Albany Times Union (Sunday)

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

- THEME SHMEME BY CAITLIN REID / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

Caitlin Reid, of Santa Ana, Calif., is the mother of two boys and two girls, ages 4 to 11. Like Margaret Farrar, the first crossword editor of The Times — who was also a busy mother — Caitlin does most of her puzzle work after the rest of the family has gone to bed. That’s when things quiet down. Caitlin is a classicall­y trained pianist who plays at her local church. Her favorite crosswords to make are themeless ones, like today’s, that feature long, fresh, lively vocabulary and lots of humor and playfulnes­s in the clues. This is Caitlin’s ninth crossword for the paper, including a collaborat­ion last Sunday. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Round number?

7 Pick a card, any card 11 Hoops

16 Piano keys

18 Quick study

20 Quick studies

22 Line delivered in

costume

23 Source of a trendy

health juice

24 Alternativ­e to tarot

cards

26 Opportunit­y to hit 27 Hearing aid?

29 Hole-making tools 30 Hill worker

31 Split

32 Small bird with

complex songs

33 He was told to ‘‘take a sad song and make it better’’

34 ‘‘Smackdown’’ org. 37 Upper limit

38 Olympic figure

skater Johnny

39 Make more

pleasant

41 First attempt

44 Attire

45 In key

46 ‘‘The ____ Locker,’’ 2009 Best Picture winner

47 Declare

48 ‘‘Surely you don’t think it could be me?!’’

49 Bank, at times

51 Hayek of Hollywood 52 Some movie extras 55 Acts like money

grows on trees

57 Tool for a difficult

crossword, say

58 Added water to, as

a sauce

60 Family secret,

perhaps

62 In lock step (with) 64 Seasonal song with

lyrics in Latin

66 Sacrament of holy matrimony and others

67 Throughway, e.g. 69 Fashion expert

Gunn

70 It’s sedimentar­y,

my dear

71 Seemingly forever 72 Filmmaker Gerwig 73 Info on an

invitation

75 Command, as

influence

76 ‘‘Don’t worry about

it’’

78 Brown or blacken 79 Hole in the ground 80 ____ card

81 Shaded

Online subscripti­ons: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/ crosswords ($39.95 a year).

82 Went over the

limit, say

83 Where to find the

radius

84 ____ Lipa, Grammy

winning pop artist 87 ‘‘Big Little

Lies’’ co-star of Witherspoo­n and Kidman

88 Barely afloat?

91 Buzz in the morning 93 Place you may go

just for kicks?

94 Mail lady on ‘‘Pee

wee’s Playhouse’’ 95 Occasion to stay

up late

97 Some surfing

destinatio­ns

99 You are here

100 Pounds

101 He made a pact

with the Devil

102 Makes blue, say 103 One of three for

‘‘Mississipp­i’’

DOWN

1 Brand of breath spray 2 Arthurian isle

3 Decay, as wood

4 ‘‘____ words were

never spoken’’

5 Voice, as grievances 6 Potter of children’s

literature

7 Ambitious

8 Proverbial tortoise

or hare, e.g.

9 Poses

Branch of the U.N. in 2020 news

11 Soda factory worker 12 1989 Tom Hanks black comedy, with ‘‘The’’

13 Math measuremen­t 14 Aspiring D.A.’S exam 15 Tennis do-over

17 Result of eating the poisoned apple in ‘‘Snow White’’ Quickly go from success to failure Mudbug, by another name

21 Easy target

22 Many a dare, in

hindsight

25 Bring down

28 Part of a high chair 29 Boring things

33 Hera’s Roman

counterpar­t

34 ‘‘Don’t you trust

me?’’

35 Heat of the

moment?

36 First name in jazz 37 Quagmire

38 Mom jeans have a

high one

39 Picturesqu­e time

for a walk

40 Goes out on a limb 41 Tapered hairstyle 42 Act of omission . . .

or of a commission 43 Four for a 4x400,

say

44 Pluto, e.g.

10 18 19 45 Pint-size and then

some

48 ____ mortal

50 Central

51 Bird-feeder bit

53 They’re on the case,

in slang

54 Garrulous

56 Like a pearl-clutcher 59 Discourage

61 Abbr. on a

cornerston­e 63 What skies do before

a storm

65 Worrisome beach

sighting

66 Pro ____

68 Email status

72 Food connoisseu­r

74 ____ a clue (was lost) 75 Scaredy-cat

77 Frozen dessert 78 Golfer Jordan who won the 2015 U.S. Open

79 Republican politico

Reince

82 Hybrid bottoms

83 Spot seller, in brief 84 Keto adherent, e.g. 85 Prepare to deplane 86 Andre who won the 1994 and 1999 U.S. Opens 87 Curses

88 Piece of the pie

89 ‘‘That smarts!’’

90 De-e-eluxe

91 ____ breve (cut time) 92 Beach ball?

93 Do a veterinari­an’s

job on

95 Beach lotion abbr. 96 Rare color?

98 Texter’s ‘‘I can’t

believe this’’

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