The New York Times crossword puzzle
Across
1 Boatloads or truckloads
10 Question suggesting “What odd behavior!”
12 Gains ground
14 Worker’s endof-year wish 15 Pitiful
16 Figure whose name derives from the Hebrew for “adversary”
18 Areas to practice driving skills
20 Middle of Middlesex
21 Taproom offering, in brief
22 Output of the world’s largest manufacturer of musical instruments
26 Canadian N.H.L. team, on scoreboards
27 1977 bestselling novel set in a hospital
29 Broke
30 Artist of “La Maja Desnuda” and “La Maja Vestida”
31 Five-time N.B.A. All-Star Thompson
32 Words that
guide
33 Uber ___ 34 Join so as to
work together 35 Third mostspoken language in the world
36 Slips
37 “___ does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from ___”: Jeanne Moreau
38 Stockpiles
40 Get even with
41 Famous bridge site
43 Not allowing for variation
45 Payment option
46 What a nod might indicate
49 Investor’s considerations
50 What old memories often cause
53 Made ’em look
54 Preservers of crop biodiversity
Down
1 [So what?]
2 Kiddie ride?
3 Utterance with one’s hand on a Bible, maybe
4 Comics sound effects
5 City east of Tempe
6 Abbr. below the name of some businesses 7 Highest degree attainable?
8 Defenses are prepared for them
9 Pioneer in the field of exobiology
10 “You sure
about that?”
11 Drawers on
chests, maybe
12 “Stop complaining. I didn’t do anything wrong”
13 Bouncing a penny into a cup, fancily shuffling cards, etc.
14 Indianapolis 500 venue, informally, with “the”
17 Balance sheet quantity
19 Jazz sobriquet
20 Ones helping players get a round?
23 Song title in both “The Sound of Music” and “West Side Story”
24 Certain verbal agreements
25 Regards
28 Certain verbal agreement
30 “How about that!”
38 What’s going on?
39 Barely run
42 Cartoon character often seen sucking his thumb
44 They contain fruit
46 Gave rise to
47 Entertainment reference that began as a Usenet group
48 ___ Amendment (2010s extension of the Kyoto Protocol)
51 Tip jar item
52 All House speakers until 2007