Operatic highlight 17 Pinker, as steak 18 Leaf-collecting tool 19 Comedy routines 20 “___ and left no crumbs” (piece of Gen-Z slang)

21 Road trip guessing

game

23 “Sure, I guess” 25 Rejections

26 The, in French 27 NAACP co-founder

___ B. Wells

28 Mrs., in Tijuana 29 “Pretty please?” 31 Leaves out 33 Straightens

35 “I thought work

would never end!” 39 Took the bus, say 40 Fruit salad

ingredient, usually 42 Soft French cheese 43 Occur simultaneously 45 Drives too fast 47 Unspoken yet

understood 48 Metallica drummer

Ulrich

49 Genre for Killer Mike 52 Winter hrs. in L.A. 53 Use a shovel 54 Maple syrup source 57 “What Was I Made

For?” singer Billie 59 Vatican City leader 60 One of five in

Yahtzee

61 Wild hog 62 “Su-u-ure”

64 Love to pieces 66 Radius neighbor 67 Dragons breathe it 68 More recent 69 Takes a load off 70 Young kiddos

71 Is inclined (to)

DOWN

1 Kitchen wrap brand 2 Aristotle’s teacher 3 *Afternoon, in Paris 4 “Steady as ___ goes” 5 “The Seven Year

Itch” actress Monroe 6 Belches

7 Online auction site 8 “Yikes, a mouse!” 9 *Calling your boss

“Mom,” for example 10 One in a onesie 11 Ram’s zodiac sign 12 Instrument for Ravi Shankar or Vilayat Khan

13 ___ Fierce (Beyonce

alter ego)

22 *Major change 24 “Friends” actor

LeBlanc

27 “if u ask me ...” 30 Hollywood

dealmaker

31 Young, hooting bird 32 Fencing blade 33 Rainbow shape 34 Liverpool lavatory 36 Harshly criticize ... and a hint to the starred clues’ answers

37 Help

38 “For sure!” 41 Revise

44 Mushroom tops 46 Mister World, for one 49 O_NE for “hole in

one,” e.g.

50 Garlicky spread 51 Spy on the inside 53 ___ on (showers

with affection) 55 Broadcasted

56 Social equals 58 Certain nest eggs, for

short

59 Sassy

63 Dating app blurb 65 Actress and civil rights activist

Ruby