SUNDAY NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD
Simeon Seigel is an architect at the Turrett Collaborative in New York City. He uses his subway commute to “trainstorm” theme ideas — including this one, which has been in the works since 2018. He writes, “The best themes, to me, are the ones that hinge on breaking ‘rules’ that I hadn’t thought of as rules until they were broken.”
ACROSS
1 Pear variety
5 Universal, as a motor 9 Short hedge?
13 Turner on the radio 17 Farm machine equipped with twine 18 More crafty
19 The right one is usually slower
20 Eclipse
21 Title character for
Tyler Perry
22 Bright pink shade 24 Literary friend of Sam, Merry and Pippin
25 “____ With Marc Maron” (podcast)
26 Like a stock quote? 28 Attraction in
69-Across that once froze over for
30 hours in 1848 30 Informally agree to 32 Stick in a cup
34 Buyer
35 Sudden arrival 37 Attraction in
69-Across that withstands dozens of lightning strikes a year, familiarly 39 Didn’t swipe right? 40 Mail insert: Abbr. 42 What prices can do 43 Turning on the waterworks
46 Either end of America? 47 “I goofed,” in slang 48 Fish fittingly found in “anemone”
50 Music genre that emphasizes the offbeat 51 Stumbler or bumbler 52 Name that sounds like a letter
54 Actor Kutcher 60 General meeting place 62 School subjects? 65 Steel boot feature 67 Occasion for fireworks: Abbr.
68 Capital city founded by King Harald
69 Locale of this puzzle’s attractions (really, all eight of them!)
72 Spa service, in brief 76 Pro ____ (for now) 78 Bleep out 79 Unwrapped eagerly 81 Voicer of Olaf in “Frozen”
85 Typical sock hopper 87 British throne room? 88 Not a good guy 89 Handled thing 90 Handling things 92 Curt reprimand to a dog
94 Wood used to make chess pieces and pool cues
96 Scarfs (down) 98 Caribbean music genre 101 Name of two “Groundhog Day” characters
103 Little rascals
104 Attraction in 69Across overseen by the Navajo Nation
107 “Life would be ____ if it weren’t funny”: Stephen Hawking
109 French eatery
111 Noted name in 2005 news
113 Cause of a driveway stain
116 Attraction in 69Across on the Extraterrestrial Highway 118 “Nature of a ____” (1991 Queen Latifah album)
120 Originally called
121 Children’s author Eric 122 Biggest portion
124 A little crazy
126 Colonized, as bees might
127 Directional heading? 128 Skipjacks and bluefins
129 Perfect places
130 Be on the decline? 131 Spanish for “weight” 132 Former L.A. center 133 Clinic liquids 63 “The lady ____ protest too much … ” 64 Brut-ish?
66 Touch gently 70 Division for a tennis match 71 Persuaded 73 Attraction in 69Across designed to be a “city of the future” 74 Academic figures 75 Fictional archaeologist with a whip, familiarly 77 Googled oneself, e.g. 80 Attraction in 69-Across where crocodiles and alligators uniquely coexist
81 Quick boxing move 82 Tic-tac-toe loser 83 Buffet style
84 Part of the spine 86 Diamond stat 91 Deliberated (on) 93 Subgenre prefix 95 Flake, so to speak 97 Came to
99 Supply for kindergarten drawers
100 Eponymous saint of “Alamo City”
101 Some clerical workers 102 Seller of over a billion Huggable Hangers on TV 103 It’s a trap!
105 Profitability metric, for short
106 Sea eagles
108 Wine-menu section 109 The two wives and 20 children of
Johann Sebastian
110 Letter-shaped beam 112 Yoga pose
114 Insurance company whose name contains a diphthong 115 “Ivories”
117 Bomb
119 Where dinars are spent
123 “Wait … what?”
125 Work on something you love?