NYT Crossword hints

1 Across: Main characters for an early reader

5 Across: They get rings for hoops

14 Across: Skin-care brand known for its pore strips

15 Across: Large restaurant vessel shaped like another vessel

16 Across: Conference handout

17 Across: Dubious sighting in the night sky

18 Across: Started to boil

20 Across: Work, as a joke

21 Across: Romance author Huang

22 Across: They might be rehabbed with knee flexion

23 Across: His #33 was retired by the Knicks in 2003

25 Across: Winner of the 2025 Outstanding Drama Series Emmy, with "The"

26 Across: Personne canonisée: Abbr.

27 Across: ___ Capital, investment firm co-founded by Mitt Romney

28 Across: Hits the mark, in a way

29 Across: Many people climb it

33 Across: Naturally concluded

35 Across: Ones giving a toast at an outdoor party?

37 Across: Court session, perhaps

39 Across: Like much of Libya

41 Across: Depicting the world bleakly and cynically

42 Across: Put your back into it

43 Across: "Sweet dreams are made of cheese / Who am I to dis a ___?" (parody lyrics)

44 Across: Is immersed

46 Across: Fair trade, say

47 Across: "It is not easy for a ___ to balance himself on a ladder": "Animal Farm"

48 Across: A word in closing

49 Across: Relative of house music

51 Across: Inverse of an exponential function

54 Across: Vikings' offense?

55 Across: What a supposed bug is often revealed to be

56 Across: Grant

57 Across: Deftly evades

58 Across: Come off as

1 Down: Nonhuman provider of medical advice

2 Down: Neck topper

3 Down: Shoves (in)

4 Down: Sonic system

5 Down: Org. featured in 1998's "Enemy of the State"

6 Down: Breaking character?

7 Down: Like parts of Istanbul

8 Down: Common Chinese surname

9 Down: ___ legs

10 Down: Stability aids, informally

11 Down: Soft, silky material

12 Down: Depicts stylishly

13 Down: Green day star, for short

14 Down: Humongous, slangily

19 Down: Stocked and sold, as goods

24 Down: August ___, "Fences" playwright

25 Down: Makes sense of

27 Down: Deliberately exasperated

28 Down: More sassy

30 Down: Indecisive way to end

31 Down: Gets by

32 Down: Binary, in a way

34 Down: Former

36 Down: "Wow ... what are the chances?!"

38 Down: Publisher of the front-page headline "This sport is stupid anyway" after a U.S. loss at the World Cup, in brief

39 Down: Half-spoken, half-sung passages of an opera

40 Down: Not fair

43 Down: Nearly 90

44 Down: It goes on top

45 Down: Shockingly unconventional

46 Down: Stepped-on instrument

48 Down: "___ chic!"

50 Down: Time divisions

52 Down: "___ You That Somebody?" (1998 Aaliyah hit)

53 Down: Half of a couple