NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE
Gustie Owens, of New York City, is a research assistant at MDRC, a nonprofit education and social policy research organization. She has been solving crosswords since middle school. Once, in history class, her teacher announced to her from across the room, ‘‘12-Across is ALLIGATOR.’’ She realized that the puzzle she was doing was reflected in her glasses. Last spring, while a senior at Barnard, she was a member of The Times’s first Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship program. This is her first puzzle for the paper. — W.S.
ACROSS
1 Concerning
sights at beaches
5 Badly
8 Catherine O’Hara’s role on ‘‘Schitt’s Creek’’
13 Get in the loop?
18 Smart ____
19 Regard
21 Regarding
22 ‘‘Gotcha,’’ more
informally
23 A lover of gossip,
the Netflix user . . .
26 Savage
27 Actor Channing
28 Defense of a
history paper?
29 Andy who voiced Gollum in ‘‘The Lord of the Rings’’
30 Goal of some criminal justice advocacy groups
32 Honey
33 Flower cultivated
by the Aztecs
35 Like a dream
scenario
37 ‘‘Bodak Yellow’’
rapper ____ B
39 Farm share inits.
41 The smoothiebar worker . . .
49 Food thickener
50 Ending with
book or boor
51 Home of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi
52 Hang loose
53 Proportion
55 Cretan-born painter who was a leader of the Spanish Renaissance
58 Anti-anxiety drug with a palindromic name
59 The Boston Harbor worker . . .
63 Denim jacket adornment
65 Farm female
66 Assembly kit
piece
67 ‘‘Woot woot!’’
68 Print maker
71 Clock-changing time, for daylight saving time
72 The cooking-show
contestant . . .
76 ‘‘____ bleu!’’
79 Draws out
81 Currency
exchange option
82 ____ Questionnaire, character assessment that might ask ‘‘What is your idea of perfect happiness?’’
84 Plane prefix
85 Big name in
wings
88 Words after
break or shake
89 The athlete in the
locker room . . .
94 ‘‘____ is never finished, only abandoned’’: Leonardo da Vinci
95 Puts in order
96 New York City’s mayor after de Blasio
97 Auction actions
99 Bag
101 Useless
105 Small lump
107 Wash with a spray
111 Sneeze guard?
113 ____ acid
114 And the up-andcoming trial judge . . .
116 Red animal in the
2022 Pixar film ‘‘Turning Red’’
117 Home of the rides Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
118 Big name in
party cups
119 ‘‘Peter Pan’’ pirate
120 Teenage torment
121 Toots
122 ‘‘That’s a big ____’’
123 Baking-soda
unit: Abbr.
DOWN
1 What many do during Ramadan and Yom Kippur
2 Representative
Omar
3 ‘‘Suh-weet!’’
4 Second- or
third-stringer
5 Things that may be checked at the door, for short
6 Handouts at
some protests
7 Former ‘‘Tonight
Show’’ host
8 Econ subfield
9 It’s used to tune
an orchestra
10 Money promises
11 Gets fully
depleted
12 Football box
score abbr.
13 Print issue?
14 Best-selling Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie novel whose protagonist leaves Nigeria for a U.S. university
15 ‘‘Hang loose’’
hand gesture
16 Avid assent in Acapulco
17 Goes (for) 20 High-end countertop choice
24 Communicate with, in a way
25 Silicon Valley exec
29 Drew away
31 Savory rice cake of southern India
34 Chime in
36 ‘‘That feels good!’’
37 One-named collaborator with Missy Elliott on ‘‘1, 2 Step’’ and ‘‘Lose Control’’
38 Teenage torment
40 Penne ____ vodka
41 Tough
42 Clearly stunned
43 Audited a class,
perhaps
44 Edible piece from
a pomegranate
45 Suddenly say ‘‘I
don’t’’ to, say
46 Push
47 Auditing
guideline
48 Dr. Ruth’s field
54 Where Wells Fargo got its start
55 Delicacy with
kabayaki sauce
56 47-Down experts,
for short
57 Home of Wheeler Army Airfield
60 Phillipa of Broadway’s ‘‘Hamilton’’
61 What comes before the night before Christmas?
62 Half: Prefix
64 Dreidel, e.g.
67 Times of one’s
life: Abbr.
68 Medicare section that covers prescription drugs
69 Francophile’s
love
70 Like some old-money Americans
71 Some sources of
old money
72 Loses layers
73 Grammy-nominated Amos
74 ‘‘____ out?’’ (question to a pet)
75 Bankrupt, say
76 Destination for a ‘‘Treat yourself ’’ day
77 Opera highlight
78 Wearing down
80 Part of PRNDL
83 How March may
be written
85 Syd tha ____, onetime hip-hop moniker
86 Some fall
weather attire
87 ____ pants
90 Musical skill
91 Fit
92 They must be avoided at all times
93 Welcome, with
‘‘in’’
98 Ice cream treat
99 Fits, as
matryoshka dolls
100 Big inits. in
home security
102 Nightmarish
address, for short
103 Slangy thing that may be ‘‘dropped’’ in a serious relationship
104 Sweat spots
105 Spot for Golden
State estates
106 U.N. member classified as a sultanate
108 In times past
109 Subway map dot
110 ‘‘No way!’’
112 Mourn, maybe
114 It’s designed to
catch bugs
115 Doin’ just fine