PATTERNLESS CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Casual pace

5 “That’s my intention”

12 Surrealist painter Magritte

13 Jokes seriously

15 Play parts, or plays a part

16 With respect to

18 Often-unhelpful customer support option

20 Tennis great Monica

22 Six-time NBA MVP ___ Abdul-Jabbar

23 Softball stat

26 Easy ___, easy go

27 Apt rhyme for “glide”

28 Bruno Mars song whose title is sung before “like one, two, three”

30 Auction grouping

31 No. 1 thing at a sports game?

32 50% the usual pace

34 Inquired about

37 Overly

40 Heated and styled

41 Appealing quality

43 Bonet of “Angel Heart”

44 “I’m at my wits’ ___!”

45 Appliance that may be slow

46 Miniature image on Twitch

48 Split the bill

49 Emphatic, elided adjective

53 Dreary

54 Form a labor union

55 Deer group

56 Sooner or later (but probably later)

57 Beret holder, in French

DOWN

1 They’re left in the snow

2 Place to play pool, perhaps

3 Most populous Canadian province

4 Dipped a toe in, metaphorically or literally

5 “The cat’s pajamas,” e.g.

6 ___-up energy

7 Back muscle, for short

8 Summer drink suffix

9 “Tiny Desk Concerts” station

10 Scots’ caps

11 “After further consideration ...”

14 “Until we meet again!”

17 Lesbian who may or may not be attracted to butches

19 Geography contest

21 Visionary

23 Insulted devastatingly

24 Collided with

25 Put two and two together

28 Vampire’s resting place

29 Score such as

20-20 31 Motorist’s distress signal

33 Put two and two together?

34 Skilled enough

35 Goo in some oddly satisfying videos

36 State north of North Macedonia

38 Where a squirrel might find food

39 It’s loaded near a lode

41 Fish hidden backward in “haddock”

42 Dr. Jekyll’s alter ego

45 ___ Island (New York’s “Playground of the World”)

47 Thus

48 Great Sphinx’s home

50 On the ___ (in flight)

51 Hour after noon

52 Snapchat clip, briefly