Crossword

Note: This puzzle is part of Merl’s best-of series. ACROSS

1 A god of love 5 Dances a sexy dance 11 767, to an air traffic controller 15 Design all over again 19 City NW of Los Angeles, ___ Valley 20 Individually 21 Glinda in The Wiz 22 Lakmé’s “Bell Song,” for example 23 PITH 26 Actor Bogarde 27 OHMS 29 Darjeeling, for one 30 Former St. Louis player 31 Elect 32 The unthinkable 78 Across 33 Patron saint of France 34 “A pox on you!” 35 Nuclear instrument ending 37 Brandenburg Concertos composer: inits. 40 Record holders? 43 Code word? 44 Godliness 45 Palindromic cry 46 Another god of love 47 Color ’twixt red and green 50 Montagnes de la France 51 Not now 52 Greek T’s 53 Milk at a French café 54 Make ___ (err) 55 National Velvet author Bagnold 56 ROOT 59 Disciplines, as a brat 61 BOATS 63 ___ a doornail 65 HAND 66 It might be hard to resist 67 Boarded 68 Liberal arts deg. 69 Chronicler of the Corleones 72 Comedy units 73 Copier need 74 Salami salesrooms 75 N.Y. securities market 76 Manipulate 77 Cobbler’s stock 78 Ultimate confrontation 79 Madrid museum 80 See 20 Across 81 Delilah portrayer opposite Victor, 1949 82 Pen point 83 Agent 86 86 Bread spread 87 Part of a j 88 To drink, as vin 89 Inc. or GQ, e.g. 92 DADS 98 Pounds, in old London 99 YAMS 100 Wrist-to-elbow part 101 Just 102 “___ meet you” 103 Major times 104 Types 105 Rogers and Clark 106 Cutting and forming kit 107 Test for a mouse

DOWN

1 In ___ (stuck) 2 Pooh’s creator 3 City near Council Bluffs 4 Krispy grain 5 New Zealand’s discoverer 6 House of wax? 7 Black-clad Japanese warriors 8 “___ while they’re hot!” 9 New York Times boss, once 10 Make sure 11 Sanctified, in the Bible 12 Odist’s grasslands 13 Concerning 14 2018 Super Bowl losers 15 Spokes 16 Brother of Julia Roberts 17 Desperate 18 Schwarzenegger’s body-building nickname, “the Austrian ___” 24 Author Gardner and film director Kenton 25 Media blitz of a sort 28 Like Tarzan’s transit system 33 Talks out of 34 Christmas tree 35 Longtime House speaker 36 Shorten, as a sail 37 Nick Adams’ character in the TV oldie The Rebel 38 Valentino role 39 Stock alternatives 40 Worked (up) 41 George’s lyricist 42 Home run 43 Sets off 44 Break new ground? 47 Fugard’s A Lesson from ___ 48 Actress Adams of Bond movie fame 49 Brand of candy 50 Hangout for Socrates 51 Rip to shreds 54 When some nightly news comes on 57 Secret org. 58 Lean on or toward 59 “Ignore correction” marks 60 “Bean limousine” 62 Certain act div. 63 Excavated 64 Wipe out 67 Encouraging word 70 Letter from London? 71 Tic-tac-toe line 73 “Hizzoner” 74 Itty-bitty bit of goo 77 Carpet type 78 Erma Bombeck’s long-running column, “At ___” 79 Word on a parking-garage ticket machine 82 Black, to Bardot 83 Drunks 84 Once around the clock 85 “___ thou our God?” (II Chron. 20:7) 86 Backstabber 87 Times of reckoning 88 Young spy chronicled in The Falcon and the Snowman, Christopher ___ 89 Dancer Shearer 90 Ball’s guy 91 Flying wedge members 92 Ennui-inducing 93 Where to find a soul on ice 94 Words to Nanette 95 Appropriately 96 Bradbury’s Fahrenheit number times II 97 “Thar hills” preceder 98 On the ___ vive