STAR SEARCH
Chandi Deitmer, of Somerville, Mass., is a social worker in the fields of psychiatry and geriatrics. She got hooked on crosswords in college via the AVCX puzzle in The Onion (which was only in print in those days). She started constructing a year or two ago, mainly for ‘‘indie’’ venues. This is her Times debut. The puzzle has a multilayered theme, whose subject is indicated by the designs in the grid. — W.S.
ACROSS
1 Symbol of royalty in ancient Egypt
4 Wouldn’t stand for it?
7 They have springs in the middle
12 ____ Perez, former Democratic National Committee chairman
15 Nutritional fig.
18 Apple tablet option
20 Popular analgesic
21 Belgian city that hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics
23 One of the rooms in Clue
24 N.B.A. superstar Durant
25 Voting ‘‘aye’’
26 Gilbert and ____ Islands (former colonial names of Kiribati and Tuvalu)
27 Give way
28 Levy of ‘‘Schitt’s Creek’’
29 When the Lascaux caves were painted
32 Furthermore
33 Much of Goya’s output
35 Japanese beer brand
36 San Francisco’s ____ Valley
37 In which ‘‘Stella’’ means ‘‘star’’
38 Seaweed used to wrap sushi
41 Descriptor of almost a million and a half Californians
44 Porridge, essentially
48 Real surname for the authors Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell
51 With a yawn, say
52 Less certain
54 Onetime material for tennis-racket strings
55 ‘‘That much is clear’’
56 Symbol of Mexico
57 Country with roughly 6,000 islands
59 Where a pop-up leads
61 Alpha and Beta Ursae ____ (pointers to 68-Across)
64 Noodle soup
68 Guiding light
72 Gentille figure of a French folk song
74 Lord’s title
75 Originally from
76 Place to take a suit
77 Executive producer of HBO’s ‘‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’’
80 Risk
81 ‘‘____ Lang Syne’’
82 Pesky insect
84 Something to notice in passing?
87 It’s between micro and pico
88 Horace’s ‘‘Hymn to Mercury,’’ for one
89 New York political family
91 Fifth-century conqueror defeated in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains
93 Rap’s Lil ____ X
94 Reliable supporters
95 Glazer of ‘‘Broad City’’
97 Online source for film facts, in brief
99 Repugnance
102 Disguised
105 Author ____ Carol Oates
109 Wine that may be made spumante or frizzante
111 Little
112 Bested
114 Gritty, in a sense
115 Ones committing a party foul . . . or the images depicted in this puzzle’s grid?
118 Camping-gear brand
119 Letters before an alias
120 Surprising wins
121 Jeu d’____ (witticism)
122 Little one
123 Female mallard 124 Grommet
125 Black-eyed ____ (flowers)
126 Kind of protein in tempeh
DOWN
1 They get the wheels turning
2 Like proverbial milk
3 Poet Neruda
4 Company that makes recoverable and reusable rocket boosters
5 Overdue amount
6 Content of a Kinder Egg
7 Like many Chardonnays
8 Last czarina of Russia
9 Celestial figure depicted in this puzzle’s grid, in Roman folklore
10 Unforgivable acts, say
11 iPhone button with an up arrow on it
12 Duty
13 About to enter the stage, say
14 Subject of Hokusai’s ‘‘Thirty-Six Views’’
15 Delight (in)
16 Go on and on
17 Avant’s opposite
19 Celestial figure depicted in this puzzle’s grid, in African American folklore
22 Celestial figure depicted in this puzzle’s grid, in Babylonian folklore
30 Joe and co., e.g.
31 Sharing maternal lines
33 Excoriated
34 Akira Kurosawa film
38 Peacock streaming inits.
39 Italian time unit
40 Utter nonsense
42 Like five-star hotels vis-à-vis three-star ones
43 Gather
45 Rose of rock 46 Nickname on a ranch
47 Spanish title: Abbr.
49 Tower topper
50 Digital writing
52 Buffoon
53 Brawler’s memento
58 Is at the Forum?
60 Steamy place
61 ____ Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China
62 For all to hear
63 Unit in thermodynamics
65 Chump
66 Unaccounted for, briefly
67 Fumble
69 Went into syndication, e.g.
70 Singer Aguilera’s alter ego
71 Star performances, maybe
73 This is a test
75 ‘‘Gee, that’s swell!’’
78 Like Vulcans, typically
79 Central Asia’s ____ Mountains
82 ‘‘Gloomy’’ guy
83 ‘‘That’s just unacceptable’’
85 1969-74, politically
86 Tree that lends its name to a programming language
89 Matured, in a way
90 Like the three-toed sloth, among all animals
91 New wings
92 Tweaks
94 Clear, as crystal
96 Like Parmesan, but not mozzarella
98 Bouncy jazz genre
99 Noted book-club leader
100 Male mallard
101 Certain caucus voter
103 1938 prize for Pearl S. Buck
104 Big name in trading cards
106 W.W. I Belgian battle locale
107 Green with the 2010 hit ‘‘Forget You’’
108 Enlighten
110 Roger’s cousin?
113 Ireland, poetically
116 Smartphone network std.
117 Home to the Nittany Lions, for short