The New York Times Crossword

TODAY: GAME CHANGERS (0411)

Angela Olson Halsted is a legal secretary in Washington, D.C., and the mother of two college students. Doug Peterson is a professional crossword constructor in Pasadena, Calif. The two met at a crossword tournament in 2007 and have been friends ever since. Both are baseball fans (Nationals for Angela, Yankees for Doug), and they have attended at least one M.L.B. game together every year (not counting last year) since 2011. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Chow down on 6 ‘‘Exactly like this’’ 12 Word with mild or well 20 Character often found in children’s books 21 Emotionally process, in modern lingo 22 Repeated cry in 1931’s ‘‘Frankenstein’’ 23 *Perfect curveball? 25 Ivy League city 26 Jam

27 Crucial

28 White coat? 30 Course standards 31 Emergency-room concern 33 *Batting coach’s instruction to a lackadaisical hitter? 37 Habitual drinkers 39 Opposed (to) 40 *Apprentice groundskeepers? 46 Singer/songwriter

Parks with the 2021 album ‘‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’’ 47 It might get pulled in both directions 50 New York’s Mount ____ Hospital 51 Dark wine grape 52 Part of a heartbeat 54 Diplomatic official: Abbr.

55 Corn core 57 Cancels 60 Alacrity 61 Afternoon socials 63 Where dreams are made 65 *Overenthusiastic description of a routine base hit? 68 Stand-in for Middle America

71 Pair of socks? 72 *Umpire’s aid in judging foul balls? 78 GPS approximation 79 Sgt. and cpl., e.g. 83 Airer of ‘‘Nancy Drew’’

84 Old salt

86 Fury

88 State where M.L.K. marched: Abbr. 89 Some fins

92 King James on a court

94 Do as Henry VI did 96 Letters on some foundations 97 Jumpy sorts, in brief

99 *Long hours of fielding practice? 101 ____ only

103 Tilting

104 *Imperceptible fastball movement? 109 All over the place 113 Jimmy ____ (luxury

shoe brand) 114 Scientist buried in

Westminster Abbey 115 Pop artist who sings ‘‘Satisfied’’ on ‘‘The Hamilton Mixtape’’

116 New ____ (cap

brand)

117 Trouble,

metaphorically 120 Ballgame extenders . . . and what can literally be found in the answers to the asterisked clues 124 Beekeeper

125 ____ to go

126 Run-D.M.C. and the Jonas Brothers, for example

127 Bands’ performance sheets

128 Unruffled

129 ____ Domingo

DOWN

1 Bird that can spend up to 10 months in the air

without landing 2 Absolute bottom 3 Digital assistant 4 Food packaging abbr., once 5 What’s heard at many a coffeehouse 6 Group sometimes said to be ‘‘out’’ 7 French article 8 Pampering place 9 In use 10 Candle choice 11 Gumbo pods 12 Goddess with a sacred owl 13 Designers’ studios 14 Its capital is Sydney: Abbr. 15 ‘‘Uh-uh’’

16 Go by 17 Compete with 18 Part of EGBDF 19 Places to play cards, often 24 The Daily ____ (online news site) 29 ____ culpa

32 It plays a role in arm-twisting 33 ‘‘Venerable’’ saint 34 Manual readers 35 Air France hub 36 It brought Hope to the world 38 When doubled, a Nabokov protagonist 40 Pre-bar challenge, briefly

41 ‘‘Je t’____’’ 42 Org. with Fire and Sparks

43 It was first won by the N.Y. Mets in 1969 44 Snowblower brand 45 Word on some Oreo packages 47 Nothing special 48 Tina Turner, voicewise 49 Goldenrod, e.g. 53 Append

56 Instrument with a flared end 58 Chinese steamed bun

59 Ratio of an angle’s opposite side to the hypotenuse 62 Blueprint details 64 Runs out of juice 66 Eye cream ingredient 67 Symbol on Captain America’s shield 69 Villainous English king in ‘‘Braveheart’’ 70 Outstanding pitcher 72 Former Ford models

73 Seller of Belgian waffles and French toast (fittingly, considering the ‘‘I’’ in its name) 74 Super Soaker Soakzooka brand 75 Like some orders 76 Ancient halls 77 Eldest Stark son on ‘‘Game of Thrones’’ 80 G.I.’s garb, at times 81 Speedskater Johann ____ Koss, winner of four Olympic golds 82 One-named Nigerian Grammy winner 85 Pained sound

87 In the Renaissance, they were known as ‘‘mala insana’’ (‘‘mad apples’’) 90 Baseball’s Gehrig and Piniella 91 Most reliable 93 Russian city on the Ural River 95 Butterlike spread 98 French West Indies resort island, familiarly

100 Keep from flying,

maybe

101 Profession

102 Camera inits. 104 ‘‘With any luck . . .

’’

105 Tag line?

106 Fancy pourers 107 Paper route hour,

maybe

108 Headliner’s cue 110 Land between Togo

and Nigeria 111 Insider’s vocabulary 112 Catch with a throw 113 Alternative to

Chuck

115 Wistful sound 118 Man’s name that’s 123-Down reversed

119 Stanza contraction 121 Home of the world’s largest carnival

122 Word with red or

army

123 Man’s name that’s

118-Down reversed