THE NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

No. 0503

Across

1 1969 hit for Neil Diamond

6 Big dipper? 9 Event at a convention center 13 Southern bread 17 Risk maker 19 What a plastic bag might come with, nowadays 20 Comics mutant 21 Specks of dust 22 Ad label in red and white

24 What Santa does before Christmas 26 They do dos 27 Tempe sch. 28 Invites out for 29 [Let it stand] 30 Pop singer Ora 31 Heats

33 Bête noire

34 Italian pal 35 Burning

40 Some of the American heartland 44 Belief in Buddhism and Hinduism 45 Certain make-yourown-entree station 47 With 86-Across, fixation problem suggested by this puzzle’s theme 48 One hanging around the yard 50 Statement that may precede “Wish me luck!”

51 Per ____

52 Arc on a musical score

53 Go back (on) 55 British ending 56 Conventional 59 Deal with

60 Suffix with block 61 China’s Zhou ____ 62 Hound

64 Some bolt holders 67 Arroz ____ cubana (Cuban-style rice) 70 Demerit 72 Once-ubiquitous electronics outlets 77 A hot one can burn you

78 Stars in western movies, e.g. 80 “That’s my foot!!!” 81 Son of George and Jane Jetson 82 Verbal concession 84 Start to pay attention

86 See 47-Across 87 Sea that Jesus is said to have walked on

88 Beloved members of the family 89 Having a fix 90 South American barbecue 91 Rather eccentric 94 D.C. types

95 It fits a big frame, for short

97 1990s Nickelodeon show about a preteen boy 98 Former Saudi king 102 Peninsula with seven countries 106 Hosp. area 107 What torcedores can skillfully do 109 Hierarchical systems, so to speak 111 It may spit venom 112 News items often written in advance 113 Beget 114 Nasdaq, e.g.: Abbr. 115 Things that can bounce

116 Bone connected to the wrist 117 Founding member of the U.N. Security Council, for short 118 Humanities dept. 119 Like the entire 290-page Georges Perec novel “A Void,” curiously enough

Down

1 Bygone kings 2 Attended 3 Nail-polish brand 4 Who said: “No good movie is too long. No bad movie is short enough”

5 Dos más uno 6 Worth mentioning 7 Subsidiary of CVS Health

8 Races in place 9 Ken Griffey Jr. or Ichiro Suzuki 10 Short winter days? 11 Alan who directed “All the President’s Men”

12 Any nonzero number raised to the power of zero 13 Florida county named for a president

14 Los Angeles’s ____ College of Art and Design

15 Where talk is cheep? 16 This: Sp.

18 Way to run someone out of town, idiomatically 21 Heavy defeat 23 Qb-protecting group, for short 25 Cousin of cream cheese

31 Not outstanding 32 Aware 33 German city on the Weser

34 Try to see if anyone is home, maybe 36 Adversary 37 Island famous for its nightlife

38 Was livid 39 Slowly disappear 40 Orgs. running drives for school supplies 41 Little piggy 42 Sullivan who taught Helen Keller 43 Temper

44 Enlist again 46 Early king of Athens, in Greek myth 48 Magical rides 49 No longer working: Abbr.

52 Sedate state 54 State 57 Gerontologist’s study

58 The driving force behind this puzzle? 63 Cheerfulness: Var. 65 Nonbinary pronoun 66 A dip, or a series of steps

67 Spanish girlfriend 68 Things once tossed in the Trevi Fountain 69 It stops at Union and Penn Stations 71 Understand 73 Agnus ____ (prayers) 74 Banned aid? 75 Lead-in to Aid 76 “Auld Lang ____” 78 Gambler’s alternative to

Las Vegas, NV, or Atlantic City, NJ 79 One with special I.T. privileges 83 Throwing away 85 Pond critter 86 Latin version of the Bible

89 Doesn’t give a hoot, colloquially 92 Applebee’s competitor 93 Kitchen gadgets 94 System of government

96 ____ dog 97 Loading areas 98 Championship 99 Texas A&M athlete 100Lugs

101 Add oil and vinegar to, say

102 Bit of chemistry 103 Legal cover? 104 Plugging away 105 Testing stage 107 Ratchet (up) 108 Command to a dog 110 Buckeyes’ sch.