The New York Times Crossword
WAY OUT WEST By Daniel Mauer / Edited by Will Shortz Daniel Mauer is a software engineer in Massachusetts. He started solving crosswords with his father. Daniel and his wife, Sandy, enjoy road trips, an inspiration for this puzzle.
ACROSS
1 “Meet the ____’’ (baseball fight song)
5 Pertaining to any of five Italian popes
12 Small rodent
18 To be, in France
19 ____ Jay Hawkins, rock pioneer who wrote “I Put a Spell on You’’
20 Hardly a team player?
21 Nickname for
114-Across coined by John Steinbeck
23 Large rodents
24 Corpse ____ (morningafter cocktail)
25 German surname part
26 One of the Guccis
28 At the top
29 Skip or drop
31 Down-to-earth
32 Cool
35 Opposite of a breeze
37 Instruction for some Thanksgiving cooking 38 “Downton Abbey’’ countess
39 Colorful natural attraction along 114-Across
43 An awful state to live in
46 Twitch user, perhaps
47 Spanish : -ando or -iendo :: English : ____
48 Attempt to grasp, as a complicated situation
49 Car-pooling inits.
50 Cuisine that includes gochujang paste
52 “Go ahead and ask’’
56 Pastis flavorer 58 Peridot, for one 60 Smart, say
61 Bad stat for a QB: Abbr.
64 Left
65 Tall, curved attraction along 114-Across
69 Gear for gondoliers
71 Trafficker trackers, for short
72 Legend
73 Animal in the genus Bos
74 Following along
75 Roux ingredient?
78 B3, nutritionally
82 Beverage with a “New England’’ variety
83 Gone to press?
86 Booked it
88 Phrase one might yell at the screen during a horror film
90 What roots are, to powers
92 Graffitied artistic attraction along 114-Across
94 Summers in la cité
95 ____ Austin, Biden’s secretary of defense 97 Bugs
98 Jazz bassist Carter, who has appeared on more than 2,200 recordings
99 Being treated, in a way
101 A whole can of worms?
102 Mamas’ mamas
106 Bug
107 Bad review
108 Component of lacquer thinner
110 More far out
114 Theme of this puzzle, which winds its way nearly 2,500 miles through all the shaded squares herein
117 Wishy-washy response
118 Captivate
119 The Panthers of the N.C.A.A., familiarly
120 Art in the Television Hall of Fame
121 Dislikes and then some
122 Things sometimes named after presidents
DOWN
1 One of 50,460 in the Chunnel
2 Actress Barrymore, greataunt of Drew
3 Famed fountain of Rome
4 Half step, in music
5 Character seen on a keyboard
6 Bile 7 Obsequious
8 Sun deck?
9 “That’s my cue!’’
10 Actress Long
11 Component of a bridge truss
12 Positive results of some strikes
13 TV 6-year-old who attends Little Dipper School 14 Lead-in to “com’’
15 Bit of writing on Twitter or Tinder
16 Natural conclusion?
17 Some mil. officers 19 Abbr. on many streets in Quebec
20 “Holy ____!’’
22 Pass
27 Not mainstream, for short 30 Sierra ____
31 1990s film with a famous wood chipper scene
32 Word with a wave in Oaxaca
33 Classic Camaro
34 Grant ____, northeast terminus of 114-Across
36 Kind of tape
37 $100 bill, slangily 38 Underwriting? 39 “What malarkey!’’
40 Paid penance
41 Site of a U.C. in the O.C.
42 Muscle-bone connector
44 Verb in Poe’s “The Raven’’
45 Trece menos doce
51 Many a Hollywood worker
53 Brownish-yellow hue
54 Big ____
55 Monogram in the 2016 presidential election
57 Puts away
59 Suffragist and abolitionist Abby ____ Alcott 62 Georgia, e.g.
63 One of two circling the earth
65 Decorates deceptively
66 High part of a deck
67 Bon ____ (fashionable world)
68 One-named New Age musician
70 Mower’s trail
74 Means of electronic communication with restricted access
76 Ending with cash or front
77 Self images?
79 Stevenson of 1950s politics
80 They may be ridden to victory
81 Some co. name endings
83 Santa Monica ____, southwest terminus of 114-Across
84 Golden rule preposition
85 Speedskater Kramer with nine Olympic medals
87 Stir in
89 String or integer, in programming
91 Brand with a bull in its logo
92 Critical warning
93 Some scores in horseshoes
96 “My Name Is Asher ____’’
99 Offer one’s two cents
100 Deprived
101 You usually do this lying down by yourself
103 Naval “Negative’’
104 Singer O’Day
105 Bad messages to send to the wrong person
107 Tap-in, e.g.
109 140, in old Rome
110 Covid Data Tracker org.
111 New Deal power agcy.
112 Fools are often seen at its start: Abbr.
113 Peaceful, informally
115 Partner of only
116 Posed for a portrait