📰

New York Times, Tuesday, December 23, 2025

December 24, 2025

By Nathan Hale • 75 Clues

Across Clues

1. Longtime CBS procedural with multiple spinoffs → NCIS

5. Highly capable → ADEPT

10. Ctrl+S command → SAVE

14. Alternative to check or credit card → CASH

15. Secondary subject for a college student → MINOR

16. Short video → CLIP

17. Appropriately named bus driver on "The Simpsons" → OTTO

18. Alternative to épée or foil, in British English → SABRE

19. Tokarczuk who won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature → OLGA

20. Classic Hanukkah treat → CHOCOLATECOIN

23. Brownish-yellow fabric → KHAKI

24. Institution of higher education, to a Brit → UNI

25. Sleeper's breathing problem → APNEA

27. Lead-in to "drink and be merry" → EAT

28. Classic classroom party treat → CUPCAKE

31. Antitrust enforcement org. → FTC

32. Unfortunate accident → MISHAP

34. Clever → ASTUTE

36. Highly pleased about → PROUDOF

38. Colored, as church glass → STAINED

39. Classic Halloween treat → CANDYCORN

41. It's part of the job → TASK

44. Prefix with classic → NEO

45. Carve → ETCH

49. Take advantage of → USE

50. "Where'd you hear that?" → SAYSWHO

54. Dream Team country, for short → USA

55. Take responsibility → STEPUP

57. Cry from a movie director → ANDCUT

59. Classic Yuletide treat → CHRISTMASCOOKIE

63. Prayer ender → AMEN

64. This should clear things up! → LASIK

65. Reject, as a bill → VETO

66. Nothing, in Nogales → NADA

67. Cries out → YELPS

68. Biblical garden → EDEN

Down Clues

1. Sgt. or cpl. → NCO

2. Go off a ski jump, say → CATCHAIR

3. "Oh, really?" → ISTHATSO

4. Tried to identify, in a way, as a wrapped gift → SHOOK

5. Playground retort → AMSO

6. 1990s internet option → DIALUP

7. With all judges present → ENBANC

8. ___ de Rossi, "Arrested Development" actress → PORTIA

9. Aspen or pine → TREE

10. Reporter's big get → SCOOP

11. Just for grins → ALLINFUN

12. Short version of an impactful story → VIGNETTE

13. Org. regulating water safety → EPA

21. Insect that emerges en masse every 13 or 17 years → CICADA

22. Kind of salad whose dressing contains anchovies → CAESAR

23. Former N.B.A. star Shawn with the nickname "Reign Man" → KEMP

26. Nailed, as a test → ACED

29. "Once ___ a time ..." → UPON

30. Character played by Bruce Lee on "The Green Hornet" → KATO

33. ___ Finn → HUCK

35. One of three on the pitchfork in "American Gothic" → TINE

37. Big Apple org. that's going to blazes? → FDNY

38. Flat-bottomed boat → SCOW

40. "That's correct!" → YES

41. Resident of Pisa or Lucca → TUSCAN

42. Condition that may require an inhaler → ASTHMA

43. Get more than a little mad → SEERED

46. Like many a dress shirt, with "in" → TUCKED

47. Top execs, colloquially ... or what 20-, 28-, 39- and 59-Across are, phonetically? → CSUITE

48. Make negative remarks about → HATEON

50. Not on the up and up, slangily → SUS

51. In a fitting way → APTLY

52. Breaks (into), as a computer system → HACKS

53. Middle name for Lennon starting in 1969 → ONO

56. "Escape (The ___ Colada Song)" → PINA

58. Sign of peace → DOVE

60. Sallie or Fannie follower → MAE

61. Hand-y communication method, for short? → ASL

62. Drink slowly → SIP