NUMBER THEORY
Sam Ezersky, 24, is the associate puzzles editor at The Times. A “puzzlehead” since childhood, he sold his first crossword to the paper, a Saturday, when he was 17. His job at The Times includes testing/fact-checking the daily Mini crossword and curating the daily digital Spelling Bee. This puzzle started when he noticed a curious property of 26-Across. — W.S.
ACROSS
1 “Consarn it!”
5 Kind of case in
grammar
11 Shed some pounds 17 Edited, in a way
19 Sister channel of HBO 20 What the answer at 26-Across is written in
21 Low-level, as a class 22 Question that might be asked when hurrying into a meeting
23 Duty for a property owner
24 Relative of marmalade 26 FIFTEEN
28 Oval Office V.I.P. 29 Transition point 30 Period preceding a school break
34 What the answer at 45-Across is written in
36 “Yes, captain”
40 Gaping opening 41 Willem of “John Wick” 42 Toward the stern 43 Howe’er
44 Chicago mayor
Lightfoot
45 ELEVEN 46 Whom Harry Potter frees from serving Draco Malfoy’s family
50 Spicy, crunchy snack
tidbit
53 “Ars Amatoria” writer 54 Area the Chinese call
Xizang
55 “Make sense?”
56 Hell
58 Square up with
59 & 60 Take control after a coup 61 SIXTEEN
62 “Just ____ boy, born and raised in South Detroit” (lyric from “Don’t Stop Believin’ ”)
63 Specks
64 Sleep: Prefix
65 Not quite right
66 Full of tension 67 “Hallelujah, praise the
Lord!”
71 Because
75 TWO
76 Cozy spots to stop 77 Miss in the future, maybe
78 Buzz source
79 Cocktail specification 81 Fictional creature made from slime 82 Restaurant handouts
for calorie counters 84 What the answer at 61-Across is written in
86 Final authority 88 Rainbows, e.g. 89 Flour filter
90 & 92 Alternative title for this puzzle 98 On-the-go sort
10 1It’s SW of Erie, Pa. 103 See 106-Across 104 What the answer at 75-Across is written in
105 Life lessons?
106 With 103-Across, character in Episodes I through IX of “Star Wars” 107 Millennial, informally
108 Things passed between the legs? 109 “Butt out!”
DOWN
1 Title host of radio’s first
major quiz show 2 Contact-lens-care
brand
3 Broadway opening 4 Declare for the draft,
say
5 Items that, ironically,
contain nickel 6 “Slumdog Millionaire”
co-star ____ Kapoor 7 Be a snitch 8 Wishy-washy R.S.V.P. 9 Plant holder?
10 Funeral ceremony 11 Go across
12 Soldier on horseback 13 Word before card or
fund
14 Sloan School of
Management sch. 15 Team ____
16 Major Southwest hub,
for short
18 In store
19 Like some New Orleans cooking 20 Sloppy
25 Letter in the classical
spelling of “Athena” 27 “Here’s something
that’ll help”
29 Some battery ends 31 Amorphous creatures 32 Dreaded musician of
the 1960s-’70s
33 Brisk
34 Luxurious affair 35 Symbols of failure 36 1974 Eurovision winner that went on to international stardom
37 “Wahoo!”
38 Immature stage of a salamander
39 Letters of credit? 41 Drops on the ground? 42 “Not on ____!”
44 Where Wagner was born and Bach died 46 Scatterbrained
47 Man’s name that sounds like two consecutive letters of the alphabet 48 At any time 49 Oktoberfest vessels 51 Some unfair hiring managers
52 “Go ahead,” in
Shakespeare 56 Openly controversial
opinions
57 Knock out
58 Invoice directive 59 Like most medicaljournal articles 60 High hairstyle
61 Club ____
62 Egypt’s “king of the
gods”
63 Excellent conductors 64 N.Y.C. neighborhood near Nolita 65 “Ciao”
66 Put in jeopardy 67 Muscle cars of the
’60s
68 Lyrical, as poetry 69 Facetious response to
a verbal jab
70 “E.T.” actress Wallace 72 “Ugh, stop talking
already!”
73 Sack
74 Sun ____, “The Art of
War” philosopher 79 Where most of America’s gold is mined
80 Like the presidency of John Adams
82 Joint
83 Longtime Eagles QB Donovan
84 Suspect
85 Bible study: Abbr. 87 With a wink
89 Kisses, in Cambridge 91 Brown
92 Bring (out) for
display 93 Candy wrapped in a
tube
94 “I’ll come to you ____”: Macbeth 95 Eensy-weensy
96 New pedometer reading
97 Beginner, in modern
lingo
98 Mammoth
99 Western tribe
100 ____ Salvador 102 What will happily sell its Soul?