NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Adam Wagner, of Oakland, Calif., is a senior copywriter for an ad agency in San Francisco. He got interested in crossword construction a few years ago after he saw puzzles by some of his former Brown University classmates in The Times. The idea for this one came to him one night when he was in bed (“second only to the shower in terms of where my best ideas come”). He got up and spent the rest of the night finding theme examples. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Lets extra light in, in

a way

8 Get on the stick? 12 Music-genre prefix 15 Arm of the Dept. of

Homeland Security 19 Deforestation, for example

20 Not home

21 Pool tester

22 Line through two

poles

23 Salma Hayek: 1996,

2002 26 Bop on the head 27 Driven, say 28 ‘‘____ Flux’’ (onetime

sci-fi series)

29 Yellow belly?

30 Pair in gossip 31 Dev Patel: 2008, 2016 36 Jerkwad

39 What remains, with

‘‘the’’

40 Quail : bevy :: ____ : parliament 41 Liechtensteiner’s

currency

42 Amount of tips earned by a street performer, maybe 45 Equipment used to play the oldest organized sport in North America 47 Choose 50 Brad Pitt: 2001, 1995 54 Accompanier of smoke 56 Texter’s ‘‘I think . . . ’’ 57 Catherine of ‘‘Schitt’s

Creek’’

58 Outstanding finds 59 Broadband inits. 61 ‘‘You mean I’m

wrong?!’’

64 Utilize a company policy for new parents, say

66 When tripled, playful onomatopoeia for shooting laser beams

67 ‘‘Here, have a taste’’ 68 Owen Wilson: 2005, 2006 71 Baseless rumors 74 The lowest número

primo

75 Pickup line?

79 It’s at the beginning of this clue

80 Noted fashion monogram

81 Equal

82 ‘‘Sunrise’’ singer

Jones

83 Focus of some smartphone updates 84 Before, in poetry 86 Joaquin Phoenix:

2014, 2013

89 Problems with phonograph records 92 Contents of college blue books

94 Early online forum that popularized terms like ‘‘FAQ’’ and ‘‘spam’’

95 Put on again

97 Some dolls sold in a Universal Studios gift shop 98 When ‘‘Alexander Hamilton’’ is sung in ‘‘Hamilton’’ 101 Mathematician Lovelace

102 Al Pacino and Robert De Niro: 1974, 1995 (twice!) 108 Brother of 99-Down 109 Ramirez of ‘‘Grey’s Anatomy’’

110 Historic trade ally of the Monacan people 111 Dark yellow shade 115 -elect

116 Modern tech feature for watching two programs on one screen . . . or an alternative title for this puzzle

120 Bug-eyed 121 High-value deposit 122 Shore soarer 123 Absolutely devoured 124 Takes from

125 TV’s ‘‘____ Lasso’’ 126 Name on a toy truck 127 Places for rubs and scrubs

DOWN

1 Expert

2 Song title shared by hit singles for Ja Rule and Flo Rida

3 In the ____

4 High points

5 Kind of force created

by the moon 6 Ending with ‘‘brown.’’

or ‘‘auburn.’’

7 What tahini is made

from 8 Tush 9 Thanks (to) 10 Actress Gadot 11 Olive ____ 12 In any way 13 Sleazeballs 14 Kind of muscle 15 Chess’s ____ Caruana, onetime youngest grandmaster in U.S. history (14 years 11 months)

16 Flowerhorn cichlids and vampire tetras, for example 17 Worker who wants to

strike?

18 ‘‘Go on, shoot’’

24 Sister brand of Saucony and Stride Rite

25 Small valleys 32 Cybersquatters make

fake ones

33 What 2 is vis-à-vis 1 34 ‘‘Hmm . . . ’’

35 Badger

36 Barrels of fun

37 Satirist ____ Baron Cohen

38 Entree served with

a knife

43 Price jockeying of

competing airlines 44 Not paying attention 45 Walgreens competitor 46 ____ Khan of Khan Academy fame 48 Prefix with present 49 Goes to hell

51 ‘‘Golly gee!’’

52 Stock ticker symbol for a longtime clothing brand 53 Corrects in text 55 Brought on 60 River of old song 62 ‘‘Clever ____ are never punished’’: Voltaire

63 [swoon] 65 Meat Loaf’s ‘‘Rocky

Horror’’ role 66 Surfaces, e.g.

67 Start of many a

limerick

69 Massive adversary 70 Whom you might ask, ‘‘Where will I be in

10 years?’’ 71 Forensic pros, in brief

72 Words of eventual understanding 73 ‘‘’Fraid not’’ 76 Supermodel Shayk 77 Went up against 78 Sorority letter 80 Shortest answer from a Magic 8 Ball 81 Measures of acidity 85 Modern joust venue,

informally

87 Org. with a noted bell 88 Van Gogh’s ‘‘La ____

Étoilée’’ 90 Walking sticks? 91 Packed-house inits. 93 Went after

96 Expensive Super Bowl purchase 98 Shower times

99 Brother of 108-Across 100 Timorous

102 Member of a Turkic group

103 Onetime streaming platform of the 2010s 104 Took a bow? 105 Submissions to a casting director 106 Like wool sweaters, often

107 Teensy bits

112 Thick component of orange juice

113 Broca’s ____, segment of the brain linked to speech 114 Snoring symbols in Surrey

117 [That smells terrible!]

118 Regret

119 ____ sense