New York Times Crossword
Scott Hogan is making his New York Times debut with this puzzle, after many submissions. He is a patent attorney from Midland, Mich. Christina Iverson is a crossword constructor and editor from Ames, Iowa. They met through the Cruciverb Facebook page, a forum for crossword constructors. Scott says he takes inspiration from the lyric of ‘‘Movin’ On Up,’’ the theme song from ‘‘The Jeffersons’’ — “It took a whole lotta tryin’, just to get up that hill.’’ — W.S. ACROSS
1 [omg haha!!]
5 Left speechless
9 Reward for sitting, say
14 Entice
19 Something we share
20 Rocker John whose surname sounds like a leafy vegetable
21 ‘‘____ Man Chant,’’ song by Bob Marley and the Wailers
22 Diarist Nin
23 Where some stable
relationships form?
25 San Diego State
athlete
26 Verge
27 Name that’s 98-Across
backward
28 The sky, they say
29 ‘‘All the Light We Cannot ____’’ (2015 Pulitzer-winning novel)
30 Certain Chinese teas
32 Roman emperor after
Nero and Galba
34 Heep of ‘‘David
Copperfield’’
36 Drop the ‘‘Donuts’’ from ‘‘Dunkin’ Donuts,’’ e.g.
38 Some four-year
degrees: Abbr.
39 Kind of attack with no
attacker
40 Michael Jackson hit whose title is heard 88 times in the song 41 What might accompany a grave admission?
44 Claws
47 Cheese with a light,
nutty flavor
49 Quite an uproar
52 Design style influenced by Cubism
53 Fabric often dyed
with indigo
55 Each of its interior angles measures 135 degrees
56 Swing preventer, of
a sort
58 Like some vows
60 Run off together
61 Personal ID
62 Like a sweater that shrank in the dryer, maybe
64 Its alphabet includes
delta
65 Some Brothers
Grimm villains
66 Artless nickname?
68 Tease
70 Sarcastic punch line
71 That guy’s
72 40 winks
75 Threads
77 Tepid greeting
79 Second word of many
a limerick
82 Sans-serif font
83 Thesis writer
85 Meaning of a signal
flare
88 2021 Aretha Franklin
biopic
90 Strained
92 Greek name meaning
‘‘golden one’’ 93 Something filmed in Broadway’s Ed Sullivan Theater, with ‘‘The’’
95 Journalist Skeeter in the Harry Potter books
96 Train segment
97 Butt end
98 Name that’s 27-Across
backward
99 ‘‘Sweet dreams!’’
101 Rapper ____ Rida
102 It’s not a good look
106 Family/species
go-between
107 The last thing you
need?
109 Like the community portrayed in Netflix’s ‘‘Unorthodox’’
111 Piercing tool
113 Tickle
115 Evian, in its native
land
117 Cruciverbalist’s
favorite cookies?
118 ‘‘Well, gosh!’’
120 Tipsy trips
122 Teatro alla ____
123 Takes a car, in a way
124 Lab assistant in ‘‘Young Frankenstein’’
125 It may be upper or
lower
126 Blue-book filler
127 Much of a sponge
128 Mad, with ‘‘off’’
129 Word of surprise
DOWN
1 Santa ____, Calif.
2 Closing section
3 Banana wielded by a
maestro in a pinch? 4 Drug that can be
microdosed
5 Berry in a bowl
6 Animated short before
a Pixar movie?
7 New York resting place
for Mark Twain
8 In the stars
9 Give a scathing review of a major camera brand?
10 Demolish
11 Compound with a
fruity smell
12 Had a hero, say
13 Mexican street-food
mogul?
14 Pair of small hand
drums
15 Defunct company of accounting fraud fame
16 Smaug, in ‘‘The
Hobbit’’?
17 Send an e-message to 18 Makes shame-y
noises
24 Does a fad 2010s
dance
31 Pro using cuttingedge technology?
33 Movie rating that’s
practically NC-17
35 Political staffers
37 Retreat
42 ‘‘Fingers crossed!’’
43 Window units
44 Small amounts
45 God whose name sounds almost like the ammunition he uses
46 Starts to go haywire
48 Where 122-Across can
be found
50 Places for placentas
51 Surrounding lights 54 Movement championed by the Silence Breakers
57 Get rid of
59 Light-headed sorts?
63 Word after gas or ice,
in astronomy
65 Novelist Achebe
66 Wizard’s name in
books and movies
67 Spun things
69 Kind of patch that may create holes instead of repairing them 72 Otis and ____ (1960s
R.&B. duo)
73 Disciplines
74 Response to ‘‘Why art
thou queasy?’’
76 What Amazon retirees
enjoy most?
78 Result of love at first
sight?
79 What a dog greets its returning family with?
80 Inter ____
81 Trade jabs
83 Retail takeover
scheme? 84 Fix, as laces 104 Start of a
86 Nomad guesstimate
87 Annyeonghaseyo : 105 Like a proverbial Korean :: ____ : beaver
English
89 Tailgating dish 108 Model material
91 ‘‘Tarnation!’’ 109 Place for a run? 94 Very, colloquially 110 Rainbows, e.g.
100 Compassionate 112 ‘‘____ saved!’’
103 Actress Davis who
114 Large amount was the first African 116 Bookstore sticker American to win the 119 ‘‘Euphoria’’ airer Triple Crown of Acting 121 Excellent service?