SUNDAY NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD CRUNCH TIME

Michael Schlossberg is an internist in Bend, Ore., who has been making crosswords for The Times since 2020. He says he got the idea for this one while thinking about the books he read to his kids when they were little. He tried to get all the circles in the puzzle to line up, but that proved to be impossible. Michael says his favorite part of constructing is converting a theme idea into a completed grid — “more fun and challenging than actual solving.” — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Wildfire season stat, for short

4 Title feline in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon 10 Act impartially 16 Capital of Peru? 19 Hebrew letter on a dreidel

20 Communities for some commuters

21 Gridiron standout 22 Article in El Mundo 23 Taylor Swift’s “____ the Damn Season” 24 Spanish wine classification

25 Produce in bunches 26 Trojans’ sch.

27 Big shows

29 Grassy area 30 Parliament member 31 TikTok alternative, familiarly

33 Neologism

35 Family feud participant 39 Brainstorming aid 41 “Really, you too?” 42 Nutrition fig.

44 Word said four times in the Lord’s Prayer 45 Each

46 Page in a passport, perhaps

47 Machine-shop tools 48 Actor Somerhalder of “The Vampire Diaries” 49 Longtime newswire inits.

50 When repeated, reply to “Who wants a cookie?” 51 Woman in Camelot 52 “Green”

53 Italian wheels 54 SCOTUS appointee of ’93

55 Since

57 Home of Umm al Quwain: Abbr.

58 Gent

60 Crashed and burned 62 Cat scratchers 64 Draws

65 Heavy lifter?

66 Words in an analogy 67 French vineyard region 70 “The highest result of education,” according to Helen Keller

73 Sheep shelters 77 Excited jackpot cry 79 Goofy image, maybe 80 Forewarned

82 Base of a nonmeat burger

83 “____ I a Woman?” 84 Stumbling sounds 85 Look at quickly … or closely

86 Many a fed. holiday 87 Thrilla in Manila result, in brief

88 Does some massaging 90 Least inviting

92 Fade out

93 Like many consigned goods

95 Part of the fam 96 When repeated, slangy sound of eating 97 Makes some alterations to

99 Sound like a real jackass

100 Org. with a Canine Good Citizen certification 101 ____ Eisley, where Luke Skywalker meets Han Solo

103 “Tarnation!” 105 Serenades, as the moon

107 Audibly gobsmacked 111 Spot for a bowler 114 “Thanks ____” 115 Strings entered during checkout 118 Magic word 119 Classic children’s book character eating its way through this puzzle, with “the”

122 Choice words 123 And others, in Latin 124 Sold products on behalf of

125 Grp. that measures 1-Across

126 Place to crash while camping

127 Brother of Eos and Selene

128 Navarra’s land 129 Harden

DOWN

1 Go before

2 Idealistic, and then some

3 Notwithstanding 4 Actress Thompson of “Thor: Love and Thunder” 5 Big name in spatulas 6 Tricked somebody 7 First Nations group 8 Middle name of James Garfield

9 Govt. agency established in November 2001

10 Clutch, for one 11 Jetson son 12 Gemologist’s consideration

13 Civil engineering or molecular biology 14 Pique

15 Riveting icon

16 ±

17 “1984” superstate 18 Feature of an action comedy

28 Heavy load

32 Place for a pew 34 Merely cosmetic feature of some electric vehicles 36 Time to stop trying? 37 Server at a royal table, once

38 Tasting the forbidden fruit

40 Slobbers

43 What makes her hear? 45 Italian novelist Pera 53 Singer with the 2001 No. 1 hit “Fallin’ ”

56 What makes an avocado rich

59 Kind of jacket inspired by a school’s uniform 60 Femur-tibia connector, for short 61 What “puppy paws” equal, in craps 63 “Hurray!”

67 Drops in midair 68 Member of a furry race 69 “Go ahead. I’m not scared”

71 Focused, workwise 72 ____ de’ Medici, who founded the Medici dynasty

74 Subjects of some grade- school posters 75 Paul Krugman’s subj. 76 Thrill

78 Air force?

81 Poet who wrote “The Cow” and “The Panther” 89 “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” actor

91 Fruity desserts 94 Brackish

98 Certain subway art 99 Slow dance with quick turns

100 Keyless

102 Tibetic language 104 Difficult situation 105 State of mayhem 106 Sharp 108 “La Maja Desnuda” and others

109 Anti-apartheid org. 110 Near miss

112 Rocky Mountain town 113 Assayer’s unit 116 Wrinkly fruit 117 “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” actor 120 Little chuckle 121 Gilbert and Sullivan princess