TERMINAL CONNECTIONS

Paolo Pasco is a recent Harvard graduate, now working in data science in San Diego. He’s been making puzzles for The Times since he was 15. His job interview was partly about crosswords and included a programming problem to find words, Boggle-style, in a grid. How lucky was that? He says he thought of this puzzle’s theme during a class back in April and fleshed it out while walking back to his dorm. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 ‘‘Te quiero ____’’ (Spanish words of endearment)

6 ____ axis, half of an ellipse’s shorter diameter 15 See-worthy? 20 Volume on an iPad,

say

21 Singer of ‘‘Fame’’

fame

22 ‘‘____: Game Over’’ (2014 video-game documentary) 23 Grown-up efts 24 Old-fashioned

letter opener

25 Turn into confetti 26 12/25, e.g.

28 ____ Lewis, singer of the 2007 No. 1 hit ‘‘Bleeding Love’’ 29 Tennis star Naomi, who was born in 29-Across

30 ‘‘I’m gonna tell you

something huge’’ 33 Mossy growths 36 River with a

‘‘White’’ counterpart 38 Lil ____ Howery

(‘‘Get Out’’ actor) 41 Stuffs into a hole,

say

44 F-, for one

45 Ritual with bamboo

utensils

48 God, in Italy 49 Repeated word in an ‘‘Animal House’’ chant

51 Pastry with the same shape as an Argentine medialuna 52 Attorney general

before Garland 53 Online promotions,

collectively

56 What businesses

go by

59 Cut down 60 ‘‘Eureka!’’

61 Word with easy or

stop

64 Provide change in

quarters?

68 Long, tragic stories 72 Up to this point 74 Best supporting actress nominee for ‘‘The Power of the Dog,’’ 2021

75 Letter opener, pencil cup, inbox tray, etc. 76 Phanerozoic ____

(what we live in) 77 Classroom aides,

for short

79 British term of

address

80 Currency for the prize on ‘‘Squid Game’’

81 Reddit Q. and A.

session, in brief 82 Most unpleasantly

old and mildewy 85 Letters before Constitution or Enterprise 86 Popular subcompact hatchback from Japan

89 Rock commonly

used in asphalt 91 Part of a hotel with décor fitting a certain motif 93 Video-game series with settings in Liberty City and San Andreas, for short 94 Gobsmack 95 Scottish

interjection 96 ‘‘Everything Everywhere ____ at Once’’ (Michelle Yeoh movie)

97 R.&B. artist whose name sounds like a pronoun

99 Eats

101 Travis of country

music

105 One of 2,297 for Hank Aaron, for short

107 Annoyance for a

Twitch streamer 110 Figure with equal

angles

112 Sunday ____ (end-of-week anxiety, casually) 114 Country whose flag depicts a machete

116 With 121-Across, company that sells scuba gear

117 Certain furniturestore purchases 120 Missing

121 See 116-Across 122 ‘‘Be My Baby’’

group, 1963

123 Bygone Microsoft

media player

124 The lights in fairy

lights

125 Some travel considerations, in brief

126 Tarnish

127 Donkey Kong and

others

DOWN

1 Bachelors, e.g. 2 ____ Eats

3 Ninja Turtle’s

catchphrase

4 One who’s supergood-looking 5 Affirmative gesture 6 *Baseball pitching

style . . . or a weapon 7 Afore

8 Dining-hall offerings 9 About, on a 10-Down 10 See 9-Down 11 Volunteer’s words 12 Tennis’s ‘‘king of

clay’’

13 Hour, in Italy

14 *Big name in hotels 15 Access providers 16 Within reach 17 Actress who played ‘‘Jessica’’ in ‘‘Parasite’’

18 No-go ____ 19 Something to pry

or twist off 27 Volunteer’s words 29 [Gasp!]

31 Chooses

32 More run-down 34 Period in ancient

history

35 Like a defeatist’s

attitude 36 *Indentation on a

chew toy 37 Textile-making

device

38 *Light again

39 ‘‘I mean ... ’’

sounds

40 *Whom Holmes tells, ‘‘You do find it very hard to tackle the facts’’ 42 Telegram 43 *Many a Viking 46 Pulled a fast

one on

47 College near

Vassar

50 Where van Gogh and Gauguin briefly lived together

52 Dyeing method

using wax

54 Chief ____ (rapper with a rhyming name) 55 Where feudal

workers worked 57 French equivalent

of ‘‘Stephen’’ 58 ____ van der Poel, Olympic speedskater 61 Academic

acronym

62 *Grand

63 Hits shore

unintentionally 65 *Early French

Protestants 66 Burden 67 *Basic rivalry 69 ‘‘Continuing where we left off last time ... ’’ 70 *’’G.I. Jane’’ star,

1997

71 Field goal avg.,

e.g.

73 Believers in Jah,

informally 75 Fatalistic sort, in

slang

78 Place in an

overhead bin

80 No ____! (punnily named dairy-free chocolate brand) 83 Explosive stuff 84 U.S. ID?

87 Bad place to pour

grease

88 ‘‘Have ____ make my email stop’’ (Destiny’s Child lyric)

90 Cable in the middle of a tennis court 92 Would really

rather not 97 ‘‘What’s up,

everyone!’’

98 -ish

100 *’’Encore!’’ 102 Fidel ____, 1990s

Philippine leader 103 Tehran’s home 104 Fork prongs 106 *Actress Angela 108 How to play

solitaire

109 They have high

ratings on the Beaufort scale 111 Jokester’s

arsenal

112 ‘‘Leave it,’’ on

paper

113 Alien-seeking

org.

115 Strip near Tel

Aviv

118 Beverage at un

café

119 Business-card

abbr.

Answers will be printed in next week’s crossword puzzle page.