NYT Crossword Answers for June 26, 2024

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Note to readers: In the past, Wordplay indicated crossword clues with quotation marks. In crossword construction and editing, though, clues are typically indicated by brackets, a practice Wordplay is now following.

WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Like many of the brainy, industrious solvers who play the New York Times Crossword, I find it hard to unplug my brain and do nothing. My penchant for productivity lurks behind even the most seemingly inane activities. I’m not just watching “The Bachelor,” I’m gathering meaningful data about mainstream culture!

As a leisurely source of self-improvement, the Times Crossword needs no defending. Every grid is filled with trivia both light and profound — about nature, sports or language itself — and I feel that I emerge from each solve an infinitesimally better person. To that end, I’d like to thank Rebecca Goldstein, who constructed today’s crossword. Ms. Goldstein taught me so much in this grid that I won’t feel guilty when I go home tonight to binge-watch “Curb Your Enthusiasm” — ahem, I mean, to meditate on a modern-day parable about the pitfalls of extreme wealth.

Today’s Theme

Even if you haven’t seen the 1969 film “Midnight Cowboy,” you’ve probably heard of its most famous line — which, as the revealer at 52-Across points out, was improvised. That [Memorable ad-lib] is I’M WALKIN’ HERE! The phrase is emblematic of the gruff, no-nonsense New Yorker, but it’s also [what the starred clues would say about their answers].

[Jesus] walked on the SEA OF GALILEE (20A). [Dorothy Gale], the heroine of “The Wizard of Oz,” walked on the YELLOW BRICK ROAD (24A). And [Neil Armstrong] walked on the moon, but this entry names the specific site of his small step for man: the TRANQUILITY BASE (45A).