Fun

Crossword: Graduation 2024

10529 grad2024 grid
The blank of the Vol. 144 Issue 9 crossword, Graduation 2024.
Manaal Mohammed–The Tech
10530 grad2024 solution
The solution of the Vol. 144 Issue 9 crossword, Graduation 2024.
Manaal Mohammed–The Tech

This is a lightly challenging themeless puzzle. Play the online version here.

Across
1    Class ring appellation  
9    Recon, e.g.  
15    On edge  
16    Mexican state  
17    Horn core?  
18    Peanut butter cups brand  
19    Zora _____ Hurston  
20    Spicy sauce  
22    "____ Thou Now, O Soul" (Whitman poem)  
24    Author  
25    NBC weekend fixture  
27    Ups  
28    Statement that isn't on paper  
31    Gentle  
32    Pricey fashion label  
33    32-across origin  
34    Three day end of school year event   
39    "Again..."  
40    ____ Rouge  
41    Swear  
42    Director Forman  
43    32-across singer  
47    Appropriate  
48    "Vitamin C" band  
49    Dr. Noubar _____ (speaker at 34-across)  
51    Drew and Lester  
55    Also-ran's words  
56    Melissa _____ (chancellor)  
57    Drilling agreement  
59    Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc.  
60    Poisonous shrub  
61    Pigeon perches  
62    Some shots  

Down
1    Country singer Lee  
2    Bring together again  
3    Key near B  
4    Stilinksi of "Teen Wolf"  
5    Some plums  
6    One in a set  
7    IKEA section  
8    Slavic monarch  
9    Horse    sorrel
10    Work of praise  
11    Power suit  
12    Non-credit deal  
13    Ween hit  
14    Announcement makers, shortly  
21    "Will do"  
23    Four years, in some cases  
26    Fast time, for some  
29    Babe Ruth nickname  
30    10, in a way  
31    Beaver mascot name  
32    Group of students allowed within six feet of each other, as during spring 2021  
33    Boyz II ___  
34    Flaky mineral  
35    "Yeah, perhaps"  
36    It's on the tip of your tongue  
37    Trans opposite  
38    It's a thing in Mexico  
42    The common people  
43    Let up  
44    "The IT Crowd" actor Richard  
45    _____ Arafat (former Palestinian president)  
46    Penetrates  
48    Minoan land  
50    Disruptors, e.g.  
52    Sacha Baron Cohen character  
53    Neophyte, informally  
54    Crop bin  
56    "tbh"  
58    Late summer star sign