The New York Times Crossword

Katie Hale of London and Christina Iverson of Ames, Iowa, are stay-athome moms. They connected online after Katie read about Christina’s first Times puzzle and reached out for mentoring.

ACROSS

1 Unloading point

5 Trait for a ballerina 10 “Wanna hear a secret?’’ preceder

14 Not much

18 The “O’’ of OWN 20 Portrayer of Captain Davies in “Roots’’

21 Bind with rope 22 Abacus column 23 Helpful

24 Accept payment from Batman? 27 Eponymous Irish city

29 _ _ _ _ pickle 30 Counterparts of faunas 31 Cause for celebration at a pachyderm sanctuary? 36 ____ lecithin (chocolate additive)

37 What most pens can’t do 38 Jane portrayer in 1981’s “Tarzan, the Ape Man’’ 41 Worry about, informally 45 Flip (out)

46 Rock band that you might think would always be an opening act, with “the’’? 48 Ex-giants QB Manning 49 Finish scooping out a big stir-fry?

54 Signal approval 55 Inexplicably missing, say 56 Brontë who wrote “Agnes Grey’’

57 Target of permethrin cream 58 Not very convincing 60 Highly skilled

61 Rare race outcome 63 Unimaginative birthday gift 64 Is stertorous 65 Puritan’s goal in 17thcentury Salem? 69 Changes topics in a debate, perhaps

73 Scrapes (out)

74 The Rose Bowl, e.g. 79 Czar who co-ruled with Peter I

80 Goes head to head 81 Indiana athlete 83 Sunburn soother 84 Specialist publication, for short 85 Monopolize 86 Something a Parmesan vendor might offer? 89 Unflappable state of mind 90 Baron Cohen of film 92 One of all fours? 93 Container words

94 2019 film whose title means “to the stars’’

96 A dance and a dip 98 Cartoondom’s Olive ____ 100 What a stoner actor smoked during rehearsal? 107 Beginning and end of “America’’ 109 “Ha-ha!’’

110 Noise heard during the London Blitz 111 Domain for Jameson and Maker’s Mark?

116 Curl target, informally 117 Manual alternative 118 Soul singer Bridges 119 Bank investment? 120 Spanish dagger or Adam’s needle is a variety of it 121 New York football team, informally

122 Apt rhyme for “crude’’ and “rude’’

123 It may need to be broken to move

124 Lucretia ____, abolitionist and women’s rights advocate

DOWN

1 Childbirth assistant 2 Choose to participate 3 Concern for Superman 4 Superman’s birth name 5 Like many a teenage boy’s facial hair

6 First Asian tennis player to be ranked No. 1 in singles 7 Press

8 Bishop’s jurisdiction 9 Long period

10 Like some evidence and bulbs

11 Doctor’s order

12 I.R.S. ID

13 Live broadcast no-no

14 In

15 One creating draft after draft?

16 Andean empire member 17 Some clicks of the tongue 19 Slice of toast? 25 Comes out ahead 26 Dolts

28 Market launch, for short 32 Amphibians that may have toxic skin

33 Clichéd 34 Shakespeare villain with more lines than the title character

35 Kindle download

39 Skip the big ceremony, say 40 They’re found around Scots 41 Bony fish with prized eggs 42 “Bottled poetry,’’ according to Robert Louis Stevenson 43 Active Sicilian volcano 44 Filled with wonder 47 Without concrete evidence 50 “Ad Parnassum’’ and “Fish Magic,’’ for two 51 Metaphor for a shared experience

52 Be more important than 53 Exaggerated kiss sound 55 Fuss

59 Legal title: Abbr.

60 He wrote lyrics to “My Way’’ for Sinatra 62 Channel with a lot of house renovation shows 63 Keeps in the loop, in a way 64 Give a start

66 Prez with a rhyming campaign slogan

67 Lab work

68 Cause of some brain freeze 69 It comes in California and New York styles 70 Covered in vines 71 Celebrity who holds the Guinness world record for “Most Frequent Clapper’’ 72 Half and half? 75 Gallivants

76 On the safe side 77 Ancient kingdom in modern-day Jordan 78 Elusive, in a way 80 Words to learn, briefly 81 In itself: Lat.

82 “Oh, come on!’’ 85 Aggressive pitch 87 Physically fit

88 Rock song?

90 Big cut of tuna

91 Fill with wonder 95 Attaches, as a button 97 Some shop tools 98 “Now it makes sense!’’ 99 “____ So Bad’’ (Tom Petty song)

101 Flying _ _ _ _ drop (pro wrestling move) 102 Shocks, in a way

103 Hip bone

104 Classic brand of wafers 105 Upright

106 The Apostle of Ireland, familiarly

107 It might come in a branded tote bag

108 Buddy

112 “_ _ _ _-haw!’’

113 Laid up

114 Formerly called 115 Perón of politics