New York Times Crossword No. 1024
‘CLUE’: THE MOVIE BY BRANDON KOPPY / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ
Brandon Koppy works for a digital ad agency in Austin, Tex. He started solving crosswords about 20 years ago in college, like those in The Onion and New York Times reprints in the student paper. He got serious about constructing around 2018. The theme for this puzzle occurred to him when he stumbled across an old poster for the movie ‘‘Clue’’ and thought, Hmm, that could work for a puzzle title. — W.S. ACROSS
1 Syllables when you
forget the words
4 The universe has an estimated 1,082 of them
9 ‘‘A mouse!’’
12 Beyoncé chart-topper ‘‘Single ____ (Put a Ring on It)’’
18 Simile center
19 ____ Lawrence
College
20 Magazine co-founded in 1945 by Hélène Gordon Lazareff
22 Similar-sounding phrase, such as ‘‘I scream’’ for ‘‘ice cream’’
23 Field of Dreams
26 Guys and Dolls
27 Lucrative and
undemanding
28 Ingredient in a McDonald’s McFlurry
29 Seasonal winds
31 Fictional brand of rocket-powered roller skates
32 ‘‘Cross my heart!’’
35 Fam girl
36 Sounds of doubt
38 Star Trek
40 Woodworker’s tool
42 Some tourist spots in
San Francisco
43 Tax pro, for short 45 Ancient work that describes the sacred tree Yggdrasil
46 Trendy home gym
purchase
50 Top Gun
55 Baseball family name much seen in crosswords
56 Jerkface
59 Tightly affixed
60 Parrot’s sound
61 Insurance department
63 ‘‘____ for me, thanks’’
64 Big no-nos
66 Letters From Iwo
Jima
67 The Imitation Game
69 The Fifth Element
73 Perfectly comfortable
75 1930s migrant to
California
76 Spirits
77 Sesh on Reddit
80 Speed reader?
81 Gave, as gossip
83 Trimmed parts of
green beans
84 A Man for All Seasons
87 Matricidal figure of
Greek myth
89 Golden-rule word
90 Spanish ‘‘Listen!’’
91 Dostoyevsky’s Prince Myshkin, so the book title declares
93 Cause for switching
positions
97 Scent of a Woman
104 ‘‘____ you decent?’’
105 ____ Toy Barn (‘‘Toy
Story 2’’ locale)
106 Small things that
you pluck 107 Breakout band for Harry Styles and Zayn Malik, familiarly
108 Overlie
111 Mad magazine
cartoonist Drucker
112 Get the juices
flowing?
113 Wayne’s World
114 Space Jam
118 Gene variant
119 Denominator in the
velocity formula
120 Beam for train
tracks
121 Fragrant ring
122 Candy with the
slogan ‘‘Not sorry’’
123 Skosh
124 Main artery
125 Panic button, of a
sort
DOWN
1 Pet that should come
with a lint roller?
2 Given that
3 Exasperated parent’s
retort
4 Flue-like
5 Confucian philosophy
6 Singer Rita
7 ‘‘Floating terror’’ of
the sea
8 Many social media
users
9 Donkey with a pinnedon tail
10 Two in a million?
11 ‘‘The Kiss’’ painter
12 Successfully uses a
password
13 Melodious 14 Place to develop one’s
chops
15 Innate
16 Part of a makeup
test?
17 Texting tech, briefly
21 ‘‘____ es!’’ (‘‘That’s
right!’’: Sp.)
24 ‘‘Clueless’’
protagonist
25 Accept eagerly, with
‘‘at’’
30 Org. with an annual Codebreaker Challenge
32 Double-crossed and
half-baked
33 Embarrassing public
episode
34 Restless desire
37 Luxurious
39 Product for one who wonders, ‘‘Am I expecting?’’
40 Increased into something much more valuable
41 Spy novelist Deighton
44 Weave off the
shoulder?
46 Get ready for
vacation
47 Civil rights activist
Baker
48 It may be forgiven
49 Mystic’s board
50 4x World Series
winner Martinez
51 [more info below]
52 Ice cream containers
53 ____ compensation (subject of modern debate)
54 Spanish marinade
57 Drawer of shorts, e.g.
58 Cutthroat mentality 62 Cardinal’s hat, in
Britain
65 Tender areas
67 Pop in the fridge
68 Hershey’s chocolateand-toffee bar
70 Diatribe
71 Quaint sign word
72 Noun-making suffix
74 Fumble for words
76 Dodos
77 City that replaced Lagos as Nigeria’s capital 78 Cameo
79 Predatory insect
living in woodpiles
82 French fabric
85 Caramel or hot fudge,
basically
86 Euphemistic
exclamation
88 Ike’s domain in
W.W.II
91 Reason the physicist
stayed in bed?
92 ‘‘The Shape of Water’’
director 94 Natasha ____,
Boris’s partner against Rocky and Bullwinkle
95 Some water-park
rides
96 Olympics symbol for
Madrid’s country
98 Sang along when you
forgot the words
99 Ingredient in healing
gel
100 Latte art medium
101 Arch support
102 Bill killers 103 Utopian
106 Like a birthday cake,
pre-party
109 ‘‘____ All That’’
(1999 film)
110 Frequently, quaintly
112 Lugosi of horror
films
113 Fish with an
elongated jaw
115 Singer Sumac
116 Describe in a
negative way
117 Toke
Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 4,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).