The New York Times Crossword
Michael Schlossberg, of Bend, Ore., is a doctor specializing in internal medicine. This is his 11th crossword for the paper, and his fifth Sunday. — J.F.
Note: Standing between you and the score of a lifetime are the seven locks of this safe. After completing the puzzle, rotate each dial 90 degrees, 180 degrees or 270 degrees to the only other position that forms four valid crossword answers. The new letters in the 12 o’clock (circled) positions will spell out an appropriate exclamation.
ACROSS
1 Staff symbol
6 Items on the backs of some Jeeps
13 Test pilot’s attire
18 Bedridden
20 Creditor, in legalese
21 Champion boxer Errol ____ Jr.
22 Once or twice
23 Like Mary Shelley when she wrote ‘‘Frankenstein’’
24 Marketing expenditure
25 Bearing
26 Natural source of rubber
27 County that’s home to the White Cliffs of Dover
28 Unimpressed
29 Sheet under a tent
30 Sharp pain
31 Major vessel
32 Chinese ____ (bonsai choice)
34 Rhyme for ‘‘away’’ in ‘‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’’
35 Agent Deirdre Beaubeirdre’s org. in‘‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’’
37 No. on a résumé
38 Ewes’ guys 40 ‘‘Invisible hand’’ subj.
42 Quattro e quattro
44 President during the Mexican-American War
45 Ice-cream shop employee, e.g.
47 Shakespearean misanthrope
51 Small Southwestern birds of prey
53 ‘‘The Harlequin’s Carnival’’ painter
54 Nickname for a British relative
55 Brouhahas
56 Buds
59 Ben who starred in Broadway’s ‘‘Dear Evan Hansen’’
61 Role for Michelle Williams in ‘‘The Fabelmans’’
65 Wordle player’s pride
66 ‘‘Who, me?’’
67 Partner ship?
68 Belief
69 ‘‘____ magic!’’
71 Title pig of kids’ TV
74 Schmear topper
75 Annoying bot
79 They have the Guinness distinction of Longest Running Fan Club for a Group
80 Work like the devil?
84 ‘‘Who, me?’’ response
86 Pixy Stix containers
88 Carpentry vise
91 ____ service
92 Percival of legend, for one
93 Mystical Buddhist text
97 Minecraft material
98 Cooper’s tool
100 Folder flap
102 End of a sports movie, often
103 Advance
104 Block (up)
105 Some four-year degs.
107 Letters that sound out a sentence
108 First-rate
109 Playful hit
111 Speculative fiction subgenre that envisions a sustainableenergy future
115 Limited number
116 Bitter-tasting salad ingredient
119 Fun facts
120 Sophisticated
122 Farm machine
123 French form of ‘‘Stephen’’
124 Area 51 sighting
125 ‘‘C’mon, you’ll love it!’’
126 ‘‘And ____ . . .’’
127 Celebration in late January or early February
128 Tweaks
DOWN
1 Ascends with one’s hands and feet
2 Escalade, e.g.
3 Blanks’ opposite
4 Shangri-las
5 Hair of the dog
6 ‘‘See ya later’’
7 Not normal
8 Like beach towns in the winter
9 Cannes subject
10 Tennis great known as ‘‘the Punisher’’
11 Former name of the electron
12 Ignore, as a shortcoming
13 Application fig.
14 Casio rival
15 Shore hazard
16 ‘‘That much is obvious’’
17 Speeches with an
18-minute limit
19 Channel with onair fund-raising
21 Mole, e.g.
33 Taunt
36 Shout at an auction
39 1916 battle site, with ‘‘the’’
41 Boast
43 Blue-green
44 Hypothesize
46 City on the Arno
48 Taking the place (of)
49 ‘‘Here’s looking at you, kid’’?
50 Like old audiobooks
52 Why some app users check their notifications constantly, for short
56 Several CBS dramas
57 Link letters
58 ____ Major
59 Classroom surprise
60 Passage of a planet across a star, e.g.
62 Noted export of Portugal
63 Common field-trip destinations
64 ‘‘Need You Tonight’’ band, 1987
70 Blubber
72 Stew tidbit
73 E.M.T.’s technique
76 One-named singer on 1998’s ‘‘Ghetto Supastar’’
77 Distracted Boyfriend, e.g.
78 One of Eleven’s powers on ‘‘Stranger Things’’
81 ____ milk
82 Gift on the seventh day of Christmas
83 Mr. Burns supposedly received the second one ever on ‘‘The Simpsons’’: Abbr.
85 What Tom and Daisy embody in ‘‘The Great Gatsby’’
87 Gift for an aspiring conductor
88 Last name in latenight
89 Ol’ Blue Eyes, e.g.
90 Quadrennial occurrence
94 District attorney turned Batman foe
95 Ethylene gas, to tomatoes
96 Key components
98 Some batteries
99 Ginormous
101 ____ choy
105 Throw in the towel
106 Didn’t save
110 Appliance that may self-clean
112 Renaissance instrument
113 ____ Reader
114 Kind of tradition
117 N.Y.S.E. debut
118 Afore
120 Letters on the
Saturn V rocket
121 Protester’s word