TURNS OF PHRASE
Spencer Leach is a third-year mechanical-engineering student at Virginia Tech. Their engineering background influences how they generate themes — for this puzzle, they used a custom bit of Python code to compare a list of homonyms against common phrases. Spencer is currently in the midst of a summer-internship search and hopes any would-be employers enjoy this puzzle! Puzzles Edited by Joel Fagliano
ACROSS
1 ‘‘Let me repeat ... ’’ 6 Musical speeds 11 When repeated, a
cry of approval 15 Like many creatures in modern sci-fi movies, for short
18 Light wood
19 Cross figure
20 New Jersey’s Sea
____ City
21 Spot for a shot 22 Spook some creatures in an aquarium’s touch tank?
24 Fiery matches? 26 Band with the 1994 hit ‘‘What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?’’
27 Some vocal solos 28 In the style of 30 ‘‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’’ playwright Edward 31 Bad material for a silk purse, proverbially
33 Deliver a blow to
Dracula?
37 With ‘‘the,’’ a sudden flip from attraction to disgust, in modern parlance 38 Brand whose stock price increased 50 percent in the first six months of 2020 40 Blooms named for
their shape
41 Set of selections 43 ‘‘You sure?’’ 44 Before45 No. calculated from
letters
47 References a Vatican Library source?
49 Went down
a slippery slope 50 ____ Palmas,
Canary Islands 51 Kind of history 52 About, on a memo 53 Certain Ivy Leaguer 54 Support
55 ‘‘Forget it!’’ 57 Welcomes at the
door 59 Tender spots 60 Referees a Tennessee football game poorly? 64 Common pet fish 67 Superlative held by the Atacama Desert
68 ‘‘Barry’’ or
‘‘Ballers’’
72 Stadium sounds 73 Plain
74 Cap’s place
76 It might be a
stretch
77 Suffix with Manhattan or meteor
78 Fortitude
79 Write an ode to
a caffeinated soda? 82 Airport abbr. 83 Addresses online 84 Sound unit found in many Asian languages
85 Nip and tuck, so to
speak
86 Like some teas 88 Kind of edition with bonus tracks, perhaps
89 Stadium cheer 90 Start preparing
borscht?
92 Fully commit 96 Court cry
97 Garnet is its
birthstone: Abbr. 98 Sculpting stuff 99 Super ____ (GameCube predecessor)
101 ‘‘Bather in
the Woods’’ painter 104 Make smash
burgers?
108 Pretty cool stuff 109 Burn a little
110 Decides that one
will
111 Major artery 112 ____ cha beef
(Chinese dish)
113 Jumped over,
as a checkers piece 114 Michelangelo work whose name translates to ‘‘compassion’’ 115 Suddenly think of
DOWN
1 Letter-shaped
support piece 2 Certain corporate
department
3 Mission San Antonio de Valero, more familiarly
4 Neighbor of Leb. 5 World’s oldest capital city, settled in the third millennium B.C. 6 Taylor Swift song that begins, ‘‘Combat, I’m ready for combat’’
7 Makes a gaffe 8 ‘‘Mamma ____!’’ 9 ‘‘Gangnam Style’’
rapper
10 Comment from someone exiting the mall on Black Friday 11 Pedal-operated
instrument
12 That, in Toledo 13 Umbrella term for eboys or goth girls
14 Struck out 15 Stealthy criminal 16 City feature that’s been found to improve mental health
17 ‘‘None for me,
thanks’’
19 Kind of seeds in
a healthful smoothie 23 Footslog
25 Balm ingredient 29 ____ Luthor, nemesis of Superman
32 Vintage restaurant
items?
33 Spoil, with ‘‘on’’ 34 Git
35 ‘‘Just a little
longer!’’
36 Lauder of
cosmetics
39 Do some light work
on?
41 Barcelona museum
subject
42 H’s on some
college houses 43 ‘‘The Lorax’’ setting 44 Actress Cravalho
who voiced Moana 46 Doesn’t just
assume
47 Swindle 48 Wedding-cake
layer
49 Survive
53 Chuck, slangily 54 Final phase of a video game, perhaps
56 Big name in
records
57 [Actually, don’t
change that] 58 Sounds of doubt 59 ____-Caps
(candy)
61 Birds known for their loud, complex songs
62 Royal title 63 Assist in a crime 64 Gooey pairing
with fig jam 65 Economic-justice
catchphrase 66 Its water is nearly 10 times saltier than ocean water
69 Animal product 70 Foreboding sign 71 ‘‘Impressive!’’ 73 Who cries, ‘‘You get a car, you get a car!’’ in a viral meme
74 Toy brand for a budding engineer, maybe
75 ‘‘I don’t like
that,’’ in Spanish 78 Take away 79 Police captain on ‘‘Brooklyn NineNine’’
80 Burden 81 Enthusiastic
agreement 84 Genre for many
a boy band
87 GPS suggestions:
Abbr.
88 Part of the D.O.J. 89 It’s a four-letter
word, aptly 90 Neighbors of the
Navajos 91 One-named singer born in Reykjavik 93 What Ove’s name was changed to for the American film adaptation of ‘‘A Man Called Ove’’ 94 Like neon 95 ‘‘Groovy!’’ 98 Sibilant summons 100 ‘‘South Park’’
boy
102 Density symbol,
in engineering 103 1990s Indian
prime minister 105 Sch. in N.Y. 106 Quebec’s
Festival d’____ 107 ‘‘You’re accusing
me?!’’