LENGTH-ENING
Michael Lieberman, of Washington, D.C., is an attorney at Fairmark Partners, a consumer-protection firm. This is his ninth Times crossword in two years. It started when the Billy Joel title “We Didn’t Start the Fire” morphed in his head to “ennui didn’t start the fire.” That didn’t make much sense, but it did make him laugh. He went searching for other such transformations to build a puzzle around. — W.S.
ACROSS
1 Opportunities for singles 7 Marbled savory snack from China 13 A boatload 17 ‘‘Keep Ya Head Up’’ rapper, informally 20 Home of the W.N.B.A.’s Wings 21 Talk and talk and talk and talk 22 On the deep 23 Poorly 24 Why the party’s about to get less hip? 26 Maker of the Switch console 28 Cremation receptacles 29 Service that’s not good? 30 ‘‘The ____ Company’’ (Frans Hals portrait) 32 Pie-crust ingredient 33 Army award attribute 35 Realtor’s exclamation about a primary bathroom? 39 Actress Moriarty of ‘‘The Boys’’ 40 ‘‘My package arrived!’’ 42 Landing info, in brief 43 Sorrowful sound 44 ‘‘Not gonna ____ . . . ’’ 45 Other: Sp. 46 Structure on the continental shelf 48 Take (down) 49 How Shamu acknowledged the crowd’s appreciation? 52 Go from 60 to 0, say 54 Grp. regulating global commerce 57 Got by just fine 58 Some N.F.L. linemen, in brief 60 Where someone might fiddle with your dance moves? 62 Flat-topped military hat 64 Ocean State sch. 66 Takes the stage 69 Man’s name that spells a fruit backward 70 ‘‘Prepare for a sword fight, McKellen, Fleming and all other namesakes out there!’’? 75 Uncurbed enthusiasm 76 Injury from a fistfight 77 Byproduct of burning tobacco 78 Bread maker? 79 Casino do-overs 81 Like many lifeguards 83 Crews 86 Neurodegenerative disease, for short 87 1990s fitness fad 90 Dish cooked to smooth things over after a fight? 95 Cable channel with the comedy/drama ‘‘Sistas’’96 TV that’s trash, e.g. 98 Pops 99 High point of a trip to Europe? 100 The old you? 102 It’s full of hot air 103 One small bite 105 Word with bus or whistle 106 What students in a karate class are often doing? 109 Spiny sea creatures 111 Flatbreadmadew ith atta 112 Charge for a tutor 113 Business-card abbr. 115 Hang ominously 116 Place for a lamp 118 Challenge for a court jester? 123 ‘‘That’s ____’’ (‘‘You may proceed’’) 124 film 125 North African stew, or the dish it’s cooked in 126 Intimidating in a cool way 127 Flavor enhancer, for short 128 Counterpart of -ful 129 Wears down 130 Contents of a corn maze
DOWN
1 Freeware annoyances 2 Where you might order nopales or esquites 3 Less clear, as a memory 4 Support group with a hyphen in its name 5 Ankle bones 6 About 5 o’clock, compass-wise 7 Daly of ‘‘Cagney & Lacey’’ 8 Singer-actress Kitt 9 ‘‘Yo te ____’’ 10 The Tasmanian one has been extinct since the 19th century 11 ‘‘Capisce?’’ 12 Like wind power vis-à-vis natural gas 13 Something a parent might tell you to watch14 God who was said to be in love with his sister while still in the womb(!) 15 Core position 16 Took a load off 17 Thing to bash at a bash 18 Buzz about space? 19 Thick heads 25 State symbol of Massachusetts 27 ‘‘Middlemarch’’ novelist, 1871 31 Showing signs of life 33 Commanding position 34 Located, to a builder 36 Herman Melville’s second novel 37 ‘‘That’s odd’’ 38 Act unprofessionally? 41 Channel 45 How you might walk after getting great news 47 ‘‘Hey, I had it first!’’ 48 Comedianactor Ken of ‘‘The Hangover’’ films 50 Skewer 51 Pinkish-red shade 53 It moves one step at a time 54 ‘‘Ain’t I a ____?’’ (Sojourner Truth speech) 55 Between, poetically 56 Lead-in to a sale price 59 Lacking emotional toughness 61 Remove from Zillow, say 62 Show submission, in a way 63 ‘‘Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!’’ 65 Still competing 67 Tour de France stage 68 Envelops70 Pound who wrote ‘‘In a Station of the Metro’’ 71 C sharp equivalent 72 Slowly move (in) 73 Sends unwanted texts to, maybe 74 Utterances of agreement 80 Totally loved 82 Present at birth 84 What’s so flippin’ easy to cook with? 85 Dinner at which ‘‘Dayenu’’ is sung 88 Fried pastries popular in New Orleans 89 Baby that rarely sleeps at night 91 Kind of high-fat, low-carb diet 92 Unlike π 93 Business magnate who is a Stanford University dropout 94 Actor Omar 95 Electronic toy with a blue ‘‘pull’’ handle 97 ‘‘On Juneteenth’’ author ____ Gordon-Reed 100 Some beachwear 101 Show-off 102 Mournful peals 104 Play opener 105 Rhimes with an eponymous production company 106 Pummel 107 Infuse (with) 108 Joy of TV 110 Sole connector? 114 Potato peeler targets 117 Patella neighbor, in brief 119 One may get in the way of a collaboration 120 Purge (of) 121 Abbr. in a birth announcement 122 Site used by NASA, in brief