The New York Times Crossword
Will Nediger is a crossword constructor from London, Ontario. He says, “I enjoy architecturally challenging constructions — like this puzzle, which was tricky to create, because the theme content had to be placed in a specific order.
ACROSS
1 Poses
5 ____ palm (tropical tree)
9 Drive (around)
13 Composer Bernstein who
was unrelated to Leonard 18 Doohickey
20 Home to the Dole Plantation 21 Industry show
22 Late singer Judd
23 Contest with lots of “tied’’
scores
24 In a fight
25 Body part that humans have that other primates don’t
26 Term to drop in a serious
relationship, informally
27 Argument extender [ref.
18-Across]
30 Tiny amounts
31 Terse denial
32 What seat selection on an
airplane often comes with 33 Eerily familiar feeling
35 Scottish refusal
36 Focused on the bull’s-eye 39 State fiction as fact
41 Supervise
45 Slowly makes its way
through
47 Fun functions
48 With 87-Across, “I’ve been around the block a few times’’ [ref. 23-Across]
53 Yoga pose
55 Covering
56 Rock’s C.J. or Dee Dee
57 Currency of Qatar
59 Package in Santa’s sleigh 61 18+, say
62 Danger
65 Sun block
67 Molecular messenger
70 Classic Yogi Berra quote
[ref. 33-Across]
74 Whole bunch
75 Fiber made from cellulose 76 Chemical ingredient in
flubber
77 Did some secretarial work 78 The last thing a Mississippi
cheerleader wants?
79 Land divided at the 38th
parallel
81 Former name for the
N.B.A.’s Thunder, informally 82 Crib-sheet user
85 Team building
87 See 48-Across
91 Consolidated for easier
reading, as a Twitter thread 93 Composer Luigi who
pioneered noise music
95 Like some arts
96 Be an agent for
97 Broadway composer Jule 99 Crop that might be insectresistant, in brief
102 Sleep inducer
104 ____ particle
106 Came next 108 Algonquian people
111 Debut album by Britney
Spears [ref. 82-Across]
115 Beginning
116 French pronoun
117 Word implied in “I haven’t
the foggiest’’
118 Crenshaw or casaba
119 “That makes two of us’’ 120 One with a nose for gnus? 121 A pan might come with just
one
122 Elusive giants
123 Tread + riser
124 Becomes less taut
125 Seemingly forever
126 Instrument for Orpheus DOWN 1 Transport in a Billy
Strayhorn standard
2 Showrunner Rhimes
3 ____ pool
4 Sam with 82 P.G.A. Tour
wins
5 Lay it on thick
6 Pledge
7 Political unit of ancient
Hawaii
8 Highly unconventional
9 Sector for many start-ups 10 Durable leather
11 Give a take
12 Doughnut similar to an
éclair
13 Spice up
14 Canadian observance also
called F te du Travail
15 Not worth arguing about 16 Goldman who crusaded for
birth control access
17 Barbecue order
19 “Never ____ Give You Up’’
(Rick Astley song)
28 Useless
29 Prefix with medicine
34 One whose work goes over
your head
37 Web portal with a Bing
search bar
38 Ambulance pro
40 Monocle-dropping
exclamation
42 Be on the bottom?
43 “____-Tripping’’ (Nikki
Giovanni poem)
44 Sixth of five?
46 Home country of the poet
Adonis
47 Mouth-watering?
48 Park way
49 Was given no other option 50 “There’s no other option’’ 51 Persuaded
52 Starting position, maybe 54 Relish
58 “Goodness me!’’
60 Sojourner Truth or Frances
Harper
62 It’s illegal for employers to prohibit workers from discussing this
63 Called to mind
64 Talk at length
66 “On the Basis of ____’’
(2018 legal drama)
67 Swift
68 Goddaughter, often 69 “It therefore follows that ...
”
71 Sport played on a fronton 72 Lazes around
73 Doc who performs Pap
smears
78 Black Lives Matter cofounder
80 Valuable to collectors, say 81 High-minded sort?
82 Depress, with “out’’
83 Santa ____ winds
84 Comment with a shiver
86 Marks down, maybe
88 Gave officially
89 Deteriorate
90 Guileful
92 Cholesterol-lowering drug 94 ____ and including
96 Share on Tumblr, say
98 “You can learn from anyone
— even your ____’’: Ovid 99 “Yep, you got me’’
100 Story of one’s life
101 Danish city where Hans Christian Andersen was born
103 ____ al Ghul (on-and-off
lover of Batman)
105 Fennel-like flavoring
107 Material for some drums 108 Online forum V.I.P.s
109 Still having a shot at
winning
110 “The Thin Man’’ dog
112 Itches
113 Far from friendly
114 Rest on one’s ____