The New York Times Crossword

TODAY: STAR SEARCH (0801)

Chandi Deitmer, of Somerville, Mass., is a social worker in the fields of psychiatry and geriatrics. She got hooked on crosswords in college via the AVCX puzzle in The Onion (which was only in print in those days). She started constructing a year or two ago, mainly for ‘‘indie’’ venues. This is her Times debut. The puzzle has a multilayered theme, whose subject is indicated by the designs in the grid. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Symbol of royalty

in ancient Egypt 4 Wouldn’t stand for

it?

7 They have springs

in the middle 12 ____ Perez, former Democratic National Committee chairman 15 Nutritional fig. 18 Apple tablet option 20 Popular analgesic 21 Belgian city that hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics 23 One of the rooms

in Clue

24 N.B.A. superstar

Durant

25 Voting ‘‘aye’’ 26 Gilbert and ____ Islands (former colonial names of Kiribati and Tuvalu) 27 Give way

28 Levy of ‘‘Schitt’s

Creek’’

29 When the Lascaux

caves were

painted 32 Furthermore 33 Much of Goya’s

output 35 Japanese beer

brand

36 San Francisco’s

____ Valley

37 In which ‘‘Stella’’

means ‘‘star’’ 38 Seaweed used to

wrap sushi 41 Descriptor of almost a million and a half Californians 44 Porridge,

essentially

48 Real surname for the authors Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell

51 With a yawn, say 52 Less certain 54 Onetime material for tennis-racket strings

55 ‘‘That much is

clear’’

56 Symbol of Mexico 57 Country with

roughly 6,000

islands

59 Where a pop-up

leads

61 Alpha and Beta Ursae ____ (pointers to 68-Across) 64 Noodle soup 68 Guiding light 72 Gentille figure of a

French folk song 74 Lord’s title 75 Originally from 76 Place to take a

suit

77 Executive producer of HBO’s ‘‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’’ 80 Risk

81 ‘‘____ Lang Syne’’ 82 Pesky insect 84 Something to

notice in passing? 87 It’s between microand pico88 Horace’s ‘‘Hymn to

Mercury,’’ for one 89 New York political

family 91 Fifth-century conqueror defeated in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains 93 Rap’s Lil ____ X 94 Reliable supporters 95 Glazer of ‘‘Broad

City’’

97 Online source for

film facts, in brief 99 Repugnance 102 Disguised

105 Author ____ Carol

Oates

109 Wine that may be made spumante or frizzante 111 Little

112 Bested

114 Gritty, in a sense 115 Ones committing a party foul ... or the images depicted in this puzzle’s grid?

118 Camping-gear

brand

119 Letters before an

alias

120 Surprising wins 121 Jeu d’____

(witticism)

122 Little one

123 Female mallard 124 Grommet

125 Black-eyed ____

(flowers)

126 Kind of protein in tempeh

DOWN

1 They get the

wheels turning 2 Like proverbial milk 3 Poet Neruda 4 Company that makes recoverable and reusable rocket boosters 5 Overdue amount 6 Content of a

Kinder Egg

7 Like many

Chardonnays 8 Last czarina of

Russia

9 Celestial figure depicted in this puzzle’s grid, in Roman folklore 10 Unforgivable acts,

say

11 iPhone button with

an up arrow on it 12 Duty

13 About to enter the

stage, say 14 Subject of Hokusai’s ‘‘ThirtySix Views’’ 15 Delight (in)

16 Go on and on 17 Avant’s opposite 19 Celestial figure depicted in this puzzle’s grid, in African American folklore 22 Celestial figure depicted in this puzzle’s grid, in Babylonian folklore 30 Joe and co., e.g. 31 Sharing maternal

lines

33 Excoriated

34 Akira Kurosawa

film

38 Peacock streaming

inits.

39 Italian time unit 40 Utter nonsense 42 Like five-star hotels vis-à-vis three-star ones 43 Gather

45 Rose of rock 46 Nickname on a

ranch

47 Spanish title: Abbr. 49 Tower topper 50 Digital writing 52 Buffoon 53 Brawler’s

memento

58 Is at the Forum? 60 Steamy place 61 ____ Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China

62 For all to hear 63 Unit in

thermodynamics 65 Chump 66 Unaccounted for,

briefly

67 Fumble

69 Went into

syndication, e.g. 70 Singer Aguilera’s

alter ego

71 Star performances,

maybe

73 This is a test 75 ‘‘Gee, that’s

swell!’’

78 Like Vulcans,

typically

79 Central Asia’s ____

Mountains 82 ‘‘Gloomy’’ guy 83 ‘‘That’s just

unacceptable’’ 85 1969-74, politically 86 Tree that lends its name to a programming language 89 Matured, in a way 90 Like the three-toed sloth, among all animals

91 New wings 92 Tweaks

94 Clear, as crystal 96 Like Parmesan,

but not mozzarella 98 Bouncy jazz genre 99 Noted book-club

leader

100 Male mallard 101 Certain caucus

voter

103 1938 prize for

Pearl S. Buck 104 Big name in

trading cards 106 W.W. I Belgian

battle locale 107 Green with the 2010 hit ‘‘Forget You’’

108 Enlighten

110 Roger’s cousin? 113 Ireland, poetically 116 Smartphone

network std. 117 Home to the Nittany Lions, for short