IT’S GOING DOWN

Matt Linzer, of San Francisco, is a former professional ballet and contemporary dancer who now works in graphic design and art. Rafael Musa, also of San Francisco, is a software engineer at Airbnb. This is Matt’s second puzzle for The Times, Rafa’s ninth. After Matt solved Rafa’s Pride-themed puzzle in the paper last June, he reached out for help in developing this one’s theme. — W. S.

ACROSS

1 ‘‘That guy?’’

4 Not in gear

8 Soccer kickoff ?

11 Cheese used in

spanakopita

15 Antidiscrimination measure of 1990, in brief

16 Signified

18 ‘‘Hang loose’’ hand

sign

21 Sonicare competitor

23 Before midnight:

Sloth, e.g.

25 Before midnight: One

with major influence

27 Like about 60 percent of the world’s population

28 Sloth, e.g.

29 When to see the

86-Down

30 Blanche’s sister in ‘‘A Streetcar Named Desire’’

32 Reality star Theresa of ‘‘Long Island Medium’’

34 Blond or brown quaff

35 ____ Lingus

36 After midnight: Ointments infused with cottonwood or calendula, e.g.

38 Fleece

40 After midnight: Journey’s ‘‘Open Arms’’ and Guns N’ Roses’ ‘‘November Rain,’’ e.g.

42 See 71-Down

45 TikTok post,

informally

46 Prepared, as a report

49 Actress Lindsay

52 Chai, for one

55 Cedar Rapids college

56 ‘‘Despicable Me’’

supervillain

58 Hookup that might

get kinky?

59 Big acronym in

purifying filters

60 ‘‘What hath ____ to do with sleep?’’: Milton

62 Before midnight: Devices with warm water and massaging rollers

64 Kind of rock . . . or

where to see it

66 Bygone Palm

smartphone

67 Saint ____ (Caribbean

nation)

68 Before midnight: Some household expenses

70 Branch offices, e.g.

75 Journalist Couric

76 Wagering sites that closed in N.Y.C. in 2010, in brief

77 After midnight: Event for Cowboys or Broncos

78 ‘‘Can’t win ’em all’’

82 Some adobe abodes

83 Clarified-butter

variety

84 Fourth ingredient in a classic threeingredient sandwich

85 After midnight: Synchronized swimming

86 Forbid

87 Before midnight:

Surpass

90 Run up, as debts

92 Mexican shawls

95 Beam

96 Ice-cream name

97 ____ Spring (2010s

protests)

99 Drag queen and TV personality Bianca ____ Rio

100 Potter’s pal at

Hogwarts

103 ESE or NNW

105 Conjunction used in

logic

107 Eddie Bauer

competitor

109 After midnight: Totally lose it

113 ‘‘Ack! All these options sound great!’’

116 Middle name for musician Sean Lennon

118 Unacquainted with

119 Where to see the

86-Down

120 Star sign?

122 Final image in a preschooler’s book, maybe

123 Toledan title

124 Japanese crispy

cutlet

125 Vexation

126 Rapid transit?

127 Pranks with

rolls, informally

128 Bring (in)

129 Start to make fiction

fact?

DOWN

1 Laughs

2 Latin expression that’s almost always abbreviated

3 Condo-organizing

Kondo

4 Romantic profession

5 App coder, for short

6 Home to the Wat Xieng

Thong temple

7 Physicist Fermi

8 College athletics

channel

9 Device placed under

a tongue

10 Snore, idiomatically

11 ‘‘Seriously?’’

12 Greek god whose name is an anagram of a flower

13 Try

14 Aspirin alternative

17 Sublet offerer

19 It’s got all the

answers

20 BART part

22 ____ Rabbit

24 Event for Cinderella

26 Foot part

31 Fighting

33 Title roles for Norman Bates and Patrick Bateman

37 Phishing targets

39 Evacuation survival

pack

41 Qatar’s capital

42 ‘‘Balderdash!’’

43 Word with space or

rock

44 Lab tube with a bulb

47 Mary Jane

48 Computer circuitry

components

50 Wildfire debris

51 Duck Hunt console,

in brief

53 Sugar source

54 Transported, as some

emergency goods

57 Gas, e.g.: Abbr. 61 Cosmetic goop

62 Bike-ride mishaps

63 Great time

65 Holy chambers in

Judaism

69 Wad (up)

70 ‘‘Same for us!’’

71 With 42-Across, ‘‘Lust

for Life’’ singer

72 Chevy S.U.V.

73 Make edits to

74 Like some dives or

jams 78 ‘‘I didn’t need to know

all that!’’

79 Largest ethnic group

of China

80 Bart Simpson

catchphrase

81 Go all over

82 A mushroom’s is called a pileus

86 End-of-December tradition depicted five times in this puzzle 88 Umpire’s call 89 Giving a once-over

91 Subjects to a tirade

93 Hinging (on)

94 Form of algae also

known as rockweed

98 Physiques, for short

101 Like most award

shows

102 Belgian river in a

W.W. I battle

103 Spacey sort

104 Less welcoming

106 Nonelective courses:

Abbr. 108 Brewskis

110 ‘‘The father of American literature,’’ per Faulkner

111 Geek Squad

specialist, informally

112 TV and radio host

Andy

114 Brand owned by

Hasbro

115 Pool accessory

117 Mathematician Neugebauer 121 Spanish bear