The Mercury News

The New York Times Crossword

- DIDN’T WE JUST HAVE THIS? By Will Nediger / Edited by Will Shortz

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 ____

 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States