Constructor's note: This was one of the first puzzles I ever made and the first puzzle I submitted to the NY Times (12 years ago and a much earlier and cruder version). A rejection letter turned me away from making puzzles for awhile, but I'm happy I got back into it. This is a revamped version of the puzzle with updated clues.
Fun fact: Vietnam and China share 10 of the zodiac calendar's 12 signs — the rat, tiger, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. But the Vietnamese honor the cat instead of the rabbit, and the water buffalo instead of the ox.
Lots of fun, and I love learning things from puzzles - thanks for the enjoyment and the education!
whimsy 11:49 · 2023-03-20T20:37:10.919Z
I'm all about the bunnies so I had to try this one. very nice! I think you could've shaded 40D too for the famous "Pat the Bunny" children's touchy-feely board book! I always took the title to mean that the toy bunny's name was Pat as much as it referred to the action of patting it! :P
Letters at the end of a mathematical proof (from Latin for "which was to be demonstrated")
9A
James ___ Space Telescope (hint: name sounds like something a spider makes)
13A
First place mentioned in the Beach Boys song "Kokomo"
14A
Palindromic Eskimo knife
15A
The name of the bear in "The Jungle Book" who sings "The Bare Necessities"
16A
Where to pin a pin
17A
Young assistants in a Catholic church
19A
Raid and OFF!
21A
Follow your gut instinct?
22A
PETA concerns
23A
Quick warm-up activities at team-building workshops
28A
Network that airs "Love It or List It" and "Flip or Flop"
32A
___ Heights (disputed Mideast area that is an anagram of “along”)
33A
Shirt from a merch stand
34A
Taunting exclamation
35A
2023, for China but not for Vietnam (and a hint to the shaded squares)
40A
Portion of butter
41A
Quintana ___ (Mexican state that's home to Cancún)
42A
"Common Sense" pamphleteer Thomas
43A
___ leches cake (dessert made with three kinds of milk: evaporated, condensed, and whole)
45A
They're hidden in movies/TV shows/video games by the creator and left for fans to discover and enjoy (references, clues and/or jokes)
48A
Word with "two" or "three" to describe a sloth
50A
Ikura, tobiko or masago on a sushi menu
51A
Its address is 10236 Charing Cross Road in Los Angeles
58A
Does something so shockingly appalling that people wish they can unsee it
59A
"Righty tighty, lefty loosey" subject
61A
Gold bar
62A
Unspecified degree, in math
63A
Buzzing instrument
64A
Natalie Portman's debut movie in which a professional hitman takes in a 12-year old girl as his protégé (hint: anagram of 10-Down or 52-Down)
65A
Not straight, perhaps
66A
Hole ___ (golfer's dream shot)
Verticali
1D
Name of the AI host in Fox Reality Channel's game show "Solitary"
2D
Many a Middle Easterner or North African
3D
___ platter (Americanized Chinese appetizers that may include egg rolls, spare ribs, crab rangoon, and coconut shrimp)
4D
"___ your pardon?"
5D
From Italian for "from the sign" and often abbreviated as D.S. in musical notation, it is used as a direction to repeat a passage starting from the sign
6D
Crystal in some watches
7D
Fitzgerald known as the "Queen of Jazz"
8D
Like some airport purchases
9D
River in Indiana's state song
10D
Musk who bought Twitter for $44 billion last year
11D
Woody's last name on "Cheers" (the bartender in the show, not the real life actor who played him who is also named Woody)
12D
Big cheese or top banana
15D
"I'm f-f-freezing!"
18D
Playground bully, for example
20D
___ gow poker (gambling game in which the object is to create a five-card poker hand and a two-card poker hand from seven cards that beat both of the bank's hands)
23D
Country that my friend Yim vacationed in and got me a glow-in-the-dark camel figurine as a souvenir
24D
Lack of musical talent
25D
Fill with joy
26D
Palindromic, growly-sounding compressed file format (alternative to .zip)
27D
Cultural values
29D
Alternative to "go home"
30D
Object
31D
Campaign goal
36D
No longer burdened by
37D
Brown-nosing
38D
Relaxation period after hitting the slopes
39D
Term of endearment similar to "boo"
44D
"Sophie's Choice" novelist William
46D
Like reality shows one may watch as a guilty pleasure
47D
Largest division of geologic time
49D
"In memoriam" bio
51D
The name of that groundhog in Punxsutawney that (not so accurately) predicted six more weeks of winter this year
52D
Kind of wolf
53D
Ship in search of the Golden Fleece
54D
What Facebook changed its name to in 2021
55D
"___ buy myself flowers / Write my name in the sand / Talk to myself for hours, yeah / Say things you don't understand" (lyrics from Miley Cyrus's "Flowers")
That was a fun theme. Thanks!