NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE

WHAT A CHARACTER!

Alex Rosen is a software engineer, formerly of New Jersey, North Carolina and Boston but now living in London. His job is to help computer users avoid email-related security mistakes, like clicking on a bad link or accidentally sending an email to the wrong person. This is Alex’s third puzzle for The Times. He describes it as ‘‘luck at several different levels’’ that he got the symmetrical black squares and asymmetrical circles to work out right. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 They come with

bouquets

6 Away

11 ‘‘____ put our heads

together . . . ’’ 15 Singer/drummer

Collins

19 Cell component

20 Pal, in Peru

21 Put one’s nose where

it doesn’t belong 22 Tilt-a-Whirl, e.g.

23 One arm held up with bent elbow and wrist, in a children’s song

24 Move obliquely 25 Phenomenon such as the tendency to see human forms in inanimate objects

27 Any of the groupings of circled letters in this puzzle 30 Gin product 31 Incredible bargains 32 ‘‘Sorry, Charlie!’’ 33 Fits together 34 Savory Chinese

snacks

37 Jump over 41 Smoking and

swearing, e.g. 44 They await your

return, in brief 45 Have a good cry 46 Syracuse Mets and Worcester Red Sox, for two

50 ‘‘Music’s most maligned genre,’’ per the critic Tom Connick 51 Word with level or

lion

52 ‘‘Everything

happened so fast!’’ 54 Farm female

55 ‘‘____ Gone Wrong’’

(2021 film)

57 Brunch beverage

59 One of the brothers on ‘‘Malcolm in the Middle’’

60 Room in Clue

61 Cause of undue

anxiety

63 It may be smoked 64 Hogwash

65 Munch, in modern slang

66 ‘‘____ 17’’ (W.W. II

film)

67 One of two in a jack

o’-lantern?

70 Where charity begins,

in a phrase

73 Table part

74 Title for Tussaud:

Abbr.

76 ‘‘Midsommar’’

director Aster

77 Digs up

78 Carpenter’s wedge 80 Does gentle stretching postexercise, with ‘‘down’’

82 Amp knob

84 Die like the Wicked

Witch of the West 85 Give zero stars 86 Ne’er-do-wells

88 E.R. inserts

89 By birth

90 Plant said to repel bugs

93 ____ Ryerson, insurance salesman in ‘‘Groundhog Day’’ 94 French pronoun 95 Quarter ____ (when the big hand is at three) 97 No-longer-current source for current events

99 Hot, mulled punch traditionally drunk around Christmas 101 Bacteria destroyer 104 French port on the English Channel

106 Like the Minotaur legend

110 University of Oregon site

112 How to see the image formed by this puzzle’s circled letters

115 What’s formed by the circled letters in this puzzle

117 ‘‘We’re live!’’ studio sign

118 Ancient land in Asia Minor

119 Domino, e.g. 120 Martinez with a statue outside the Seattle Mariners’ stadium

121 Makes less powerful, in video-game slang 122 Domino, e.g.

123 ‘‘To . . . ’’ things

124 Dino’s tail?

125 Muse of love poetry 126 Arises (from)

DOWN

1 Eastern cicada killers,

e.g.

2 Suggestions

3 ‘‘ . . . said ____ ever’’ 4 School

5 Resolves out of court 6 Org. that flew a helicopter on Mars in 2021 7 Fail to mention 8 Information, old-style 9 Rounded quarters 10 Without stopping

11 How Alaska ranks first among the states

12 It’s often left on the

table

13 What ‘‘vey’’ of ‘‘Oy,

vey!’’ translates to 14 ____ Games, company

behind Fortnite

15 Rey, to Luke

Skywalker

16 Sword handles 17 ‘‘Einstein,’’

sarcastically

18 Puts pressure (on) 21 What can make men swear from men’s wear?

26 ‘‘____ pass Go . . . ’’ 28 Leading medal winner at the Tokyo Olympics

29 Forman who directed ‘‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’’

35 Farm refrain

36 Weight of a paper

clip, roughly 38 Ancient: Prefix 39 Soul-seller of legend 40 Half-baked?

41 Duck and goose, at

times

42 ‘‘See ya’’

43 Group dance popularized in the U.S. by Desi Arnaz 45 77-Down is on the most collected one in U.S. history 47 Epiphany 48 Voice actor Blanc 49 Show with over 1,000 handwritten cue cards each week, for short 51 City hazard 52 ‘‘My word!’’ 53 Pol in the ‘‘I am once again asking . . . ’’ meme 56 City whose police cars are adorned with a witch logo

58 Card game with a PG-rated name 60 Boring

62 Purse

65 High degree

68 Not at all popular 69 Messes up 70 x, y and z

71 Chaotic skirmish 72 Fragrant compound 74 Saturn has more

than 80 of them 75 Golf-course machine 77 He performed 636 consecutive sold-out shows in Vegas from 1969 to ’76 78 Burn-prevention

meas.

79 The future Henry V, to

Falstaff

80 Fight tooth and nail 81 One who consumes a ritual meal to absolve the souls of the dead 83 Bits on book jackets 87 Roc-A-____ Records 91 Part of U.C.L.A. 92 Fashion designer

Geoffrey

94 It may run from an

emotional situation 95 [Mwah!]

96 Departed by plane 98 Green vehicle

99 Frank

100 Duke’s org.

101 Pasta topper 102 Like the dog days of summer

103 Acrobatic

105 Make restitution 107 Faint color

108 ‘‘Take me ____’’ 109 Approaches

111 Where the lacrimal glands can be found 112 Pasta topper

113 Pump some weights 114 Not exactly 116 Vaccine-approving agcy.