MATH HYSTERIA

Adam Fromm lives in Providence, R.I. He works for a pharmaceutical company and moonlights as a singer-songwriter. This puzzle is a throwback to his college days when he briefly majored in math . . . before switching to literature. He prefers subjects that ‘‘don’t require the right answer, only a reasonable one.’’ This is his fifth puzzle for The Times — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Get along

8 New York’s longest

parkway, with “the” 15 Eats

19 Exodus figure 20 Well turned

21 “The Nutcracker”

protagonist

22 L x A

24 Actor Gillen of “Game

of Thrones” 25 Vodka in a blue bottle 26 Test for college srs. 27 Instrument that represents the duck in “Peter and the Wolf” 28 Lacework technique 30 The Caribbean’s ____

Islands

33 Put at stake 35 Police group with an assignment 36 Mystery Writers of America trophy 39 x – y = x – y 42 Certain red algae 45 Middling mark 46 Fishmonger, at times 47 (A- or B+)/7 50 Postwar German

sobriquet

54 Abbr. on a phone dial 55 Brest friend 56 Single hair on a carpet, maybe 59 Theresa May, for one 60 “Likewise”

62 Only places to find

anteaters in the U.S. 63 Caboose

65 On point

67 √666

71 Dawn goddess 72 Blank section at the

start of a cassette 74 Drop acid 75 Tennis’s Nadal 77 “Bus Stop” playwright 78 Short cuts

79 “Hey ____” 80 Director Caro 83 Free all-ad publication 86 $$$/X 90 Spanish-speaking Muppet on “Sesame Street”

93 A short while? 94 Brewery named for a New York river 95 3.BB

100 Mullah’s decree 101 Like unbaked bread 102 Box score bit 103 Noted dog trainer 106 Founder of Egypt’s 19th dynasty 108 W.S.J. announcements 110 Drop to zero battery 111 Curse word 115 Some giggling dolls 116 XEsq 120 Prognosticators 121 Hobbyist 122 Turned yellow, say 123 Goes off course 124 Actress Portia 125 One way to turn

DOWN

1 Two-stripe NCOs: Abbr. 2 “Sure, I guess”

3 “No sweat” 4 Airport security apparatus 5 Follower of Christ? 6 Like cornflakes, after sitting for a while 7 1,000 large calories 8 K’ung Fu-____ (Chinese name for Confucius) 9 “Now I get it!” 10 Russian blue or Egyptian Mau 11 OxyContin, e.g. 12 Archenemy 13 Martinique, par exemple 14 Dermatologist’s concern 15 Fashionable set 16 Angular measurement 17 Relating to radioactive element No. 92 18 Wrist ornament 21 Booking for a wedding 23 Grassy stretches 29 First female singer to have three simultaneous solo top 10 singles 31 Elvis’s middle name 32 Guitar inlay material 34 Seller of Famous Bowls

36 Gas brand with an

oval logo 37 Pitched low 38 Attempted something 40 Opening to an apology 41 Tapering haircut 43 Nonmoving part of a motor 44 Blobbish “Li’l Abner”

creature 48 Painter whose masterwork is said to be the Scrovegni Chapel frescoes 49 Earth Science subj. 51 The ____ Road in America (Nevada’s Highway 50) 52 Wynken, Blynken and

Nod, e.g. 53 Things that people are warned not to cross

57 Letters sometimes

followed by :D 58 Handle online 61 Soldier food, for short 62 Throw in the

microwave, slangily 63 R&B group with the 1991 No. 1 hit “I Like the Way” 64 She, in Portuguese 65 Father-and-daughter boxing champs 66 Phnom ____ 68 Mystical ball, e.g. 69 Kind of year: Abbr. 70 Former national airline of Brazil 73 Sticks on the tongue? 76 Made an attempt 78 Verve 79 1993 Salt-N-Pepa hit whose title is a nonsense word 81 Didn’t doubt 82 Notion 84 Sappho, e.g. 85 Annual athletic awards show 87 For sale in malls 88 Theater reproof 89 Dope 91 Contraction in a Christmas song 92 Like Quakers 95 Actor Gibson of “2 Fast

2 Furious” 96 Doctor 97 Demolition tool 98 Stick on, as a poster 99 Exclamation that might accompany a curtsy 104 Lab-assisted, after “in”

105 Admit 107 Device that comes with 79-Across 109 ____-chef 112 Years in the Roman Empire 113 Abound 114 Fictional Mr. 117 Old-fashioned cry of despair

118 Part of T.G.I.F.: Abbr. 119 W.W. II rationing agcy.