SUNDAY NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD
| BY JOHN KUGELMAN, EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ
John Kugelman is a software engineer and musician from Gainesville, Va. His father, who turns 80 this year, is a sounding board for John’s puzzle ideas, and John finds that brainstorming with him is a great way to stay connected. This is John’s first crossword for The Times. It grew out of 38-Across. —W.S.
ACROSS
1 Org. that sells “Speaking up for those who can’t” T-shirts
6 Bread or pasta, informally
10 Rae of “Vengeance” 14 Gives off
19 Social movement that Teddy Roosevelt proclaimed “the most American thing in America”
21 Boyfriend 22 Christopher ____, director of “Oppenheimer” (2023) 23 “Hugh Hefner was quite the media mogul. They called him ... ”
25 Leaf-wrapped Turkish dish
26 Chargeable cars, for short
27 Jerkface
28 “Hands off!”
30 Catch
31 Key item
34 Lauder in the cosmetics aisle
36 Grabs a snack, say 38 “I know they’ve had them on all day, but let the kids eat their candy. After all, a Ring Pop is a ... ”
44 “Mwa-ha-ha-ha” is one 45 “General” with a spicy recipe
46 De Armas who name-checked the New York Times crossword on “S.N.L.”
47 Slithering swimmer 48 Raison d’____
49 One of a record 2,297 for Hank Aaron
51 Bit of Old Norse 53 Columbus sch.
56 “Do you really trust these Bitcoiners? Beware ... ”
60 Suppressed, as a story 63 Dreaded collectors 64 Academic with funding, say
65 Formation involving fibrin
66 Jumbled mess 68 “____-daisy!” 70 Cherished
71 Best
73 Family nickname 77 Publicly makes fun of, slangily, with “on”
78 “That poor lion has a mighty toothache. Boy, ...” 82 Boyo
83 Soothsayer 84 Counterpart of 76-Down
85 Big Apple fashion inits. 86 Sport-____ (vehicle) 89 Home to Masada National Park: Abbr. 90 Lead-in to Pen
92 Sliced into thin strips, as carrots
94 “Enjoy your stay on our horse farm. Hope it’s not too noisy. You can expect ... ”
99 One of five every seven
100 Roman theater
101 Half a giggle
102 “Y” on a form
103 “What ____” (“Bummer!”)
105 Rain checks?
109 Kvass grain
112 Story that goes over one’s head?
114 “Can you believe I sneaked into Buckingham Palace in a trunk and saw the king? I was a ... ”
118 What was exited during Brexit
119 King who said, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!”
120 Annual New Year’s celebration in Pasadena 121 ____ Haute, Ind. 122 Titular Austen heroine
123 Small tips, maybe 124 Forest nymph
DOWN
1 Fictional supplier of Jet-Propelled Pogo Sticks and Dehydrated Boulders 2 Makeshift knife 3 Grading option 4 Director’s shout
5 Loved, loved, loved, with “up”
6 Die, e.g.
7 Shade of blue
8 Verb for a biblical cup 9 Cast out
10 “Nobody ever got fired for buying ____” (old business saying)
11 With these, one can surely walk on water 12 Learned 13 ____-Hungarian Empire 14 What might prompt nostalgia
15 Pasture sound 16 “Uh-huh, sure” 17 Leaf-wrapped Mexican dish
18 Catches
20 Set, as a security system
24 Himalayan sight ... or maybe not
29 Start to see red
32 The Magic, on scoreboards
33 Kind of whale with two blowholes
35 Whole
37 Country with no official language
38 Bitty
39 Night before 40 Restrain, as breath 41 Wait in the shadows 42 Expels
43 Of two minds
49 Kind of cat with short, curly fur
50 Comic-book sound effect
52 Fleece-lined boots 53 Habitually
54 Rare treat, maybe 55 Employers
56 Was accepted
57 Faith that preaches religious unity
58 Nunavut people 59 Himalayan river 60 Curmudgeon’s countenance
61 ____ Centauri
62 Hauled 66 Enjoy, as an article, even though it makes your blood boil
67 Mont Blanc, par exemple
69 Big name in chicken 72 Didn’t pick up what someone was putting down
74 Loose, as laces
75 U.S. intelligence org. 76 Counterpart of 84-Across
77 Least sweet, maybe 79 Square’s length squared 80 Choctaw word for “people,” as seen in a U.S. state name
81 Kapoor of “Slumdog Millionaire”
86 Happening
87 Oolong or Darjeeling 88 Ice-cream entrepreneur Joseph
89 Annoy
91 Play thing?
92 Eagerly accepts 93 Dundee denial
94 Reach a dental milestone 95 Prynne of “The Scarlet Letter”
96 Periwinkle, by another name
97 Stitched
98 “I want,” in Oaxaca 99 Comedian Cenac 104 [Excuse me]
106 Latin 101 infinitive 107 GPS suggestions:
Abbr.
108 Soak (up)
110 When tripled, “Blah, blah, blah”
111 Word with eagle or green
113 Occupational suffix 115 Italian unit of time 116 Big roll
117 Pirate’s exclamation