NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Celeste Watts, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is a retired elementary school teacher. After years of solving puzzles in her spare time, she decided to try making one herself. Her first 14 attempts for The Times were rejected, but she persevered. For this one, she collaborated with Jeff Chen, a writer and professional crossword constructor in Seattle, whom she calls “a gifted, patient mentor.” The theme idea is Celeste’s. Jeff helped her execute it. Finally, success! “One off my bucket list!” — W.S.

ACROSS

1 After the fact, as a justification 8 Co-star of ‘‘The Golden Girls’’ 17 Knock over, so to speak 20 Quaker fare 21 Go poof 22 Drop the ball 23 ILLUS__RA__ ORS

25 What a third wheel might see, in brief 26 Setting for most of ‘‘Life of Pi’’ 27 Tests the weight of 28 One of the Greats? 30 Oscars of the sporting world 33 Good sign for an angel 34 Intl. org. headquartered in Geneva 37 Some bad sentences 39 ACC__L__RATOR 44 Grapple, in dialect 47 Exercise too much, say

48 A as in Arles 49 LUXUR__ __ ACHT 54 ‘‘____ Agnus Dei’’ (Mass phrase) 55 Peak in Turkey mentioned in both the ‘‘Iliad’’ and the ‘‘Aeneid’’ 56 Runner Sebastian who once held the world record for the mile

57 What you might get from a trailer 59 Sport played at British boarding schools

60 Post production? 64 ____ mater, membrane surrounding the brain 65 Popular 90-min. show 66 ENDANGER__ EN__ 70 Man’s name that coincidentally is Latin for ‘‘honey’’ 73 Word with small or fish 74 Weak 75 What may result in a handshake 76 Help to one’s destination 82 The Blue Jays, on scoreboards 83 Comeback to a challenge of authority 84 Bitter 85 CONFIG__ __ATION 90 Actor Somerhalder 91 Most in the style of comedian Steven Wright 92 Unfocused 93 POI__T OF __IEW

100 Go all out 101 French fashion inits. 102 ‘‘Kinda sorta’’ 103 Pan-cook, in a way

107 Supermodel Bündchen 109 Pepé ____ (cartoon skunk) 111 Drop off 112 Admit (to) 113 __OTIC__ 120 Hit the weed? 121 Have guests over 122 Guest, e.g. 123 Place full of guests 124 Start of a seasonal request 125 Some kitchen utensils

DOWN

1 Entourage

2 Hall’s partner in pop

3 Part of a thong 4 ‘‘OK, you can stop the story right there’’ 5 Old-fashioned ‘‘cool’’

6 One might speak under it 7 Co-star of Kline in ‘‘A Fish Called Wanda’’ 8 Start of a compilation heading 9 Times for some vigils 10 Letters on many towers 11 Busy mo. for C.P.A.s

12 Go bad 13 Three-sport event, for short 14 A chest often has a large one 15 States

16 Recharge 17 Photocopy, e.g. 18 It’s the law! 19 Item said to have been burned in protest, once 24 Musical prefix with beat 29 Memphis-toNashville dir. 31 Emphatic assent 32 Lively dance genre 34 Hone 35 Contract details 36 Beehive State city 38 Aerodynamic 40 Bishop’s jurisdiction 41 Antagonist 42 Hotel-room staples 43 Top-notch 44 Booties 45 Playwright Chekhov 46 Garbage 50 Drink similar to a slushie 51 About 460 inches of rain per year, on Kauai’s Mt. Waialeale 52 HBO satire starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus 53 ____ bar 54 Org. that takes the lead on lead? 58 Baby fox 60 How a flirt may act 61 Football stat: Abbr.

62 NaOH 63 Radio broadcaster: Abbr. 66 Legislation that was part of F.D.R.’s New Deal 67 Ethnic group of Rwanda and Burundi 68 Two, for four 69 Coin with 12 stars 70 ‘‘Zoom-Zoom’’ sloganeer 71 Hollywood composer Bernstein with 14 Oscar nominations

72 Guarded 73 Like pets and parking meters 75 ____ Slam (tennis feat) 76 Julius Caesar’s first name 77 Words of hopelessness 78 Mature naturally, in a way 79 ____ Writers’ Workshop 80 Electronic Hasbro toy 81 One side of the coin

83 Arias, typically 86 Scottish folk dance

87 Alternative explanation for a lucky guess, in brief

88 Ear: Prefix 89 Letters on some badges 94 ‘‘Stillmatic’’ rapper 95 Seen

96 Kind of skate 97 Brown shade 98 Kids’ observation game

99 Hit musical with an ‘‘Emerald City Sequence’’ 104 Yoke

105 HP product

106 Narrowly beats (out) 108 Singer James 109 Drink for un bébé

110 A full moon will do this

112 Life force, in China

114 ____ Majesty 115 Hosp. areas 116 The Jazz, on scoreboards 117 Brown shade 118 Things for happy campers? 119 Picky person’s pick?