HAMMER TIME

Nathan Hasegawa, of Oakland, Calif., is a junior at Harvey Mudd College majoring in mathematics. This is his second crossword for The Times. His first was in 2021, during his senior year in high school, when every student had to pursue a yearlong project and Nathan’s was to get a crossword published here. This follow-up, which has a multifaceted theme, was two years in the making (on and off ). — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Toy on a racetrack

8 Soccer star who has won a record eight Ballon d’Or awards 13 Like ‘‘t,’’ ‘‘k’’ and ‘‘p,’’

in phonetics

20 What Hemingway claimed he did to the ending of ‘‘A Farewell to Arms’’ 39 times

21 Dartmouth and Penn,

e.g.

22 Fled

23 Mnemonic start

24 Actor Leary

25 Flowerlike sea

creature

26 Massive victory . . . or a high score in 113-Across?

29 Really enjoys oneself 31 Doofuses

34 Wetland

35 Objections

36 Be part of an uprising 37 Lowercase letter that

resembles an ‘‘n’’ 39 Las Vegas resort with a music-inspired name

41 But

42 Resort amenity

45 Medical procedure,

for short

46 Overabundance

47 Vodka drink,

informally

49 Tremble

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 4,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).

52 Contaminating trace 53 Chemical-solution

strength

54 ‘‘Yeshiva boy’’ played

by Barbra Streisand 55 Author who penned the line ‘‘Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart’’ 56 Climate issue addressed in the Montreal Protocol 58 Approach something

with gusto

60 What’s the matter?

61 Sunder

62 Shapes of many

carrot slices 64 Currency worth a little more than dollars

66 Spreadsheet command

67 Spot for a loft

68 Muesli bit

70 Make a pile, perhaps 72 Rentable transportation options

76 Fracas

78 Music’s Little ____

83 Used TurboTax, say 84 Journalist’s accessory 86 Knuckle-headed act? 87 Biblical man who lost

his birthright

88 2017 musical retelling of the stories of Henry VIII’s wives 89 Symbol for torque, in

physics

91 Many a viral post

92 Point of no return?

95 Ace

98 Coast

101 Ellipsis element

104 Aviator’s maneuver in a crosswind landing

108 Proportional

109 ‘‘The Last Supper,’’ for one

111 Spot on an afternoon schedule? 112 Doofuses

113 Game represented visually in this puzzle

116 Talks like Tom Waits 117 Justice Kagan

118 Try for a seat in the Capitol

119 Fifth-century pope dubbed ‘‘the Great’’ 120 Constant nuisance 121 Like some postage and parking spaces 122 Fish whose juveniles can climb walls

DOWN

1 Many prom attendees:

Abbr.

2 Niihau neckwear

3 Symbol of wisdom

4 Lock

5 Mountebank

6 ‘‘Nice work, little

fella!’’

7 Dreamy state

8 Skirts that go below

the knee

9 Giant slalom at the

Olympics, e.g.

10 Choir director’s command

11 Tremor

12 Put out

13 Make perfect, maybe 14 Frustrating highway

driver

15 Short tennis session

16 Gregor ____, Franz

Kafka character

17 ____ Jima

18 Small band transport 19 Image at the top of the pyramid on the back of a dollar bill

27 ‘‘____ la vista, baby!’’ 28 Insertion mark

29 Put on a pedestal, say 30 Jennifer of ‘‘The

Morning Show’’ 32 ‘‘White Noise’’ author Don

33 What a shock!

34 11,111 vis-à-vis

123,454,321

38 Swear (to)

40 Tweak, say

42 Ejects forcefully

43 Primitive camera

feature

44 Like a winner of a mountain marathon, in two senses

46 First name of Julius Caesar

48 Unrefined mined find 50 Finish line for the first stage of the first Tour de France

51 Giant name in

Giants history

52 Cinemax competitor 57 It’s facedown on a

poker table

58 Negroni spirit

59 [I’m SO mad!]

60 Cotton fabric often used in bandages

63 Hosp. areas

65 Gondola propeller 67 Honey

69 Verb sometimes abbreviated to its central letter

71 Prefix with tourist or

hotel

72 Series finale

73 Counterfactual starters, in logic

74 Karachi-based carrier 75 Certain urban

nightlife

76 Military hiding spot

77 Place that’s cramped

and squalid 79 Something a presidential candidate often wins 80 Gray, say

81 Part of a hoop

82 It may be repeated

after ‘‘fiddle’’ 84 Oregon-based

athletic brand

85 Podium

88 Items in a hardware

store bin 90 Acting as one

93 Capital in the Himalayas 94 Company originally known as Control Video Corp. 96 Shelley’s ‘‘____ to the West Wind’’

97 Converges on

98 Source of a sleeper

hit, perhaps

99 ____ Holmes, Netflix character played by Millie Bobby Brown

100 Pitkin County ski town

101 Old Venetian money 102 Give a keynote, say 103 Performer with lions 105 Cotton fabric often used in hosiery

106 Urge

107 Some dinero

109 Part of a lion

110 Ear piece

114 Bottom line?

115 Container component