ACROSS

1 Like those who

5 Created

9 Rube Goldberg machines

14 Squirrel-proof feeders

15 The perfect sourdough loaf, e.g.

16 To pass these

17 Aching

19 Hours

20 Before the protests started

21 Tired of filling in

23 Tidy grids

24 Others invented

27 That materialized without

28 Effort

30 Turns out

34 There are rules?

38 Standard sizes

39 15 x 15, 21 x 21, etc.

40 Radial symmetry

41 Across the diagonal

42 Too many black squares

43 Together

45 Creates visual clutter

47 No one

48 Or two-letter answers

50 Every square must live

51 In multiple words

54 But two obscure clues

58 Cannot intersect?

60 Avoid crosswordese

61 Bergman’s character in Casablanca

64 River through Florence

65 Musician and producer Brian

DOWN

1 How beautiful

2 It would be

3 To make one

4 That reflects my world

5 So well

6 My father couldn’t complete it?

7 One that rewards, informally

8 Other knowledge

9 Poet Ocean

10 Abdurraqib’s They Can’t –– Until They ––

11 The subject of Bluets

12 Though

13 After joining

18 A Facebook group

22 Encouraging

25 “Puzzler diversity”

26 I have not yet found

28 The time or energy

29 To finish

31 One

32

33

34

35

36

37

41

43

44

46

49

51

52