The New York Times Crossword
TODAY: FUNNY BUSINESS(0128)
John Westwig is a software engineer in Seattle. This is his ninth crossword for The Times. His first one appeared in 2015, when he was 17. John says, ‘‘I think I got into constructing because, when I was done solving a puzzle, I would look at the answer grid and wonder how someone could possibly have created such a thing!’’ Note the long answers at 16- and 50Down, each crossing three theme entries. Very elegant. — W.S.
ACROSS
1 Begin to flower 4 In conflict 9 Basketball-stats
category 16 Neckwear provided at some restaurants 19 Pikes Peak
people 20 One-dish meal 21 ‘‘You’re playing
with fire!’’ 22 Game-night cry 23 ‘‘First, I founded an aerospace start-up, but I never ... ’’
26 Messy room 27 Make the first bet 28 Go back over 29 Proverbial hard
workers 30 Bourne’s employer in ‘‘The Bourne Identity,’’ in brief
31 Popular indoor
tree
33 Total revolution?
34 Ardennes assent
35 Singer’s asset 37 Daughter of
Muhammad 39 ‘‘When that fell through, I tried my hand at fishmongering, but we ... ’’
43 Sensitivity 45 Common
resolutions 46 Squat, so to
speak
47 Pop singer with noted bangs (and bangers!)
48 Go back down 51 J. M. Barrie, for
one
53 What Ralph represents in a Freudian analysis of ‘‘Lord of the Flies’’
54 Betrays
56 ‘‘Next, I pivoted into breakfast restaurants, but
competitors ... ’’ 61 Passages 62 Medal-earning
mettle 63 Purchase
printout: Abbr. 66 New Year’s Day 67 Place of prayer 69 Sat ____ (GPS
system)
70 Behind
72 Library section 73 Broski
75 There are 768 of
these in a gallon 77 ‘‘When I tried candlemaking, all my workers ... ’’ 81 Section of the
nosebleed seats 83 Poetic preposition 84 Lead-in to zone 85 Some music collectibles, for short
86 Whiz 87 Counterpart of
science, they say 88 Freight, e.g. 90 Uncles, in Uruguay
92 ‘‘I decided to try operating an airport, but just before launch we ... ’’
96 Goes first
100 Wrote, as a bad
check
101 Moose’s mating
season
102 Universal donor’s designation, informally 104 Betray one’s
standards 105 Bridge
component 106 ‘‘We’ll see’’ 108 Backdrop 110 Exclamation before an illadvised action, maybe
111 Creature that swallows its prey whole
112 ‘‘Finally, I decided to buy a grocery store on an intersection, but a rival had ... ’’
115 ‘‘Wise’’ one
116 ‘‘Enjoyed’’ some
humble pie 117 Bolting Bolt 118 Union contract? 119 Counterpart of
‘‘thx’’ 120 Corrupting
influence 121 Full ____
122 Over time period?
DOWN
1 ‘‘Leave me
alone!’’
2 Heaven on earth 3 Pick up on
4 State lines? 5 Hammer wielder
of myth
6 The missus
7 ____ Butts, inventor of Scrabble
8 CVS competitor 9 Thunderstruck 10 Slump
11 Big name in jeans 12 Quintessential 13 Turn (off)
14 Spam holders 15 Health-class subj. 16 Sloan or Wharton 17 Opposite of relief,
in printmaking 18 ____ wonder 24 Traditional makers
of anoraks
25 Like kale vis-à-vis lettuce
30 Call of a raven 32 Break, as a window
34 Aid in getting a
leg up?
35 Knot again! 36 Pizazz 38 Bow (to) 40 Desert bordering Sinai 41 Regarding 42 Harry Potter’s mother 44 Hubbub 48 Disney theme park 49 Yankees manager Aaron 50 Absolute minimum
required 52 Listlessness 55 Soul 57 Portmanteau
pastry
58 1972 Bill Withers hit whose title sounds like a command 59 ‘‘Allegory of the cave’’ philosopher 60 1956 Elvis hit whose title sounds like a command 64 Centerfold, say 65 Bits of
troubleshooting 68 Football receiver 70 Yiddish word
meaning ‘‘woe’’
71 Eradicates starting from the bottom
73 Follow closely 74 Zac of
‘‘Baywatch’’ 76 Share a side 78 Identity theft, for
one
79 Snow-day project 80 The 380-foot-tall
Hyperion, for one 81 Bit of carefree fun 82 Trendy treat of
Brazilian origin 88 Swiss cheese 89 Man cave, maybe 91 Bacchanalian
beast
93 Ref. work that began as a Philological
Society project 94 Swiss ‘‘cheese’’ 95 ‘‘Whatcha gonna
do about it?’’ 97 Cub or colt 98 ‘‘Holy ____!’’ 99 Perfect in every
way
103 Extract
106 Tiniest bit 107 Talking horse of
’60s TV
108 Apt rhyme of ‘‘nude’’ and ‘‘crude’’
109 Send off
111 Catchy song, in
slang
112 Thing to catch in
a city
113 Tobiko or masago 114 ____ second