The New York Times Crossword

TODAY: TERMINAL CONNECTIONS (1023)

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 ____ (endof-week anxiety, casually)

114 Country whose flag depicts a machete 116 With 121-Across, company that sells scuba gear 117 Certain furniture store 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 10Down 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 and Gauguin van Gogh 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