NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE
Will Nediger is a professional crossword constructor from London, Ontario. He contributes regularly to The New Yorker, The Times and other outlets. He says, ‘‘I enjoy architecturally challenging constructions — like this puzzle, which was tricky to create, because the theme content had to be placed in a specific order.’’ — W.S.
ACROSS
1 Poses
5 ____ palm
(tropical tree)
9 Drive (around) 13 Composer Bernstein who was unrelated to Leonard
18 Doohickey
20 Home to the
Dole Plantation 21 Industry show 22 Late singer Judd 23 Contest with lots
of ‘‘tied’’ scores 24 In a fight
25 Body part that humans have that other primates don’t 26 Term to drop in a serious relationship, informally
27 Argument extender [ref. 18-Across]
30 Tiny amounts 31 Terse denial
32 What seat selection on an airplane often comes with
33 Eerily familiar
feeling
35 Scottish refusal 36 Focused on the
bull’s-eye
39 State fiction
as fact
41 Supervise
45 Slowly makes
its way through 47 Fun functions 48 With 87-Across, ‘‘I’ve been around the block a few times’’ [ref. 23-Across]
53 Yoga pose
55 Covering
56 Rock’s C. J. or
Dee Dee
57 Currency of
Qatar
59 Package in
Santa’s sleigh
61 18+, say
62 Danger
65 Sun block
67 Molecular
messenger
70 Classic Yogi Berra quote [ref. 33-Across] 74 Whole bunch
75 Fiber made
from cellulose 76 Chemical ingredient in flubber
77 Did some
secretarial work 78 The last thing a Mississippi cheerleader wants?
79 Land divided at
the 38th parallel 81 Former name for the N.B.A.’s Thunder, informally
82 Crib-sheet user 85 Team building 87 See 48-Across 91 Consolidated for easier reading, as a Twitter thread 93 Composer Luigi who pioneered noise music
95 Like some arts 96 Be an agent for 97 Broadway
composer Jule
99 Crop that might be insectresistant, in brief 102 Sleep inducer 104 ____ particle 106 Came next
108 Algonquian
people
111 Debut album by Britney Spears [ref. 82-Across] 115 Beginning
116 French pronoun 117 Word implied in ‘‘I haven’t the foggiest’’
118 Crenshaw or
casaba
119 ‘‘That makes
two of us’’
120 One with a nose
for gnus?
121 A pan might come
with just one
122 Elusive giants 123 Tread + riser 124 Becomes less
taut
125 Seemingly
forever
126 Instrument for
Orpheus
DOWN
1 Transport in a Billy Strayhorn standard
2 Showrunner
Rhimes
3 ____ pool
4 Sam with 82 P.G.A. Tour wins
5 Lay it on thick 6 Pledge
7 Political unit of
ancient Hawaii 8 Highly
unconventional
9 Sector for many start-ups 10 Durable leather 11 Give a take 12 Doughnut similar
to an éclair 13 Spice up 14 Canadian observance also called Fête du Travail
15 Not worth arguing about 16 Goldman who crusaded for birth control access 17 Barbecue order 19 ‘‘Never ____ Give You Up’’ (Rick Astley song) 28 Useless 29 Prefix with medicine 34 One whose work goes over your head 37 Web portal with a Bing search bar 38 Ambulance pro 40 Monocledropping exclamation
42 Be on the bottom?
43 ‘‘____-Tripping’’ (Nikki Giovanni poem)
44 Sixth of five?
46 Home country of the poet Adonis
47 Mouth-watering? 48 Park way
49 Was given no
other option
50 ‘‘There’s no
other option’’
51 Persuaded 52 Starting
position, maybe 54 Relish
58 ‘‘Goodness me!’’ 60 Sojourner Truth or Frances Harper 62 It’s illegal for employers to prohibit workers from discussing this 63 Called to mind 64 Talk at length 66 ‘‘On the Basis of ____’’ (2018 legal drama)
67 Swift
68 Goddaughter,
often 69 ‘‘It therefore
follows that . . . ’’ 71 Sport played on
a fronton
72 Lazes around 73 Doc who performs Pap smears
78 Black Lives
Matter co-founder 80 Valuable to collectors, say
81 High-minded
sort?
82 Depress, with
‘‘out’’
83 Santa ____ winds 84 Comment with
a shiver
86 Marks down,
maybe 88 Gave officially 89 Deteriorate
90 Guileful
92 Cholesterol-
lowering drug 94 ____ and
including
96 Share on
Tumblr, say
98 ‘‘You can learn from anyone — even your ____’’: Ovid
99 ‘‘Yep, you got
me’’
100 Story of one’s
life
101 Danish city where Hans Christian Andersen was born 103 ____ al Ghul (on-and-off lover of Batman)
105 Fennel-like
flavoring
107 Material for
some drums 108 Online forum
V.I.P.s
109 Still having a
shot at winning 110 ‘‘The Thin
Man’’ dog
112 Itches
113 Far from
friendly
114 Rest on
one’s ____