Crossword

Word Salad, Chunky-Style ... Viva variety

Note: This puzzle is part of Merl’s best-of series. ACROSS 1 Times up 7 Sound of a French financier being hit on the head? 11 Mu ___ pork 14 North Pole addressee 19 Hot pink or lime green 21 Faucet 22 Red as ___ 23 The Joker on TV’s Batman 24 Position statements 26 Make out 27 Poet’s foot 28 Like the relationship of two architects in love 30 Prop for Arnie 31 ___ latté (popular hot drink, Italian-style) 33 Where the furnace is, usually 35 “___ Nagila” (traditional Jewish song) 36 Perceptive 38 Getting involved (in) superficially 39 “Sure! No problema!” 40 Like a new penny 41 Certain layers in shoes 42 Put into words 44 Holler mate 45 One with his ear to the ground 46 Enter stealthily 47 North extension 48 One of a flamenco pair 49 Stripping Mr. Peanut 50 Tough exams, for some 52 Rodomontade 53 Yeses 54 Trust in 55 SST 57 Testing, as mattresses, kid-style 60 Shapes of some lenses 61 Major mistakes 62 Celeb 64 Claimed to be, in court 65 Members of the house 66 Price of rice, maybe 67 NewsHour host 68 Windy, as a day or a senator 69 Shimon who schmoozes with Shamir 70 Lubricates 71 Flaw finders 72 Dickens’ Little ___ 73 Metry preceder 74 Some wall installers 75 Atomic chainreaction pioneer 76 Try: abbr. 77 Showed off 78 Victuals 79 Short on watts 82 Itty-bitty 84 Sabin’s breakthrough 88 Trial partner 89 Scot’s negative 90 Transmission devices 91 In Rome, it means “stone,” not “back talk” 92 Jerk 93 Extra costs 94 Benson partner DOWN 1 First-grade lesson 2 The monkey puzzle, for example 3 Angle operations 4 A Khan 5 Boy Scout Law item 6 Rake with gunfire 7 75-Across helped build a big one 8 Pub pint 9 Neither trailer 10 Jolly Roger features 11 More like a Sharon Stone love scene 12 Accelerates 13 Increasing 14 Bass or Bellow 15 Sit-ups tone ’em 16 Shipshape 17 Airing 18 Classic documentary, Victory ___ 20 Make it 25 Meal or cake opener 29 Bit of buckshot 32 Nefertiti, to Tut 33 Indecorousness 34 Betakes (oneself) away 35 Mercenary 36 Tennis star who took his apartheid fight to the United Nations 37 “See the USA” singer 38 Stretches out 39 “Freak Brothers” creator Gilbert and Bull Durham director Ron 41 Noted talking horse 42 Blends beforehand, as yogurt 43 Chang’s twin 45 Stays the night 46 Division of Great Britain’s High Court of Justice 48 Waterfalls 49 Water-depth announcers 51 Teatro ___ (opera house in Naples) 52 Cads, or cats, sometimes 54 Wooer 55 Beetles’ order 56 Near-perfect games 57 Left in a rocket 58 Primary 59 Certain JapaneseAmerican 60 Klinger’s rank: abbr. 61 Pierre who wrote The Bridge on the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes 63 Location of the sentry 65 Indigo D&C No. 6 and others 66 Salon offering 68 Woody Allen comedy featuring Howard Cosell 69 Volkswagen inventor’s other car 71 Cooked cereal or Little Rascal 72 Unhook 73 Joyce Carol or Warren 74 Riley or Robertson 75 Bean preferred by Hannibal Lecter 77 The “fire” type of maniac 78 Desire Under the ___ 80 Arrow poison 81 State of disarray 83 Ph. directory contents 85 Charlotte of Car 54, Where Are You? 86 Jack’s weapon in The Shining 87 El ___