CHEAP THRILLS
Christina Iverson, of Ames, Iowa, is an assistant crossword editor for The New York Times. Sam Donaldson is a law professor at Georgia State University. They met at last year’s American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and started brainstorming theme ideas. This one started as a Thursday puzzle and grew into a Sunday when they had too many ideas to fit into a 15 x 15-square grid. — W.S.
ACROSS
1 Become hysterical,
with ‘‘out’’
4 Elided title 8 Restaurant competitor of Pinkberry and Sweet Frog
12 Catchy tunes,
informally
16 Sigh of lament 17 Where dancers
have a ball? 18 McFlurry mix-in 19 Furniture giant 20 Bad flight forecast 21 Reason
22 Hierarchy level 23 Certain U.S. time
zone
24 Economizing, as represented by the circled squares? 27 ‘‘The bad news is
. . . ’’
29 WhatsApp transmissions, briefly
30 Navy nay
31 Seizes eagerly, as
an opportunity 33 Sean of ‘‘Stranger
Things’’
34 Part of an M.C.’s
intro, often 36 Prohibition target 40 Economizing, as represented twice in 12-Down?
45 ‘‘The Crown’’ role 46 Colorful kind of
shirt
47 Offering from Dr.
Mom, in brief 48 Senior partners? 50 ____ Hill, neighborhood of San Francisco
51 Bussing on a bus,
for short 54 Memorable mission 56 ‘‘You’ve made your
point,’’ slangily 57 Lead-in to an
opinion
60 Zip
62 From not so long
ago
63 Parts of a gig
64 Scrapbooker’s
project
67 Honesty, resilience or a sense of humor, perhaps
69 Shield of ancient
Greece: Var. 73 Manhattan is one:
Abbr.
75 Attempt
77 Work that hasn’t yet entered publication
79 Little squealer 83 Fencer’s score 86 Hebrew version of the English pronoun ‘‘I’’
87 Confidentiality
contract, for short 88 Welcome event 90 ____ drag (hockey
maneuver)
91 Cellist’s need
93 In concert 94 Economizing, as represented in 58-Down? 99 Unwelcome, so to
speak
101 Vote in favor 102 Trading places 103 Like some modern
maps
105 Golfer Palmer, to
fans
106 A/C meas.
109 ‘‘The Planets’’
composer
111 Economizing, as represented by the shaded squares? 115 Bad-sounding
creatures?
116 Ditto, in legal
footnotes
118 Word that means ‘‘ocean’’ in a religious title
119 Large crowd 120 It’s cried on a
slide
121 Check
122 Classical poem 123 Beast with
recurved horns 124 Triumphant shout at a crossword tournament
125 Freshness
126 Like some
morning lawns 127 Smokey spot, for
short
DOWN
1 Sharpens
2 ‘‘How ____ Your
Mother’’
3 Work out
4 Some garlic prep 5 Regarding
6 Maker of the Nitro 5
gaming laptop
7 ‘‘The year’s at the spring/
And day’s at the ____’’: Robert Browning
8 Yankees manager
before Girardi 9 Zealous activist 10 C-note
11 Tranquil discipline 12 Former name of a Kansas arena that commemorated a 1976 U.S. anniversary 13 It helps make a
stew a goo 14 Poached fruit 15 Garnish for una
margarita
16 Source of many a name on a campus building, informally 17 Starts eating
20 Poli ____
25 Reply to the Little
Red Hen
26 Name hidden in
‘‘before long’’
28 It makes a red
velvet cake red 32 Cancún cash 33 Hamburger’s beef? 34 Word with pepper
or tower
35 Like some ancient
pyramids 37 Acceleration, e.g. 38 Quelques-____
(some, in French) 39 Quantity multiplied by acceleration in Newton’s second law 40 Pioneer in global
aviation
41 Words of defeat 42 ‘‘Don’t sweat it,’’
informally
43 Educ. supporter 44 Once-popular devices discontinued in 2022
49 Cousin of a
weasel
52 ‘‘What’s the ____?’’ (‘‘’Sup with that?’’)
53 Suffer
55 Farmyard cry 58 Not in a
relationship
59 ‘‘The Last O.G.’’
network
61 Vile Nile reptile 65 Out-and-out 66 Foreign leader whom Nixon met in 1972
68 That’s history! 70 Kind of knife of
infomercial fame 71 Like Urdu or Hindi 72 Was very ripe 74 Round figures 76 Montana city SW
of Helena
78 The main
antagonist? 79 [Ugh, this is
horrible!]
80 ____ facto
81 Like some
highlighter colors 82 Relish
84 Plant whose name derives from Quechua 85 Devious snicker 89 Barely gets the
words out
92 Pros with
deliveries, in brief 95 Painter Jan van
____
96 ‘‘Let’s do this!’’ 97 Civil rights icon ____ Helen Burroughs 98 Power structure? 100 Capers
104 Shakespeare’s ‘‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’’ has five of them
105 Beaming, as
with joy
106 Liberal arts
college in Kentucky 107 Locally focused
lecture franchise 108 Pac-12 player 109 Santa’s favorite
Hostess dessert? 110 Wilson of film 112 Carded at a bar,
informally
113 Common spot
for a sunburn 114 Gaggles
115 Chain email
abbr.
117 Grammy winner
____ Lipa