Hartford Courant (Sunday)

RISE TO THE CHALLENGE

- BY JESSIE AND ROSS TRUDEAU / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ Jessie Trudeau, of Cambridge, Mass., recently graduated with a Ph.D. from Harvard’s department of government. Next fall she’ll start as an assistant professor of political science at Syracuse University.

ACROSS

1 Like the

protagonis­t at the start of “28 Days Later”

8 –

14 Lady Macduff,

e.g.

18 Group of fighters 19 One way to

recoil

21 Male deer

22 “My ____” (No. 1

hit for the Knack) 23 One of the two main branches of Buddhism

24 N.B.A. All-Star

Gobert

25 *Worker with a brush [three

rungs]

27 Fuel option

29 “Ciao!”

32 Completely

pooped

33 –

38 A.C.C. school

39 Place with

counselors

40 Maker of Pilots

and Passports

41 Team ____

42 “____ Canto” (2001 Ann Patchett novel)

43 Structure resembling a pergola

45 –

47 Airport with a

BART station

50 Mail, e.g.

52 Otis who founded the Otis Elevator Company

54 Expelled from the

body

56 *Captain with a periscope [four

rungs]

58 Some military

wear, informally 60 Carpet

specificat­ion

61 Former make of

Ford

62 [I’m frustrated!]

63 Lab eggs

64 Animation and

sculpting, for two 65 Advances through corporate ranks ... and what the answer to each starred clue in this puzzle does

71 “Mon ____!”

74 Singer Grande, to

fans

75 Center

76 Celebrity gossip show with an exclamatio­n point in its title

79 Map inits. until

1991

80 Pest control

brand

81 –

84 “Really good

work!”

86 Sung by a group 87 Writer known for his anthropomo­rphic animal characters 89 “When r u

coming?”

90 *Seasonal orchard worker

[eight rungs]

93 Staple of Dutch

Golden Age art

95 Feeling while watching a volcanic eruption, perhaps

96 According to

98 Narwhal’s tusk,

actually

99 Pleasant speech

cadence

100 Pen that aptly rhymes with “click”

101 *Worker for AT&T or Verizon [four rungs]

103 Common wall

mirror shape

104 Sound on Old MacDonald’s farm

105 Chicken scratch 106 –

109 Worker who probably isn’t paid enough

110 Really, really spicy 115 1/100 of a franc 119 Dirt clump

120 Googles, e.g.

121 Like people in crowds, whether intentiona­lly or not 122 Donations for the

needy

123 *One putting a coat on outside [three rungs]

124 Surreptiti­ous

assents

DOWN 1 Communicat­ions

on Slack, e.g.

2 Org. funding Covid-19 research

3 In the manner of

4 Roughly

5 “Then again ... ,”

in a tweet

6 Upscale-hotelroom fixture

7 One calling for a

tow, maybe

8 Visual depiction of the apparatus used by the starred profession­als

9 “____ wise guy,

eh?”

10 Like some humor 11 Important stretch 12 Stretch longer than an

11-Across

13 Mario who founded a fashion empire

14 Snowboards well,

informally

15 Rabble-rouse

16 Something taken

by a waiter

17 “Cya!”

19 “How ____ Your

Mother”

20 Con’s vote

26 Mafia : Sicilia ::

Camorra : ____

28 Harden

29 Latin for

“trumpet”

30 Disincline­d

31 Temple text

34 Beach in Rio de

Janeiro, informally 35 “From now

____ won’t be

hanging around” (bluegrass lyric)

36 1600, in ancient

Rome

37 Tick off

39 ____-by-the-Sea,

Calif. 44 Welcomes, as the

new year

46 Narcissist’s

treasure

48 Perceived

49 Output from

Sappho

51 Cloud

53 Adjustable bike

part

55 “I don’t wanna

hear it”

57 Boxer Laila

58 Stephen who said: “Think books aren’t scary? Well, think about this: You

can’t spell ‘Book’ without ‘Boo!”’

59 Director

DuVernay

66 Play title that superstiti­ous actors avoid saying aloud in theaters

67 Certain sib

68 Currency to which the Maltese

scudo is pegged 69 Opus ____

70 Hypnotized, say 71 Sci-fi novel made into films in 1984 and 2021

72 Skeptical reply to

“That’s true”

73 Activity one tries

to get out of?

77 Sushi condiment

78 Strand, perhaps 80 “Silly me!”

82 Pope of 1963-78 83 Government

bonds?

85 Preppy clothing

brand

86 Ending with

leuko- or oo

88 Quick kiss

91 One with a marsupium, affectiona­tely

92 Bacardi, e.g., in

México

94 Threat from a

squealer

97 Antelopes with

twisty horns

101 Immune system

agent

102 Like luxurious

pillows

No. 1016

103 Breakfast that may be prepared overnight

104 Former N.F.L.

QB Kyle

105 Pet rescue org. 107 “The Black Cat”

author

108 Genderquee­r

identity

111 Soccer star

Messi, familiarly 112 Delta ____ Chi, house in “Animal

House”

113 B&O and

Reading: Abbr. 114 Either half of

pocket rockets, in poker slang 116 ____ Jima

117 Rx from a doc,

e.g.

118 Newsroom heads, for short

Answer To Last Week’s Puzzle:

Online subscripti­ons: Today’s puzzle and more than 4,000 past puzzles, nytimes. com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).

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