NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD
CREATURE FEATURE By Timothy Polin / Puzzles Edited by Will Shortz
After completing this puzzle, draw a line starting at the middle square of 59-Across and connect five appropriate squares in roughly clockwise order to reveal an image suggested by this puzzle’s theme.
ACROSS
1 “Friendly” cartoon
character 7 Pro 14 Symbols in calculus 20 Simple kind
of antenna 21 Expenditures’
counterpart 22 Lacking a break 23 Add surreptitiously 24 Worrisome sight
for a swimmer 25 With spite 26 Some Houdini feats 28 John of spy fiction 30 Something extraordinary that won’t soon be forgotten 32 Some northern
Europeans 35 Bit of hydrotherapy 38 Caffeinated drink
with tapioca balls 39 Doled (out) 41 Opposite of
colorblindness? 42 “____ Jacques” 43 Ones eligible for
marathon prizes 45 “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” e.g. 46 Flight-board abbr. 47 Sinking feelings 50 Mistrusts 53 Mother or sister 54 Does more
than ask 56 Dr. ____ Sattler, “Jurassic Park” paleobotanist 57 Energy giant that fell into ignominy in 2002 58 Elevs. 59 Peevish quality 61 Get a new
mortgage 63 [Kiss] 65 Powerful D.C. lobby 68 Scylla or Charybdis 74 Speedy wide
receiver, perhaps 80 Skill 81 [Fingers crossed] 82 Buzz out in space 83 And so on: Abbr. 84 Staff leader? 86 & 87 What might cost you an arm and a leg? 88 Silver-tongued 89 2004 also-ran 91 Martin who wrote “The Pregnant Widow” 92 Evening, in ads 93 Southern sandwich 94 Is there in spirit? 96 Zen Buddhist goal 98 Makes fun of 99 Menace in
106-Down 104 Bad-mouth 106 Add spice to 107 Metaphor for deliberate ignorance 109 Gobbled (down) 111 Seriously uptight 112 Fictional setting
for 106-Down 115 “A ____ believes no one” (old saying) 116 Pottery 117 Caffè ____ 118 Justin Bieber or
Justin Timberlake 119 Concerning 120 Conventions: Abbr. 121 “There, there” 122 Disgustingly
obsequious 123 Class with drills
DOWN
1 Things investors
take an interest in? 2 Suffer 3 106-Down director 4 Pink, e.g. 5 Brought out 6 Christen anew 7 Tidiness 8 Proud, fiery types,
they say 9 Save for later,
in a way 10 Fathers or brothers 11 Santa ____ 12 No longer in force 13 Gives meaning to 14 Horn of Africa
native 15 Neon, e.g. 16 Transmission 17 Like the menace
in 106-Down 18 Common knee
injury site, briefly 19 Locale for a trough 27 Fairy-tale “lump” 29 Hack 30 Hit BBC comedy,
briefly 31 Peter of “The
Maltese Falcon” 32 Handles deftly 33 Utmost degree 34 Farm machine 36 Something to
angle for 37 “In Dulci Jubilo”
and others 39 Modest skirts 40 Modern subject of
F.A.A. regulation 43 TV show with the season’s highest rating, often 44 “____ U.S.A.”
(1963 hit) 48 Sports arbiter 49 Pixielike 51 Cabaret accessory 52 Country-music
channel, once 55 Decorative
pillowcase 58 Adjudicate,
as a case 60 “This is looking
bad” 62 Lyricist Sammy 63 Singer Haggard 64 Golfer’s obstacle 66 Ska-punk band with the 1997 song “Sell Out” 67 Sunning area 68 Ax 69 Seasonal quaff 70 Small herrings 71 Is a crowd 72 Actor Morales 73 Deteriorates 74 Beginning 75 Precollege,
for short 76 Text tweaks 77 Midcrisis hire,
perhaps 78 Word with black
or blood 79 Frozen-dessert
chain 85 Leaves nervously
exhausted 88 Thugs 90 Aromatic yellow
citrus 93 Preppy wear 95 Himalayan
native 97 Cheap and
gaudy 98 Charged 99 Scrap 100 Actress Salma 101 Movie org. whose “100 Years ... 100 Thrills” list has 106-Down at No. 2 102 Takes a load off 103 Superman,
by birth 105 “Coo-oo-ool!” 106 1975 summer
blockbuster 107 Morse clicks 108 Indian
blueblood 110 Teensy
amount 113 Yogi’s
accessory 114 Oscar ____ (Hollywood honor, informally)