Crossword

Note: This puzzle is part of Merl’s best-of series.

ACROSS

1 Arnold’s are awesome 5 Short and thick-set 11 Requested, in Dogpatch 14 William Abbott, familiarly 17 Site of a 1981 nuclear reactor bombing 18 Crescent-shaped wristbone 19 ___ Jima 20 Your things, rather than my things 22 COMET 25 Old palindrome, “Able was ___ saw Elba” 26 COMET 28 Spill the beans 29 Asian holiday 30 Keep secret 31 Frisbees and many UFOs 34 “And ___ of thousands” 38 Bird under glass 42 Peggy Lee’s comet query 46 Eminently draftable 47 Neither partner 48 Squared, it’s nove 49 “What am ___ do?” 50 Two-left-feet type 51 Bean of “Desperate Housewives” 52 Impute, as blame 54 Comet comment from a teen? 58 Scott of Happy Days 59 Merkel or O’Connor 60 Bradbury’s ___ for Space 61 Prizes for Perlman 65 Caesarean section? 66 Part of MGM 69 Medically, it’s a knockout 72 College in New Rochelle, N.Y. 73 Trade back 75 Sodium hydroxide 77 Docs’ org. 78 Craving 79 Chevy Chase comedy about the comet? 84 Pricey, bygone travel option 85 Big name in refrigerators 88 A fvll deck? 89 Mauna ___ 90 Crumpet “chaser,” perhaps 92 French article 94 Undivided, as attention 95 React appropriately to the comet? 99 “Life is over there—Behind ___” (Dickinson) 101 Out of the sack 102 Hear her roar? 103 Breathing down one’s neck 104 Narrow inlet 106 Act of seeing, old-style 109 COMET 116 The Vagabond King composer 117 COMET (to a puzzle buff) 119 “Walk Away” girl of song 120 Mil. rank category 121 Aviatrix’s first name 122 Whopper 123 Nogales shout 124 Frat party buy 125 Greetings for Snidely Whiplash 126 Charon’s crossing

DOWN

1 Lulu 2 Stink or switch ending 3 Crunch’s rank, in cerealdom 4 Crush with a retort 5 Journalistic attitude 6 Word with jet or diesel 7 Hooklike 8 It drops in Times Square on New Year’s Eve 9 Tunesmith Jacques 10 “You rang?” 11 A way to the altar 12 Fragrant garden plants 13 Winnie was one 14 Residents of the world’s third largest island 15 Word on many schoolbooks 16 Latin gods 20 Shinbone 21 “Can’t make ___ out of it” (cometgazer’s comment) 23 ___ anchor (rests) 24 Pigtail, to Pierre 27 Women 31 Clangor 32 Sequester 33 Magellan’s access 35 Advertising award 36 Aleutian island 37 Puppy precautions 39 Faithful to the orig., sound-wise 40 Modernist, for short 41 Summer coat? 43 Win 44 Insurance giant 45 Suffer sans air conditioning 51 Electrical unit 53 Beatles song about the comet? 55 “Wait a second ...” 56 Do, as laces 57 Repair shops 58 Vacation island: abbr. 62 Disheveled 63 As a replacement 64 Warmed the bench 67 He “has left the building” 68 Contents of “a pocket full” 70 Hornswoggled 71 Be overdramatic 74 “I caught you!” 76 China’s Zhou 80 Jewish month 81 One way to get to Paris 82 Propels, as a grenade 83 A Big Three university 85 Imitation of life? 86 ___jong 87 Italian mountain chain 91 Learn ___ (apprentice) 93 Comet’s milieu 95 Humorist-publisher Bennett 96 Muse of love poetry 97 Opens, as a letter 98 Stops stonewalling 100 Caucasian, in Hawaiian 105 Disguised, for short 107 Sprite 108 Cuzco’s people 109 Ex-pitcher Hershiser 110 “Everything but” appurtenance 111 Asian nursemaid 112 Big rig 113 Expwys., e.g. 114 Coup d’___ 115 Depend 116 Half a swing? 118 Sgt. Preston of the Yukon’s horse