UNIVERSAL CROSSWORD

Universal Freestyle 115 by Marshal Herrmann, edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS

1 Mental breakthrough 10 Car registration

fig.

13 Certain parent and

business owner

15 Cold stuff at a bar 16 Chocolatey cafe

offerings

18 Animal on Ben & Jerry’s

packaging

19 Approves

20 Twitches

21 “Available” or “busy,”

e.g.

23 “___ ___ a word” (grammar pedant’s ironic statement) 24 “Kindly help me ...” 25 “Mind blown!” 26 Retired supersonic

passenger jet

27 Already watched

28 Rice field

29 Vote of approval 30 Chicken ___ (trattoria dish, informally) 31 New Mexico’s White ___ National Park 32 Anti-aircraft fire 33 Old-fashioned whiskey

34 Wander off 35 Served without 15-Across 36 Thoroughly

38 Pozole, e.g.

39 They preceded Gen

Alpha

40 Show flexibility 41 Hammed it up 42 Exploding star

43 Nicki Minaj’s music

genre

46 Fluffy dog, for short 47 Bygone Mediterranean

superpower

50 Mine material

51 Many a mentalist,

purportedly 52 Kennedy known as “The Lion of the Senate”

53 Run out of energy

DOWN

1 Arsenal supply 2 What the letter J

resembles

3 Some theaters 4 Dashboard fig. 5 Toastmasters’ skill 6 Actress Kanakaredes 7 Put into law

8 Clears after taxes 9 Famed Egyptian

king

10 Auto racer’s

celebration

11 “Food sounds fine” 12 What breaks before it

should?

14 Forwards, perhaps 17 Her mom has got it going on, in a song

22 Hullabaloo 23 Throat-clearing

sound

24 Mr. ___ (aptly named “Clue” victim)

25 “All hope is lost” 26 Artificial waterway 27 “I’m sold!”

28 Tour de France’s

terminus

30 Winner’s winnings 31 Influencer’s aspiration,

often

32 “Family ___”

(game show)

34 Take the wheel 35 Z-listers

37 CPR pro

38 Intense

40 Alternatives to

stocks

42 More micro than

micro43 ___ or die (really loyal

friend)

44 Word before “rug ” or

“code”

45 Long-lasting hair

wave

48 Army’s domain?

49 Bit of butter