NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Christina Iverson, of Ames, Iowa, is an assistant crossword editor for The New York Times. Sam Donaldson is a law professor at Georgia State University. They met at last year’s American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and started brainstorming theme ideas. This one started as a Thursday puzzle and grew into a Sunday when they had too many ideas to fit into a 15 x 15-square grid. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Become hysterical,

with ‘‘out’’

4 Elided title

8 Restaurant competitor of Pinkberry and Sweet Frog

12 Catchy tunes,

informally

16 Sigh of lament

17 Where dancers have

a ball?

18 McFlurry mix-in 19 Furniture giant

20 Bad flight forecast 21 Reason

22 Hierarchy level 23 Certain U.S. time zone 24 Economizing, as represented by the circled squares? 27 ‘‘The bad news is . . . ’’ 29 WhatsApp transmissions, briefly

30 Navy nay

31 Seizes eagerly, as an

opportunity

33 Sean of ‘‘Stranger

Things’’

34 Part of an M.C.’s intro,

often

36 Prohibition target 40 Economizing, as represented twice in 12-Down?

45 ‘‘The Crown’’ role 46 Colorful kind of shirt 47 Offering from Dr.

Mom, in brief

48 Senior partners?

50 ____ Hill, neighborhood of San Francisco

51 Bussing on a bus, for

short

54 Memorable mission 56 ‘‘You’ve made your

point,’’ slangily 57 Lead-in to an opinion 60 Zip

62 From not so long ago 63 Parts of a gig 64 Scrapbooker’s project 67 Honesty, resilience or a sense of humor, perhaps

69 Shield of ancient Greece: Var. 73 Manhattan is one:

Abbr.

75 Attempt

77 Work that hasn’t yet

entered publication 79 Little squealer 83 Fencer’s score 86 Hebrew version of the

English pronoun ‘‘I’’ 87 Confidentiality

contract, for short 88 Welcome event

90 ____ drag (hockey maneuver)

91 Cellist’s need 93 In concert 94 Economizing, as represented in 58-Down? 99 Unwelcome, so to speak

101 Vote in favor

102 Trading places

103 Like some modern maps

105 Golfer Palmer, to fans

106 A/C meas.

109 ‘‘The Planets’’ composer 111 Economizing, as represented by the shaded squares? 115 Bad-sounding creatures?

116 Ditto, in legal footnotes

118 Word that means ‘‘ocean’’ in a religious title

119 Large crowd

120 It’s cried on a slide 121 Check

122 Classical poem 123 Beast with recurved horns

124 Triumphant shout at a crossword tournament 125 Freshness

126 Like some morning lawns

127 Smokey spot, for short

DOWN

1 Sharpens 2 ‘‘How ____ Your

Mother’’

3 Work out

4 Some garlic prep 5 Regarding

6 Maker of the Nitro 5

gaming laptop

7 ‘‘The year’s at the spring/

And day’s at the ____’’: Robert Browning 8 Yankees manager

before Girardi 9 Zealous activist 10 C-note

11 Tranquil discipline 12 Former name of a Kansas arena that commemorated a 1976 U.S. anniversary

13 It helps make a stew

a goo

14 Poached fruit

15 Garnish for una

margarita

16 Source of many a name on a campus building, informally 17 Starts eating

20 Poli ____

25 Reply to the Little

Red Hen

26 Name hidden in

‘‘before long’’ 28 It makes a red velvet

cake red

32 Cancún cash 33 Hamburger’s beef? 34 Word with pepper or

tower

35 Like some ancient

pyramids 37 Acceleration, e.g. 38 Quelques-____ (some,

in French)

39 Quantity multiplied by acceleration in Newton’s second law 40 Pioneer in global

aviation

41 Words of defeat

42 ‘‘Don’t sweat it,’’

informally

43 Educ. supporter 44 Once-popular devices

discontinued in 2022 49 Cousin of a weasel 52 ‘‘What’s the ____?’’

(‘‘’Sup with that?’’) 53 Suffer

55 Farmyard cry

58 Not in a relationship 59 ‘‘The Last O.G.’’ network

61 Vile Nile reptile 65 Out-and-out

66 Foreign leader whom Nixon met in 1972 68 That’s history!

70 Kind of knife of

infomercial fame 71 Like Urdu or Hindi 72 Was very ripe

74 Round figures

76 Montana city SW of

Helena

78 The main antagonist? 79 [Ugh, this is

horrible!]

80 ____ facto

81 Like some highlighter

colors

82 Relish

84 Plant whose name derives from Quechua

85 Devious snicker 89 Barely gets the words

out

92 Pros with deliveries,

in brief

95 Painter Jan van ____ 96 ‘‘Let’s do this!’’

97 Civil rights icon ____ Helen Burroughs 98 Power structure? 100 Capers 104 Shakespeare’s ‘‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’’ has five of them 105 Beaming, as with joy 106 Liberal arts college in Kentucky

107 Locally focused lecture franchise 108 Pac-12 player

109 Santa’s favorite Hostess dessert? 110 Wilson of film

112 Carded at a bar, informally

113 Common spot for a sunburn

114 Gaggles

115 Chain email abbr. 117 Grammy winner ____ Lipa