SUNDAY NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD | TERMINAL CONNECTIONS
Paolo Pasco is a recent Harvard graduate, working in data science in San Diego. He’s been making puzzles for The Times since he was 15. He says he thought of this puzzle’s theme during a class back in April and fleshed it out while walking back to his dorm. — W.S.
Across
1 “Te quiero ____” (Spanish words of endearment)
6 ____ axis, half of an ellipse’s shorter diameter 15 See-worthy?
20 Volume on an ipad, say 21 Singer of “Fame” fame 22 “____: Game Over” (2014 video-game documentary) 23 Grown-up efts 24 Old-fashioned letter opener
25 Turn into confetti 26 12/25, e.g.
28 ____ Lewis, singer of the 2007 No. 1 hit “Bleeding Love”
29 Tennis star Naomi, who was born in 29-Across
30 “I’m gonna tell you something huge” 33 Mossy growths 36 River with a “White” counterpart
38 Lil ____ Howery (“Get Out” actor)
41 Stuffs into a hole, say 44 F-, for one
45 Ritual with bamboo utensils
48 God, in Italy 49 Repeated word in an “Animal House” chant 51 Pastry with the same shape as an Argentine medialuna
52 Attorney general before Garland
53 Online promotions, collectively
56 What businesses go by 59 Cut down
60 “Eureka!”
61 Word with easy or stop 64 Provide change in quarters? 68 Long, tragic stories 72 Up to this point 74 Best supporting actress nominee for “The Power of the Dog,” 2021 75 Letter opener, pencil cup, inbox tray, etc. 76 Phanerozoic ____ (what we live in) 77 Classroom aides, for short
79 British term of address 80 Currency for the prize on “Squid Game” 81 Reddit Q. and A. session, in brief
82 Most unpleasantly old and mildewy
85 Letters before Constitution or Enterprise 86 Popular subcompact hatchback from Japan 89 Rock commonly used in asphalt
91 Part of a hotel with décor fitting a certain motif
93 Video-game series with settings in Liberty City and San Andreas, for short
94 Gobsmack
95 Scottish interjection 96 “Everything Everywhere ____ at Once” (Michelle Yeoh movie) 97 R&B artist whose name sounds like a pronoun 99 Eats
101 Travis of country
music
105 One of 2,297 for
Hank Aaron, for short
107 Annoyance for a
Twitch streamer
110 Figure with equal
angles
112 Sunday ____ (end-of-week anxiety, casually)
114 Country whose flag
depicts a machete
116 With 121-Across, company that sells scuba gear
117 Certain
furniture-store purchases 120 Missing
121 See 116-Across
122 “Be My Baby” group, 1963
123 Bygone Microsoft
media player 124 The lights in fairy
lights
125 Some travel
considerations, in brief 126 Tarnish
127 Donkey Kong and
others
Down
1 Bachelors, e.g.
2 ____ Eats
3 Ninja Turtle’s catchphrase
4 One who’s super-good-looking 5 Affirmative gesture 6 *Baseball pitching style … or a weapon
7 Afore
8 Dining-hall offerings 9 About, on a 10-Down 10 See 9-Down 11 Volunteer’s words 12 Tennis’s “king of clay” 13 Hour, in Italy
14 *Big name in hotels 15 Access providers 16 Within reach 17 Actress who played
“Jessica” in “Parasite” 18 No-go ____ 19 Something to pry or twist off
27 Volunteer’s words 29 [Gasp!]
31 Chooses
32 More run-down 34 Period in ancient history
35 Like a defeatist’s attitude
36 *Indentation on a chew toy 37 Textile-making device 38 *Light again
39 “I mean … ” sounds 40 *Whom Holmes tells, “You do find it very hard to tackle the facts” 42 Telegram
43 *Many a Viking 46 Pulled a fast one on 47 College near Vassar 50 Where van Gogh and Gauguin briefly lived together
52 Dyeing method using wax
54 Chief ____ (rapper with a rhyming name) 55 Where feudal workers worked
57 French equivalent of “Stephen”
58 ____ van der Poel, Olympic speedskater 61 Academic acronym 62 *Grand
63 Hits shore unintentionally
65 *Early French Protestants
66 Burden
67 *Basic rivalry 69 “Continuing where we left off last time … ” 70 *“G.I. Jane” star, 1997 71 Field goal avg., e.g. 73 Believers in Jah, informally
75 Fatalistic sort, in slang 78 Place in an overhead bin
80 No ____! (punnily named dairy-free chocolate brand) 83 Explosive stuff
84 U.S. ID?
87 Bad place to pour grease
88 “Have ____ make my email stop” (Destiny’s Child lyric)
90 Cable in the middle of a tennis court
92 Would really rather not 97 “What’s up, everyone!” 98 -ish
100 *“Encore!”
102 Fidel ____, 1990s
Philippine leader
103 Tehran’s home
104 Fork prongs
106 *Actress Angela 108 How to play solitaire 109 They have high ratings on the Beaufort scale
111 Jokester’s arsenal 112 “Leave it,” on paper 113 Alien-seeking org. 115 Strip near Tel Aviv 118 Beverage at un café 119 Business-card abbr.