I realize that sounds obvious to experienced solvers, but it is not always apparent to someone picking up a crossword puzzle for the first time. Mr. Christian offers us four phrases that contain these circled squares, and each set of circled squares spells out a country on the continent of AFRICA (the revealer at 62A). At 17A, the answer to the clue “Song lyric before ‘short and stout’” is I’M A LITTLE TEAPOT. Similarly, the circled squares in THROWING A BONE TO at 43A spell out the country of GABON. There are 24 ways to do it because there are four possibilities for the theme answer at 43-Across, three possibilities for the theme answer at 56-Across and AFRICA can be at either 62-Across or 65-Across.

Source: New York Times July 11, 2021 22:00 UTC