PATTERNLESS CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Mental breakthrough

10 Car registration fig. 13 Certain parent and business owner

15 Cold stuff at a

bar 16 Chocolatey cafe offerings 18 Animal on Ben & Jerry’s packaging 19 Approves 20 Twitches 21 “Available” or

“busy,” e.g. 23 “___ ___ a word” (grammar pedant’s ironic statement) 24 “Kindly help

me ...” 25 “Mind blown!” 26 Retired supersonic passenger jet 27 Already

watched 28 Rice field 29 Vote of approval 30 Chicken ___ (trattoria dish, informally) 31 New Mexico’s White ___ National Park 32 Anti-aircraft

fire 33 Old-fashioned

whiskey 34 Wander off 35 Served without 15-Across 36 Thoroughly 38 Pozole, e.g. 39 They preceded Gen Alpha

40 Show

flexibility 41 Hammed it up 42 Exploding

star

43 Nicki Minaj’s

music genre 46 Fluffy dog, for

short

47 Bygone Mediterranean superpower 50 Mine material 51 Many a mentalist, purportedly 52 Kennedy known as “The Lion of the Senate”

53 Run out of

energy

DOWN

1 Arsenal sup-

ply

2 What the letter J resembles 3 Some theaters 4 Dashboard

fig. 5 Toastmasters’

skill

6 Actress Kanakaredes 7 Put into law 8 Clears after taxes 9 Famed Egyptian king 10 Auto racer’s celebration 11 “Food sounds fine” 12 What breaks before it should?

14 Forwards, perhaps

17 Her mom has got it going on, in a song 22 Hullabaloo 23 Throat-clearing sound 24 Mr. ___ (aptly named “Clue” victim)

25 “All hope is

lost” 26 Artificial

waterway 27 “I’m sold!” 28 Tour de France’s terminus 30 Winner’s winnings 31 Influencer’s aspiration, often 32 “Family ___”

(game show) 34 Take the

wheel 35 Z-listers 37 CPR pro 38 Intense 40 Alternatives to

stocks 42 More micro

than micro43 ___ or die (really loyal friend) 44 Word before “rug” or “code” 45 Long-lasting

hair wave 48 Army’s domain?

49 Bit of butter