THE FINAL FRONTIER
Rich Katz, of Park City, Utah, does freelance work in corporate restructuring, with a focus on financially challenged companies. He started solving crosswords about five years ago and quickly graduated to making them. This is his New York Times debut. The starting point for its theme was 116-Across. Rich’s love of puns is evidenced by his email address, which includes the Spanish ricos and gatos. — W.S.
ACROSS
1 Visitor-center
handouts
5 Crew supervisor on
a merchant ship 10 QB Patrick who was 2018’s N.F.L. M.V.P.
17 Like a pub crawler’s breath, perhaps 18 *Embarrassing
pants mishap?
20 Set apart 21 Relative of ‘‘ciao’’ 22 ‘‘I never met a ____ I didn’t like’’: Garfield
23 Like some tans 24 *Shipper of British
toilets?
26 Something you might use just for the halibut?
27 ____ Plaines, Ill. 28 Hill worker 29 Modern-day
groundskeeper? 30 Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall and Amy Schumer, for the 2022 Oscars 31 Divides into
sectors
33 5-Down, in Spanish 34 ‘‘I’m not
impressed’’
35 Some sci-fi effects 37 Fast line at the
airport, informally 41 Small figures? 44 *Big fight for a Disney heroine from Polynesia?
47 Some track-and-field races
48 ‘‘They tell me ... ’’ 50 Impulsive sorts? 51 Spanish gentlemen 52 Standing at the
ready
54 Affectionate attention, for short
55 Neither blows it
nor crushes it 56 Grabs lunch, say 59 Word with cane or
cone
61 As a friend, in
French
64 ‘‘That hits the spot!’’
65 Voyage by rocket ... or a feature of the answers to the 12 starred clues? 68 U-Haul offering 69 One rounded up in
a roundup
72 A car that won’t start is a common one in horror films 73 Ties again 76 Pulitzer-winning
novelist Lurie 78 Extreme vexation 80 Alliance 81 Symptom of
burnout
83 Take up a notch 86 Singer Abdul
87 Keg attachment 88 *Shortage of
slime?
90 Appear
91 ‘‘Is that a
challenge?!’’
92 Part of E.S.L.: Abbr. 93 Voice of dissent 94 Scratch (out)
96 Film brand
98 Seoul singers? 99 Component of some high-tech dog collars 103 Kind of card sold in many international airports
106 Metric for a Met,
for short
107 Diane Sawyer’s
real first name 109 *Rest spot for a
tabby?
110 Angry and
impatient
112 Parent who’s fluent in emojis and modern slang, maybe
114 ‘‘Your ____ ran over my dogma’’ (classic dad joke) 115 Sovereign’s
singular
116 *Brew that’s both
bitter and fruity? 117 Tiny arachnids 118 Cries feebly
119 Do some
barbering on 120 Language of the
Emerald Isle
DOWN
1 French wine region 2 Series of trade
discounts? 3 Portmanteau
invitations
4 Website overseers,
in brief
5 Image on a postcard
from Yellowstone 6 Western Hemisphere treaty grp.
7 *Painting of
potatoes, e.g.? 8 Exhorts
9 ____-Down (what
this is)
10 Botch
11 *Main course featuring Egyptian snake meat?
12 Street smarts 13 Portuguese
greeting
14 ‘‘S.N.L.’’ alumna
Rudolph
15 Boarding school where tailcoats are part of the dress code
16 On its way
17 Show some
reluctance
18 Item tossed into a fire at the end of ‘‘Citizen Kane’’ 19 Buddy 25 ‘‘Va-va-____!’’
30 Set of options 31 Acne spot,
informally
32 Brawl site in old
westerns
34 West of Hollywood 35 Agree
36 ____ Goose, cousin
of Donald Duck 38 *Iditarod, for one? 39 Bourbon
alternative
40 The start of
something? 41 Byproduct of
composting
42 ‘‘Wow, super!’’ 43 *Staging of a narc
sting?
45 How a parent serving as the tooth fairy might walk
46 Supported 49 Stephen of ‘‘The
Crying Game’’ 51 Anguish following
a dance marathon 53 N.F.L. positions that sound like a fast-food chain 55 ‘‘I’m sorry, ____, I’m afraid I can’t do that’’ (line from HAL in ‘‘2001’’) 57 Mountain lake 58 Green prefix 60 Fish with a long
snout
62 Layer beneath
the earth’s crust 63 Something made
off the cuff? 66 Closing words 67 Office PC setup 70 One-percenters 71 Frustrating
process
74 Noted speedway
sponsor
75 What a beehive is
made of
77 *Terrific messenger at Hogwarts? 79 *Friend in a
competition? 81 Furbys or fidget
spinners, e.g.
82 In the manner of 83 Many
millenniums 84 Small batteries 85 ‘‘Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you ____!’’: Dr. Seuss
88 Lead-in to X, Y
or Z
89 Substance 95 Sign unlikely to have been written by the person it is attached to
97 Hill workers 98 Swell
99 Hindu embodiment of virtue
100 Stolen treats in ‘‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’’ 101 Mann of music 102 Mardi ____ 103 Knights and
noblemen
104 Privy to
105 Request for
permission
107 TV screen
option, for short 108 Chits
109 Manage
111 Dallas hoopster,
for short
113 Lotta money