THE NYT CROSSWORD PUZZLE
ALTERNATE ENDINGS
ACROSS
1 Greek letter that’s a symbol for torque 4 Done without foresight
8 Small samples 12 Chocolatier’s unit 15 Holding areas in Capture the Flag 17 Thoughtless mode 19 Declares confidently 22 Novelist/short-story writer ____ Bender 23 ‘‘The Rise of ____’’ (2019 film subtitle) 24 Coat with small droplets
25 Mrs. or Sra. equivalent
26 Prepares to deal, perhaps
28 Western ____ (coll. course)
29 Name repeated in a nursery rhyme
31 Item sometimes made with wiliwili seeds
32 Flaky, syrupy pastry 34 Divisions represented by the answers to starred clues in this puzzle
36 Livestream, e.g. 38 Worry-free 39 French for ‘‘between’’
40 Small fox with unusually large ears 41 University of Cincinnati athlete
44 ____ Command (Atari game of the 1980s)
47 Abbr. in a birth announcement 49 Longtime 50 Invitation in a therapist’s office 51 Minecraft block with a fuse
54 Designer of Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art 55 Analogy words 57 ‘‘Yes, that spot right there .?.?. ’’
60 Added streaks to, say
63 Honey ____! (ringshaped cereal)
65 Young bloke
66 Ruin
67 Last word in ‘‘America the Beautiful’’ 68 Anna of Arendelle’s elder sister
69 Festival with lion dances
70 Mobile ____ 71 Ultimatum word 72 Pitch
73 Part of a gas-mileage rating
74 Start-up loan agcy. 75 Damascene’s country
77 What ‘‘gladiator’’ literally translates to 80 Beer brand with mountains in its logo 82 Jessica ____, astronaut who participated in the first all-female spacewalk
83 Not the same
84 It ‘‘sounds like a clarinet with a cold,’’ per Victor Borge 85 Battery in a Wii Remote
88 Stinging pests 89 Some residents of the eastern Mediterranean
91 Banks
93 Lung or brain segments
94 Like a dirty film 95 Chlorophyte, e.g. 96 Org. for D.C. United and the L.A. Galaxy
97 Impediments to team productivity 98 Get in a knot
101 ‘‘Thou God ____ me’’ (Genesis quote) 103 Fred who co-created ‘‘Portlandia’’ 107 Campus part 108 In a scuffle
110 Hopping herbivore 112 Captain of fiction 113 Address that’s often shown in blue letters
114 With 116-Across, procedures in which drivers take turns joining a single stream, as demonstrated five times in this puzzle 116 See 114-Across 118 Crow’s cry
119 Backside
120 Air Seoul’s parent airline
121 Hubbub
122 Actress Mowry of ‘‘Sister, Sister’’ 123 Green expanse 124 Commander for Joe Biden, e.g.
125 Pass judgment on 126 Tricksy
DOWN
1 *Person with a stopwatch
2 Drink that may be spiced
3 Potential scenario in which a piece of software might be helpful 4 Person who worships Jah
5 Puffins, e.g.
6 Total dump
7 *‘‘Is it even possible?!’’ 8 *It’ll take a second to get it
9 Similar group 10 Elegy, e.g.
11 Boba tea is often served with a wide one 12 Miniature-cheesewheel brand
13 ‘‘____ Maria’’ 14 *Chinese New Year decoration 15 *Meat-and-vegetables dish with Creole and Cajun varieties 16 Target
18 Coat that may take awhile to put on 20 Witherspoon of Hollywood 21 *Electrical wiring nexus
27 Pigmented eye layer 30 Lower-interest deal, for short
33 Blood work, colloquially
34 Start of a detective’s trail
35 Uno + dos + tres 37 Site with gadget reviews 42 *Revolutionary cooking device? 43 Conflict over seceding from the Galactic Republic, in sci-fi 45 Some brandy cocktails
46 *Hair-salon goo 47 *Many a presidential election occurs in one
48 Prospective ebay buyer’s figure
52 ‘‘Better than I thought’’ 53 *Where hip-hop originated
54 State of matter in the sun
55 *Theoretical substance for which a chemistry law is named 56 Fifth in a scale 57 Stadium with the first animated scoreboard
58 *Where newlyweds are typically seated at a wedding reception 59 Severity
61 Latin ‘‘is’’ 62 *Toddler drop-off locales
64 Equilibria
76 Home to the sport of hurling
78 Americans usually spell ‘‘cancelled’’ with this
79 Queens players 81 Enters like slime 86 Grammy-winning Mexican singer Downs 87 *Exercise that strengthens hip flexors 89 *Compilations of laughably bad takes 90 Bit that bonds 92 Mineral collection site
94 Motion to ____ (court request)
98 Are
99 Certain essential worker
100 Taco topping 101 Job increasingly replaced by speech-totext programs
102 G7 member, informally
104 Some offshoots 105 What might have attachment issues? 106 ‘‘You’re kidding!’’ 109 Tablet you might take in the bathroom 111 The Hindu god Ganesha is often depicted with four of them
114 Ray-gun sound 115 Makeshift towel 116 N.Y.C. commuter rail overseer
117 Pedestrians cross them: Abbr.