NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Johan Vass is a restaurant worker in Stockholm, Sweden. Though he has never been to the United States, he has been solving American crosswords for many years. He says his personal best times for New York Times puzzles range from 3:21 on a Monday to 10:36 on a Sunday. Somewhere along the way he started constructing crosswords in English — which is quite a challenge for someone coming from another language and culture. Johan says this one took him two months to make. I’m honestly in awe. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Not express, in a way 6 Second person in the Bible 10 One of the Blues Brothers 14 ‘‘History of the World, ____’’ (Mel Brooks film that doesn’t actually have a sequel)

15 Grp. with Bills and Chargers 18 Bridal adornment at Indian weddings 20 Buckets 21 Goggle

22 Bird that went the way of the dodo (before the dodo) 23 Mr. ____, scheming socialite in ‘‘Emma’’ 24 See 105-Across 25 Popular action film franchise . ..orwhat trying to find the item in this puzzle can be described as 29 ‘‘There’s no use’’ . . . like trying to find the item in this puzzle? 31 ‘‘The ____ Holmes Mysteries,’’ young adult series made into a 2020 film 32 Hosp. procedure 33 Keys 34 Architect Maya 35 Foreign correspondent, maybe

38 1976 greatest hits album with a palindromic title 41 Site of Hercules’ first labor 45 What’s-____name 46 Experimental offshoot of punk 49 Echidna’s prey 50 Service with nearly two billion users 53 ____ reaction 54 Deep cut 55 Liquor store requests 56 Frees (of ) 57 Quiet summons 59 Greases 61 What’s at the center of some court battles? 62 City of Angels 64 Danger for an exterminator 65 Scratch the surface of 66 Certain customizable computer game character 67 Kick starter? 70 America of ‘‘Ugly Betty’’ 72 [Batman punches a bad guy] 73 Onetime name for China 74 They have big mouths 76 Over

77 More than umbrage 78 Two-wheeled carriage 79 ‘‘Anchorman’’ anchorman 80 Simple earrings 81 Duck Hunt console, for short 82 Walking with flair

84 Odd article of clothing to wear with a tank top 85 Reached 87 Man’s name that anagrams to HYENAS 88 Did a Don Corleone impression, maybe 92 Consonantless ‘‘yes’’ 94 Actress Atwell of the ‘‘Avengers’’ movies 96 Product whose sizes have letters 97 Clickable images

99 ‘‘As you can imagine . . . ’’ 103 Item hidden somewhere in this puzzle (where is it?) 105 With 24-Across, Emmy winner for ‘‘Once and Again’’ 106 Writer Horatio 107 Word before an explanation 108 Boxer Ali 111 Bookmarked things 112 Vowelless ‘‘yes’’ 113 Personal datum: Abbr. 114 Long-gone 115 Site that competes with Amazon Handmade 116 Affliction also known as a hordeolum 117 Mean

DOWN

1 Collectible records

2 ____ milk 3 Packs tightly 4 Areas in many malls 5 Eldest of the von Trapp children 6 Mnemosyne’s daughters 7 Benefits 8 En pointe, in ballet

9 Pizza chain since 1943, familiarly 10 Weapon for Samson against the Philistines 11 Whatsoever 12 ‘‘North’’ or ‘‘South’’ land 13 Undoing 15 Faulty 16 Subway fare 17 Impact equally in the opposite direction 19 Actor Elgort of ‘‘The Fault in Our Stars’’ 26 Taints 27 Sheepish response to ‘‘Where did the last cookie go?’’ 28 How checks are written 29 Hellion 30 ‘‘Boyz N the Hood’’ protagonist 36 Run an online scam

37 Feel rotten 39 Bona fide

40 Big brush maker 42 Starting point on a computer 43 Won over 44 See 50-Down 47 Become rigid and inflexible 48 Slides

50 With 44-Down, making futile attempts . . . and an extra hint to this puzzle’s theme 51 Small black-andwhite treat 52 Batman portrayer on ’60s TV 57 Google Photos precursor 58 Workers in forges 59 Murder weapon in ‘‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’’ 60 What ‘‘/’’ may mean

63 Key used to get out, but not in 64 Man’s name that means ‘‘king’’ 68 Palindromic leaders 69 Doctor’s order 71 They may be fixed 74 Highland beauty 75 The titular bad guy in ‘‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’’ 79 Capital of Saudi Arabia 80 Singer with the 2016 platinum album ‘‘This Is Acting’’

82 In good shape 83 ‘‘Know what I’m talkin’ about?’’ 84 Secret rendezvous 86 Like child’s play 89 Block where Sesame Street can be found? 90 Notable period 91 It’s constantly breaking around the world 93 ‘‘The straight path’’ 95 German steel city 97 Like neon 98 Bar rooms? 99 It never occurs above the Arctic Circle during the summer solstice 100 One may be sworn

101 Claw

102 Seat of Florida’s Marion County 104 Eugene O’Neill’s ‘‘Desire Under the ____’’ 105 Go after 109 Word before ride or slide 110 Which card to pick from a magician?