FREESTYLING

ACROSS

1Sarcastic response to an

unsurprising development

14 That makes two of us!

21 Gold-rush camp that became

a state capital

22 Carrier out of Kuala Lumpur 23 Hormone-therapy product

24 They’re seen on the flags of

Bhutan and Wales

25 Alexanders I-III

26 Legal claim

27 Retailer headquartered in

Freeport, Maine

29 ‘‘____ Up Offa That Thing’’

(1976 hit)

30 ‘‘Will be,’’ in Spanish

31 Map out

32 The Stepford wives in ‘‘The

Stepford Wives,’’ it seems

33 Host city of the 2022 FIFA

World Cup

34 ____ Vogue

35 Acronymic devices in atomic

clocks and radio telescopes 36 Part of a woodworking joint 37 ____ the Lucky Rabbit, character in early Disney shorts

40 Much sketch comedy

41 ‘‘Media impressions,’’ ‘‘influencer marketing,’’ etc., informally

42 Emulate

43 Diamond division

44 Sore spots for kids?

45 Qb-protecting group

46 Difficult

47 San ____, capital founded in

1521

48 Super-sillyous?

50 Apocalyptic scene

55 What nocturnal

polysomnography may detect 56 Mainstay of a sci-fi defense

system

57 Canal inspector

58 Most serious, in law

59 It’s a question of timing

60 Metric weight units

61 Actor Wilson of ‘‘The Office’’ 62 Month that goes by fast?

66 ‘‘Jeepers!’’

67 Stops over in France?

68 Billionaires and such

69 Badly injured 70 Elegant and refined

71 See 81-Across

72 Given the name

73 Peacock show?

74 What a token may resemble 75 Pleased as punch

76 Abandon without warning

77 Figure in the Hindu trinity

81 With 71-Across, participant in

some fertility treatments

82 Picks to win

83 ‘‘The Handmaid’s Tale’’ airer 84 First Nations group of the

Great Lakes region

85 ‘‘Let’s Make a Deal’’ option 87 Prompt from the chronically

forgetful

90 Accessibility concern

91 Walk in place?

92 Leafs

93 Set of books with maps,

perhaps

DOWN

1 Stimulates

2 ‘‘Siddhartha’’ author

3 Where sacrifices may be

made

4 Planet Earth

5 Actress Mireille ____ of TV’S

‘‘Hanna’’ and ‘‘Lucky Hank’’

6 Trail behind

7 Made scents?

8 Lasting for an immeasurable

time span

9 How legal papers may be

signed

10 Die-hard fan, in modern lingo 11 Turner of American history

12 Wrapped around

13 Mark who was the world’s

highest-paid actor in 2017

14 Military trainees

15 Turkish money

16 Port city in Algeria

17 Badger

18 Having equal angles

19 Like some golf courses

20 They may need fillings

28 Snooze

31 Who said, ‘‘Football is not about one or two or three star players’’

32 Rough fabric with a loose

weave

33 Investigators: Abbr. 34 Leave hurriedly, in quaint

usage

35 Capital on the island of Luzon 36 Passage from one party to

another

37 ‘‘Va-va-voom!’’

38 It cuts the cheese (but not the

mustard)

39 Got some shut-eye?

40 Pulitzer-winning poet Gary

41 Rang, as a bell

42 Use a divining rod

43 Like some decals

44 Compulsory payments of old 46 List of ranked favorites

47 Purchase at a sports stadium 49 Seasonal Russian cottages

50 Intruded, with ‘‘in’’ 51 Items usually sold in boxes of

25

52 Mountaintop homes

53 Enough to go around

54 Utopias

56 Played the rat

58 Outschemed, in a way

60 Period from 1945 to 1953

62 Evergreen tree with fragrant

bark

63 Indian dish of potatoes and

cauliflower

64 Putt-putt

65 Loads

66 ‘‘Carmina Burana’’ composer 67 Landed

69 Units of RAM, for short

70 Character defamation

72 Family emblems

73 They’re found beside exclamation marks on keyboards

75 Inkling

76 Coup group

77 Sweet stuff in asparagus (if

you read it backward)?

78 Many a Shiite

79 It may be raised in an

argument

80 Auntie ____ (pretzel chain) 82 Pasta-recipe instruction

83 Inkling

84 Largest of the lagomorphs 86 Flag thrower, informally

88 Time to get back to work:

Abbr.

89 Otherworldly sorts, for short

PUZZLE BY TRACY BENNETT 12/17/2023