Albany Times Union (Sunday)

SCI-FI SHOWDOWN

- BY STEPHEN MCCARTHY / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ Online subscripti­ons: Today’s puzzle and more than 4,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).

Stephen McCarthy, originally from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, is a Ph.D. student in Stockholm studying transporta­tion modeling. This is his third Sunday Times crossword and his fourth Times puzzle overall. There is a little trick to this one, and your solution may not match everyone else’s. The middle part of the grid, Stephen says, was the most challengin­g to construct. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Goal for many a T.A.

4 There’s a Winter one in St. Petersburg and a Summer one in Beijing

10 Confront

16 QVC alternativ­e

19 Grande preceder

20 Many a video-game

player has one

21 Hebrew name of God

22 Major N.Y.S.E. events

24 Vainglory

25 Good side in

70-Across

27 Reid of ‘‘Sharknado’’

28 Grade-school basics

30 Scoundrel

31 Points all around?

32 Celsius of the Celsius

scale

33 Director Nicolas

35 Good cheer

37 People to pick from

38 Major role in

70-Across

41 Smartphone

forerunner­s, in brief

42 ‘‘____ kingdom come

. . . ’’

43 Big stretch

44 Bluish-gray shade

46 Mobile ____

48 Time might be shown

on the side of one

50 Score of 8, in golf

slang 52 Events where one person’s trash may be another person’s treasure

56 Pull back (in)

59 Capital-B Belief

61 Family name on TV’s

‘‘Succession’’

62 Vote in favor

63 Prefix with futurism

64 Outback offering

65 Locale of the 2002

and 2022 World Cups

67 Long-term damage

68 Some copywritin­g

awards

69 The volcano Emi Koussi is its highest point

70 The better of two major sci-fi film franchises?

72 Climb (up)

73 Gives a bad hand?

74 ‘‘But ____ counting?’’

75 Gentle hill

76 Grams, by another

name

77 Voice heard by 500

million people

78 ____ Majesty

79 Not for moi?

80 Pump choice

82 Spot for a patch,

perhaps

83 Begins to like

86 Regular at Citi Field

89 Small spot for a

castaway

91 Ian McKellen, e.g.

92 Skin-care brand with an accent over its last letter

94 Mens ____ 95 Sends a Telegram, in

brief ?

97 Not looking good

99 Major role in

70-Across

102 Stop at the liquor

store?

103 Comforting phrase

106 Newton of the Black

Panther Party

107 ‘‘____ Darko’’ (2001

cult film)

109 Distend

110 Who wrote ‘‘April is

the cruellest month’’

113 Scratch-and-sniff

page, e.g.

114 Dramatic accusation

115 Good side in

70-Across

118 Misfortune

119 Cousin of a skimmer

120 ____ One

121 ‘‘Do you mind?’’

122 Brown of HBO Max’s

‘‘Gossip Girl’’ reboot

123 WaPo competitor

124 ‘‘There’s not much

hope’’

125 Bumper attachment­s

126 Sazerac cocktail

ingredient

DOWN

1 Records in advance

2 Time for a shootout

3 Memorable quote from

70-Across

4 Apple device

5 Affirms

6 Some college classes

7 ‘‘Thanks, but I already

____’’ 8 Diet Coke doesn’t have

a single one: Abbr.

9 Wipes out

10 ‘‘The Clan of the Cave

Bear’’ heroine 11 What’s raised in a

ruckus

12 Waste of an election? 13 Confesses

14 Bad thing to be stuck

in

15 On-line connection? 16 Arrive at, as a

solution 17 Memorable quote

from 70-Across 18 ‘‘Take your time’’ 23 Audacious

26 A target for Target,

say

29 It might be a shocker 31 ‘‘The Simpsons’’

character 33 Social media star

Addison 34 Partner of one 36 French skin-care and

cosmetics giant

38 ____ teeth (proverbial

rarity)

39 Noble title

40 Follower of black or

special

44 Slanders

45 Director Waititi

47 Ones involved in a

transactio­n

49 Nutty confection­s

51 So-called Breakfast of

Champions

53 They might end on a

high note

54 Sound of a jaguar

55 Let out, in a way 57 Some contents of golf

bags

58 Needing to butt out

60 Potato or pea

preparer

64 Albert who developed

a polio vaccine

66 Leaves in a huff, with

‘‘off’’

67 Body part that

precedes ‘‘band’’

68 Innocent

69 One of the Prairie

provinces: Abbr. 71 ‘‘It’s a ____!’’

72 Show of scorn

74 Question of confusion

or disgust

79 Sound of a Jaguar

81 Reassuring words

83 ‘‘____ Hiring’’

(business sign)

84 Kind of card

85 The ‘‘quail’’ in Beethoven’s ‘‘Pastoral’’ Symphony

87 By plane, say 88 Obvious untruth

90 Q preceder?

93 Aloof

95 ‘‘Seems so’’

96 Like the inside of a

lava cake

98 Devices in atomic

clocks

100 Converse, e.g.

101 Rank

102 Common waitingroo­m viewing

104 Jeer 105 Shock treatment, for

short

107 Slobber

108 Noises that come

from pens

111 ‘‘Girls’’ creator

Dunham

112 Carded, informally

113 Tabbouleh go-with 115 ‘‘Enough already!’’

116 Suffix in organic

chemistry

117 Quirk

 ?? ??

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