SUNDAY NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD | COLLISION COURSES
Sam Donaldson is a law professor at Georgia State University, teaching property to first-year students and federal income tax and trusts and estates to upper-division ones. He’s been making crosswords for The Times since 2008. Typically his grids have lots of lively vocabulary. Sam writes, “This is one of those puzzles where solvers might not realize the theme until after they’re done, so I wanted the process of getting to the finish line to be as enjoyable as possible.”
– W.S.
Across
1 Sell, as bicycles? 7 Coups in journalism 13 What might prompt a run for Congress? 19 Arctic jacket 20 Hairspray brand since the 1950s
21 Big name in pain relief 22 Band whose final album, “Synchronicity,” was their most popular, with “the”
23 More in need of practice
24 24 horas from now 25 Big name in pain relief 26 Disembark
27 Used an unspoken language
28 One not getting in too deep
29 Chinese zodiac animal 30 Tiny amount of time: Abbr.
32 Hella
33 Game typically played in the dark
37 Become established 39 Calf site
42 Common concert merch
43 Pronoun for Frenchwomen
46 Like diamonds
47 It shares a key with “!” 48 It might be stuck on the chopping block 50 Rise, as a steed might 52 Politico Cheney 54 Color-wheel options 55 Old yellers?
57 Animal with a prominent proboscis 61 Trifling, informally 62 Lab-engineered fare, facetiously … or a hint to the six crossings of shaded squares 67 Totenberg of NPR 68 “____ at 11” (local news promo)
69 Prefix with biology 70 Thing moving through a tube, maybe
71 Qom home
72 Lenovo competitor 73 Bountiful harvests for farmers … or another hint to the crossings of shaded squares
77 Grub
78 What gorillas have that giraffes lack?
80 Spot for a tattoo 81 Prefix with biology 82 Peter Pan alternative 84 Achieved a flight training milestone 86 Hiking group?
88 Email symbols, informally
91 Target of an annual shot
93 Worker who makes a ton of dough
94 Terse affirmation 95 Producers of multiple outs, for short
96 Like a very heavy sleeper
99 Precisely
102 It’s “rarely pure and never simple,” per Oscar Wilde
103 Bit of hairstyling 106 Mop’s partner, in a brand name
107 Measures up to 111 Tight (with)
113 Pipes up
116 Pinkerton who founded the Pinkerton detective agency
117 Unpredictable change 118 Is delighted by the invitation
119 “Brille Brille Petite ____” (children’s song abroad)
120 Mesopotamian metropolis
121 Thinks up
122 Experience sharer 123 Got in order
124 Fast-sounding freshwater fish
125 Eye-grabbing email subject line
Down
1 Tree of the custard apple family
2 “The ____ Holmes Mysteries” (young adult series)
3 Gave (out)
4 Claptrap
5 Makes some deep cuts in
6 Barely squeeze (by) 7 Unlawful occupant 8 Swear word
9 Swear word
10 Garnish for a Gibson cocktail
11 Jurors, to a defendant 12 Word with food, clothes or entertainment 13 Quick escapes
14 Cry of perfection from a carpenter?
15 City NW of Bar Harbor 16 Retort to “No, you’re not able”
17 Has for supper 18 Seeing someone socially
20 Loud, as a crowd 26 “For ____, all nature is too little”: Seneca 31 Tesla but not Edison 34 Vast quantity
35 Smart ____
36 Bad look
38 Kenan’s comedy partner
39 Queen commemorated on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 40 Objects from faraway lands
41 Not so harsh
44 Land of leprechauns 45 Seek, as punitive payment
49 1993 R&B hit with the lyric “Keep playin’ that song all night”
51 Seat of Utah County 53 Most off the wall 56 Alphabet ____ 58 Illegal, as a download 59 Ensnared
60 Return payments? 62 Totally terrif
63 Go back for more 64 “Knives Out” actress Ana de ____
65 “Happy to!” 66 Contacts via Instagram, informally 74 Singer/songwriter ____ Mai
75 They start in the corners
76 Bygone magazine for rock music enthusiasts 79 Beast with a mouth best left unexamined 81 Where you went 83 Longtime Progressive spokeswoman
85 Vehicle that might have parachute brakes 86 Brand name-checked in Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome”
87 It’s hot right now 88 Some skin care ingredients, informally 89 Relative of a waterspout
90 More cocksure
92 Sch. for which John Wayne played tackle 97 Wedding proposal? 98 So-called “father of geometry”
100 Honors in the ad biz 101 Fit in
104 “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” spinoff 105 Unpopular food that’s rich in minerals 108 A-listers 109 Claw
110 Hägar the Horrible’s hound
112 Twosome
114 105-Down, e.g. 115 Spanish dirección 119 Source of big green eggs