PI R SQUARED
Gary Larson, of Edmonds, Wash., is a retired comedian. He spent the last 15 years of his career entertaining on cruise ships, where crosswords were a way to pass the time between shows. One day a clue-and-answer combination in a New York Times crossword cracked him up, and he thought, Why don’t I try making one of these? I love writing jokes. How hard can it be to fit them into a puzzle? He found out. This is his 592nd puzzle. It’s his fourth in The Times. — W.S.
ACROSS
1 Examples of attention to detail
9 Yearbook-award word
13 Lift weights
19 Gingerbread man, often
20 British pop singer Lily
22 In the Caribbean it’s known as ‘‘the chicken of the trees’’ 23 ‘‘The government has discovered aliens but isn’t telling us,’’ e.g.
25 Port on the Loire 26 Missouri site of the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival
27 Applications
29 Actress Ward
30 Acronym for a North American quintet
33 Intertwine
35 Pains in the neck
38 Spanish article 39 Power of a square
42 Mrs. Addams, to Gomez
43 Nocturnal bloodsucker
46 Steal
48 Stuff
49 It requires no oxygen for growth 50 Pants with baggy legs
52 Task
54 Noodles often eaten cold in the summer
55 Square things
56 Cause of joint pain
59 Relatively new relative, maybe
61 Small songbird 62 Cornmeal bread 63 Wood for violinmaking
66 Brian who co-founded Roxy Music
67 ‘‘You rang?’’ 68 Means of breathing
74 Calming retreat 77 Subject of 199 silk-screen paintings by Warhol
78 Present from birth
79 Activist ____ Alamuddin Clooney 83 Hesitating sound 84 Unremarkable
86 Goes out for a bit?
88 Valorous
89 Specialty
91 The continents, e.g.
94 His resignation triggered the first invocation of the 25th Amendment
96 Start up again
98 Wacky
101 Like some flights 102 Triangular flags 103 Aerial maneuver 104 Kiddy litter?
105 Mature
106 Power issue
107 Computer image format
109 More up to it
111 South American mammals with trunks
113 Introductory course?
115 Brand of allergy spray
118 Lime and rust 121 It was known by the Algonquin as the ‘‘Father of Waters’’ 126 Extends
127 Similar
128 Castle in ‘‘Hamlet’’
129 More out there 130 ‘‘May God bless and keep the ____ … far away from us!’’ (line from ‘‘Fiddler on the Roof’’)
131 Return to the fray
DOWN
1 Grumpy co-worker 2 Spanish gold
3 Old countrymusic channel
4 French for ‘‘cup’’ 5 Locale of Kings County and Queens County, fittingly
6 Like some batteries and parties 7 Sapa ____ (title for Atahualpa)
8 Not merely cut
9 Gospel singer Jackson
10 Fútbol cheer
11 Doesn’t sit right?
12 Snippy, in a way 13 Spare part?
14 Sch. for Bulldogs 15 ’60s sitcom family
16 What ‘‘X’’ marks on a treasure map
17 First-year law student
18 Mission-driven org.
21 ‘‘Science Guy’’ Bill
24 Shades
28 Glittery glue-ons 30 Wheel cover
31 Acting mindlessly
32 ‘‘____ Brando: Larger Than Life’’ (1994 biography)
34 Dog in classic films
36 Flowing forth
37 Steeple feature 40 Cleverness
41 Universal donor’s blood type, for short
43 Peacockish
44 Activist Hoffman 45 Milk dispensers 47 Lost cause
51 Only player with three 60+ home run seasons
53 Rest of the afternoon?
57 Slant skyward
58 2010 sci-fi film subtitled ‘‘Legacy’’ 60 Trouble 64 Catering container
65 Color for the right eye of a pair of 3-D glasses
69 Only bird with calf muscles
70 Talking back 71 Graceful spins 72 Informal assents
73 Country singer Price
74 #
75 When doubled, 1934 Cole Porter comedy short
76 Absolutely dazzling
80 Book that’s rarely read coverto-cover
81 Right, as a wrong
82 More N.S.F.W., maybe 85 Mimics
87 Vodka or gin 88 Low-dose pain reliever
90 Mass recitation
92 Symbol meaning ‘‘still typing’’
93 Tugboat sound 95 Dedicatee of the 1980 song ‘‘Woman’’
97 Opposite of wide: Abbr.
99 Like slippers versus dress shoes 100 Milky gems 107 Muscly
108 Stumper question
110 Life form
111 Went like the dickens
112 Got rid of 114 German granny
116 Where the infant Moses was found
117 Cathedral recess
119 Maa, in 1995’s ‘‘Babe’’
120 Ukr., e.g., once 122 Genre pioneered in 1950s-’60s Jamaica 123 U.S. overseas broadcaster
124 Unit of work 125 Food writer/ TV personality ____ Drummond