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New York Times, Friday, December 12, 2025

December 13, 2025

By Adrian Johnson and Jess Rucks • 70 Clues

Across Clues

1. Some free spots, for short → PSAS

5. Grounds → CAUSE

10. Doesn't just talk → ACTS

14. "You're telling me!" → IKNOWRIGHT

16. Word with wet or sweat → SUIT

17. Conspiracy theorist's accessory → TINFOILHAT

18. "Don't leave me!," e.g. → PLEA

19. 16 in a Sweet Sixteen → TEAMS

20. Main component of a "gutbucket," a jug band instrument → WASHTUB

22. Personal records → BESTS

25. Padlocked fasteners → HASPS

26. Variety of orange named for a European city → VALENCIA

29. What blue crabs do roughly 20 times in their lifetimes → MOLT

30. Jobs announcement of 2010 → IPAD

31. News feed, perhaps → RAWFOOTAGE

35. [Waaaaah!] → SOB

36. Thick confection used for cake icing → FONDANT

37. Part of a golf club → TOE

38. See 5-Down → APPLESAUCE

40. Binary → DUAL

41. Succors → AIDS

42. Photo session workers → STYLISTS

44. Ace, e.g. → SERVE

46. Skater's braking method with the back foot positioned horizontally → TSTOP

47. Relative of a craft fair → ARTEXPO

50. "Duino Elegies" poet → RILKE

53. Saves, as a digital location → PINS

54. Clichéd line from the side of a product package → ASSEENONTV

58. It's cool to drink → ICEE

59. "I haven't told you the best part ..." → THERESMORE

60. Impressively accurate pass, in football slang → DART

61. Floats → HANGS

62. Give a bad hand? → ABET

Down Clues

1. Stone → PIT

2. Vaudeville highlight → SKIT

3. Pulitzer-winning journalist Applebaum → ANNE

4. You might pull one out for a guest → SOFABED

5. With 38-Across, one way to sit → CRISSCROSS

6. Feel gross → AIL

7. "Gross" → UGH

8. Playwright who wrote "You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'" → SHAW

9. "Tell Mama" singer James → ETTA

10. Rocky road ingredient? → ASPHALT

11. Distinction for a classic underground work → CULTSTATUS

12. Bind → TIEUP

13. Sticks a fork in → STABS

15. Part of NOW → WOMEN

21. "Fiddlesticks!" → SHOOT

23. Disney princess in New Orleans → TIANA

24. Workshop debris → SAWDUST

26. Possible need for entry → VISA

27. Each → APOP

28. Colleague who might be solutions-oriented? → LABPARTNER

29. Tropical plants said to bring good fortune → MONEYTREES

32. "That's the truth" → FACTS

33. Kid's parent → GOAT

34. Hagfish lookalikes → EELS

36. Company whose logo has a hidden arrow between its fourth and fifth letters → FEDEX

39. Performance that isn't prerecorded → LIVESET

40. Word from the Greek for "folded paper" → DIPLOMA

43. Butcher shop buys → LOINS

44. Pleasing to the palate → SAPID

45. "Buss It" rapper ___ Banks → ERICA

48. Way → PATH

49. Arm of the Dept. of Labor → OSHA

51. Part of a cabinet → KNOB

52. French 101 verb → ETRE

55. Whitehouse in D.C., e.g.: Abbr. → SEN

56. Physics unit equivalent to roughly 624 gigaelectronvolts → ERG

57. Thoroughly evaluate → VET