WORDUCKENS By Adam Wagner, edited by Jeff Chen UNIVERSAL CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Social media dogpile markers, in slang
9 Salt’s “halt!”
14 More than lionize
19 “Yeesh”
20 Narrow lane
21 Metals industry giant 22 Question asked in a daze
23 *Private ( Actress ( Reword ) Jessica ) eye
25 ___ Arbor
26 Tire gauge fig.
28 Meme depicting dejected actor Reeves 29 *Starbucks ( High-fat ( Rests ) diet ) size
35 “BTW ...”
36 Gatekeepers? (Abbr.)
38 “Star Wars” queen
39 “Love me ___”
41 Biologist Charles
44 One glass, or two cups 45 Amazon delivery?
47 Chin feature
50 Use an index for directions? 51 Aced it
53 *Asks ( Big ( Minus ) amount )
desperately
55 Thorny bush
57 Cylinder
59 Twerps
60 Molten meal
62 Mass that’s not massive 64 Amish tractor pullers
65 Big name in RC cars
69 Apt rhyme for “snit”
70 *Old ( Small ( Ire ) talk ) loves 74 Tic-tac-toe winner
75 Gin berry
77 Web destinations, for short 78 Big gulp
79 Snoopy cartoonist Charles 81 Egypt’s region
84 Class with supply curves, for
short
86 Vibes
87 *Deli ( Spanish ( Sneaker
brand ) eight ) orders 91 Maker of Crunch bars 93 Rapp of 2024’s “Mean Girls” 94 Fail to blink
95 Man found in both the Bible
and “thesaurus”? 96 Unaccounted for
99 Shining bright
101 Checks, as boxes
103 Commander and chief
105 Sarge, for one
106 Grain in Cheerios
109 *African ( October ( Walkers,
briefly ) birthstone ) nation 111 Climbing gym pouch
115 Type of bread
116 Pittsburgh’s ___ Park
117 *Water ( Smallville ( Mononymous singer ) surname ) line
120 Turkish fruit exports
125 Final Greek letter
126 Berlin’s metro 127 Eerie electronic instrument 128 Hose down
129 Home Depot competitor
130 Type of day that refers to Earth’s rotation with respect to distant stars
DOWN
1 German automaker
2 Sound from a hot tub 3 Hopping the fence, say
4 Spiny desert creature
5 Agcy. whose existence was once a secret
6 Reddit event (Abbr.)
7 Group of whales
8 Salon sounds
9 Singer Difranco
10 By way of
11 Knee connectors
12 Bundle
13 Roosevelt’s nickname
14 Court ... or word after “court” 15 Idris of “Hijack”
16 “Arguing with you is impossible”
17 Not getting distracted 18 Creature in a Mongolian polo variant
23 “___ mio!”
24 “Just playing”
27 NFL “scorigami,” for one 29 Briefly touch on?
30 French friend
31 Ingrid’s “Casablanca” role 32 Tarnish
33 Nits to pick
34 Classic NBC courtroom drama
37 Colonizing insects 40 Exponential, as growth 42 Church section
43 Bird home
46 Lose the battle but win the war, say
48 Paper fortunetellers, geometrically
49 Belief 52 “Fair point”
53 Chicago landmark, with “the” 54 Some trig curves
55 Tight buds
56 Bother
58 Military higher-up
61 Give off
63 Booker T. & the ___
66 “My pleasure”
67 Coke or Pepsi
68 Flow like lava
71 ID and press pass
72 Maa-ladies?
73 Sing like Ella
76 Run the show
80 One swaying in Hawaii 82 Furniture giant 83 Doughnut-shaped
85 Author Zora ___ Hurston
87 Part of a cereal grain found in many cereal names
88 Cause of a hamstrung hamstring?
89 Rubbernecker
90 Bay Area industry
92 Took to court
95 Catch sight of
97 Singer Rita
98 Drug for Timothy Leary
100 “___Lisa”
102 Metal band with a misspelled
name
104 Hope (to)
107 Original “American Idol”
judge Paula
108 Aerobicsportmanteau
110 Three-____ (sports dynasty
achievements)
112 Onetime Nintendo competitor 113 “Mercy me!”
114 Chew (on)
117 Jan. and Dec.
118 Most common word in English 119 ___ and outs
121 Eagles’ city, for short
122 Outer color of a rainbow
123 Aunt, in Argentina
124 NBC sketch show