SUNDAY NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD
BY JOEL FAGLIANO AND CHRISTINA IVERSON, EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ
Joel Fagliano and Christina Iverson are puzzle editors for The Times. Joel lives in Philadelphia, Christina in Ames, Iowa. They both have young kids and a fondness for “dumb jokes,” as Joel puts it. Christina writes, “We were in the middle of a brainstorm for a totally different Sunday puzzle when we’d hit a wall and Joel messaged me with this theme idea. Every step was collaborative, with a lot of back and forth in D.M.s, shared documents and onversations over Google Meet.”
ACROSS
1 Reaction to the 1950s culture of commercial consumerism
7 “We are not ____” 13 Chill dude
20 Path
21 Penultimate letter in the NATO alphabet
22 See 15-Down
23 We’ve rebranded! Now we sell tiny tongs! 25 Pumpkin, for one 26 River forming the Swiss/Liechtenstein border
27 German “you”
28 100 öre
30 ____ usual
31 Crypto unit
32 Takes in
35 We’ve rebranded! Now we run an advice column on friendship!
37 We’ve rebranded! Now we sell ivy!
39 Let out
41 “America’s Got Talent” segment
42 Dutch explorer Tasman for whom an island is named
43 Fell
44 Key board players 45 Merit
48 Apt rhyme of “Achoo!” 49 We’ve rebranded! Now we sell doughnuts and bagels! 52 We’ve rebranded! Now we help write breakup letters!
55 What a metronome sets
57 Sign for a speaker to wrap things up
58 Sudden burst of speed 60 Not strict
61 Product once marketed with dancing silhouettes
64 Contests
66 Yule ball?
68 We’ve rebranded! Now we do genealogy for the U.S.’ rich and famous! 71 Lover boy
73 Some TSA no-nos 74 Make oneself heard, in a way
75 Something to pull on a highway, informally 76 1300
78 Troubles
80 Online business
84 & 86 We’ve rebranded! Now we operate a test-taking facility/casino!
90 Hosp. section
91 “To have another language is to possess a second ____”: Charlemagne
92 Littlest teams
93 Org. at the front of a phone book
94 Bygone autocrat
95 Fan setting
97 Farmer’s hope, maybe 98 We’ve rebranded! Now we produce a “Beauty and the Beast”-themed podcast!
101 We’ve rebranded! Now we sell only pens and pencils!
104 Like only some mushrooms
106 Short Instagram video 107 “Yikes!”
108 8.5" x 14"
110 The Sixties, e.g. 111 Is revolting
113 What lions use to hunt 115 We’ve rebranded! Now we sell candy to diplomats!
120 Literally, “three teeth” 121 “Beats me”
122 Desert “I” land? 123 In a manner of speaking
124 Execrate
125 Certain employee of a game company or perfumery
DOWN
1 Amigo
2 Egg: Prefix
3 Major export of Venezuela
4 Locale of tiny tunnels 5 One may be 5-4
6 Louis Braille, when he invented Braille 7 All-vowel avowal 8 French house
9 Drops like flies?
10 Sport with clay disks 11 What’s always in poems?
12 Word with front or help 13 Weak excuse 14 Continuously
15 With 22-Across, world capital selected by Queen Victoria 16 PC-to-PC connection 17 Places where dough is made from rolls? 18 Singer/songwriter Mann
19 It’s human, it’s said 24 Marine creature whose name has four consecutive vowels 29 Some baseball stats 31 Streaming competitor 33 ____, Cheatem and Howe (classic fake law firm)
34 Starting point 36 Rapper who co-starred in 1991’s “New Jack City”
37 Float through the air 38 P
40 First plant on Earth, it’s thought
44 “S.N.L.” characters who coined the term “parental units” 46 Coogler who co-wrote and directed “Black Panther”
47 On deck
49 “That would stink” 50 ____ bean
51 In debt
52 Powerfully built 53 “Dance Myself to
Sleep” singer on “Sesame Street” (watch the video on YouTube!) 54 Marvel-ous guy? 56 Cotton variety 59 Cristiano Ronaldo’s team: Abbr.
62 University of Maine town
63 Scuba ____
65 Bud of baseball 67 Become liquidy 68 Whence the line “O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes!”
69 Place for a feather 70 Cuba, por ejemplo 71 Starbucks stack 72 Lead-in to space 77 Destination for migrating humpback whales
79 12 ounces, often, for a drink
81 What C or D might indicate
82 Dreaded words to a bluffer
83 Draw
85 Thicken, as cream 87 Multiple-choice option 88 Whisk-y business? 89 Language in which “hello” is “sa bai dee” said while pressing the palms together
92 Early word for a baby 94 Isn’t steady
96 Director Orson
97 Not a southpaw 98 Rant
99 Puts down
100 See the sites?
101 Some bridge positions 102 Nostalgic style 103 Insurance company with a purple heart logo 105 Kind of card
109 Give, but not as a gift 112 “Yeah?”
114 Excitement
116 ____ Berg, baseball player turned spy
117 Took the bench 118 Informal shirt
119 Camera type, for short