HAMMER TIME
Nathan Hasegawa, of Oakland, Calif., is a junior at Harvey Mudd College majoring in mathematics. This is his second crossword for The Times. His first was in 2021, during his senior year in high school, when every student had to pursue a yearlong project and Nathan’s was to get a crossword published here. This follow-up, which has a multifaceted theme, was two years in the making (on and off). — W.S.
ACROSS
1 Toy on a racetrack 8 Soccer star who has won a record eight Ballon d’Or awards 13 Like ‘‘t,’’ ‘‘k’’ and
‘‘p,’’ in phonetics 20 What Hemingway claimed he did to the ending of ‘‘A Farewell to Arms’’ 39 times
21 Dartmouth and
Penn, e.g.
22 Fled
23 Mnemonic start 24 Actor Leary 25 Flowerlike sea
creature
26 Massive victory ... or a high score in 113-Across?
29 Really enjoys
oneself
31 Doofuses
34 Wetland 35 Objections
36 Be part of an
uprising
37 Lowercase letter that resembles an ‘‘n’’
39 Las Vegas resort with a musicinspired name
41 But
42 Resort amenity 45 Medical procedure,
for short 46 Overabundance 47 Vodka drink,
informally
49 Tremble 52 Contaminating
trace 53 Chemical-solution
strength
54 ‘‘Yeshiva boy’’ played by Barbra Streisand
55 Author who penned the line ‘‘Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart’’ 56 Climate issue addressed in the Montreal Protocol 58 Approach something with gusto 60 What’s the matter? 61 Sunder
62 Shapes of many
carrot slices 64 Currency worth a little more than dollars 66 Spreadsheet
command
67 Spot for a loft 68 Muesli bit
70 Make a pile,
perhaps
72 Rentable transportation options
76 Fracas
78 Music’s Little ____ 83 Used TurboTax, say 84 Journalist’s
accessory 86 Knuckle-headed
act?
87 Biblical man who
lost his birthright 88 2017 musical retelling of the stories of Henry VIII’s wives
89 Symbol for torque,
in physics
91 Many a viral post 92 Point of no return? 95 Ace
98 Coast
101 Ellipsis element 104 Aviator’s maneuver in a crosswind landing 108 Proportional 109 ‘‘The Last
Supper,’’ for one 111 Spot on an
afternoon schedule? 112 Doofuses
113 Game represented visually in this puzzle
116 Talks like Tom
Waits
117 Justice Kagan 118 Try for a seat in
the Capitol
119 Fifth-century pope
dubbed ‘‘the Great’’ 120 Constant nuisance 121 Like some postage and parking spaces 122 Fish whose juveniles can climb walls
DOWN
1 Many prom
attendees: Abbr. 2 Niihau neckwear 3 Symbol of wisdom 4 Lock
5 Mountebank
6 ‘‘Nice work, little
fella!’’
7 Dreamy state
8 Skirts that go below
the knee
9 Giant slalom at the
Olympics, e.g. 10 Choir director’s
command
11 Tremor
12 Put out
13 Make perfect,
maybe
14 Frustrating
highway driver 15 Short tennis
session
16 Gregor ____, Franz
Kafka character 17 ____ Jima
18 Small band
transport
19 Image at the top of the pyramid on the back of a dollar bill 27 ‘‘____ la vista,
baby!’’
28 Insertion mark 29 Put on a pedestal,
say
30 Jennifer of ‘‘The
Morning Show’’ 32 ‘‘White Noise’’
author Don
33 What a shock! 34 11,111 vis-à-vis
123,454,321
38 Swear (to) 40 Tweak, say
42 Ejects forcefully 43 Primitive camera
feature
44 Like a winner of a mountain marathon, in two senses
46 First name of Julius
Caesar
48 Unrefined mined
find 50 Finish line for the first stage of the first Tour de France
51 Giant name in
Giants history 52 Cinemax
competitor
57 It’s facedown on a poker table 58 Negroni spirit 59 [I’m SO mad!] 60 Cotton fabric often used in bandages
63 Hosp. areas 65 Gondola propeller 67 Honey
69 Verb sometimes abbreviated to its central letter 71 Prefix with tourist
or hotel
72 Series finale 73 Counterfactual
starters, in logic 74 Karachi-based
carrier
75 Certain urban
nightlife
76 Military hiding
spot
77 Place that’s cramped and squalid 79 Something a presidential candidate often wins
80 Gray, say
81 Part of a hoop 82 It may be repeated after ‘‘fiddle’’ 84 Oregon-based
athletic brand 85 Podium
88 Items in a
hardware store bin 90 Acting as one 93 Capital in the
Himalayas 94 Company originally known as Control Video Corp. 96 Shelley’s ‘‘____
to the West Wind’’ 97 Converges on 98 Source of a sleeper hit, perhaps
99 ____ Holmes, Netflix character played by Millie Bobby Brown 100 Pitkin County ski
town
101 Old Venetian
money
102 Give a keynote,
say
103 Performer with
lions
105 Cotton fabric often used in hosiery
106 Urge
107 Some dinero 109 Part of a lion 110 Ear piece
114 Bottom line? 115 Container
component
Answers will be printed in next week’s crossword puzzle page.