LETTER DICTATION
Sam Trabucco, 27, is a cryptocurrency trader who divides his time between San Francisco and Hong Kong. He got into crosswords as a child by playing competitive Scrabble. He says, “My first attempt at making one was fueled by the (very wrong) assumption that making a crossword would be essentially the same as playing Scrabble.” This is Sam’s 24th puzzle for The Times since his debut in 2015. — W.S.
ACROSS
1 Magical healer 7 Maintain
11 Overseas landmark located in Elizabeth Tower
17 “Fa-a-ancy!”
18 Classic Mell Lazarus
comic strip
19 Soaring performer 20 GAZACHO
22 Young antagonist in
Super Mario games 23 Counterpart of the Roman Aurora 24 Jargon
25 John, to Lennon 26 Mythical archer
27 Suffix with Jumbo 29 SMEILL
34 Poet who wrote “For God’s sake hold your tongue, and let me love”
35 Chocolaty Post cereal 36 Org. for which Pelé
once played 37 Something many an
A-list celebrity has 38 Area with a half-dome 42 Noted Chineseamerican fashion designer
44 Mystical ball 47 ENTURIES 51 Payment to a freelancer for unpublished work 53 ____ fixe
54 Informal “Ugh!”
55 Little thing to pick 56 Some p.m. times 57 China flaw
59 Familiar inits. in math 60 Original airer of “The
Office”
61 Lapis lazuli shade 62 TECHNIQUEO 66 DEFINITEL
68 Romeo and Juliet, e.g. 69 Adam’s ____ 70 Air-traffic watchdog,
for short
71 Literary protagonist named after a king of Israel
72 Violinist Leopold 73 “That’s show ____!” 74 Film character introduced in 1977 who died in a 2015 sequel
76 ____ Major
80 French compliment 82 INSTBANT
84 Ability that’s hard to
explain
85 Hand-sewn toy
87 Derive (from)
88 Woman in
Progressive ads 89 Book reviewers, for
short
91 1910s flying star 94 James Garfield’s middle name 96 ENVIRONMENAL 101 Yuletide
102 Part of binoculars 103 Fireside-chat prez 104 “The United States is not, and never will be, at war with ____”: Obama 106 Home of the Sun Devils, familiarly 107 Subj. of Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution 110 RUMYSELF 114 Digitally IDS by location
115 Rock standard?
116 Big name in skin care
117 Features of some dresses and shoes 118 Subtracting
119 Stifled
DOWN
1 Help line?
2 “With any luck!” 3 Uncompromising 4 House of Burgundy? 5 Keyboard key 6 Cabernet county
7 Land between Albania
and Serbia 8 Histrionic sort
9 Bird Down Under
10 ____ smear
11 Play’s final act? 12 Computer addresses,
for short
13 Fraternity and
sorority members 14 Carnival or circus, so
to speak
15 Delight in
16 Language from which
“reindeer” comes 18 Christmas-gift bearers 19 Annoyance for Santa 21 Rowing machine, in
fitness lingo
22 ____ nova
25 Sierra ____ 28 Peachy-keen
30 Like some hair and embarrassed friends 31 Sweetums
32 First Nations people 33 Get perfect
34 ____ counter
39 Tiny amount 40 Something that’s not easy to blow
41 ____ sauce (sushi bar
condiment)
43 Alpine lodging 45 Happening again? 46 Burdened
48 Millennials
49 Veil over a Muslim woman’s face 50 ____-doke
52 No go-getter
55 Org. to which Jordan
once belonged
58 “____ complicated” 60 Grendel, e.g. 61 “I knew it was you!” 62 Take to the soapbox 63 Store-sign info
64 Curse remover
65 Diana Ross musical, with “The”
66 “Life of Pi” author Martel
67 Reply of faux
innocence
70 Have no success with 73 Speak with swagger 74 Spiral
75 Words of wonder 77 Like some web pages
and memories
78 Will Ferrell and Tina Fey
79 Chemist’s study 81 Muffin choice
82 Leafy shelter
83 U.S. ally in the Gulf War
86 Nickname of the Miami Heat’s alltime leader in points, games, assists and steals 90 Old Spanish bread 92 “Hear ye! Hear ye!” announcers 93 Obstacle-free courses 95 Waterside lodging with a portmanteau name
96 Drinking sounds
97 Put back to Level
1, say
98 Young salamanders 99 Congeal 100 Cross shape
105 *big kiss*
108 Quick time out
109 Chief legal officers: Abbr.
110 Target of an athlete’s M.R.I. 111 Charlotte of “The Facts of Life”
112 “____ changed”
113 Stretch of history