NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

Alex Rosen is a software engineer, formerly of New Jersey, North Carolina and Boston but now living in London. His job is to help computer users avoid email-related security mistakes, like clicking on a bad link or accidentally sending an email to the wrong person. This is Alex’s third puzzle for The Times. He describes it as ‘‘luck at several different levels’’ that he got the symmetrical black squares and asymmetrical circles to work out right. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 They come with

bouquets

6 Away 11 ‘‘____ put our heads

together . . . ’’

15 Singer/drummer

Collins 19 Cell component

20 Pal, in Peru

21 Put one’s nose where

it doesn’t belong 22 Tilt-a-Whirl, e.g.

23 One arm held up with bent elbow and wrist, in a children’s song

24 Move obliquely 25 Phenomenon such as the tendency to see human forms in inanimate objects

27 Any of the groupings of circled letters in this puzzle 30 Gin product 31 Incredible bargains

32 ‘‘Sorry, Charlie!’’

33 Fits together 34 Savory Chinese snacks

37 Jump over

41 Smoking and swearing, e.g.

44 They await your return, in brief

45 Have a good cry

46 Syracuse Mets and Worcester Red Sox, for two 50 ‘‘Music’s most maligned genre,’’ per the critic Tom Connick

51 Word with level or lion 52 ‘‘Everything happened so fast!’’ 54 Farm female 55 ‘‘____ Gone Wrong’’ (2021 film) 57 Brunch beverage 59 One of the brothers on ‘‘Malcolm in the Middle’’ 60 Room in Clue 61 Cause of undue anxiety 63 It may be smoked 64 Hogwash

65 Munch, in modern slang 66 ‘‘____ 17’’ (W.W. II film) 67 One of two in a jacko’-lantern? 70 Where charity begins, in a phrase 73 Table part 74 Title for Tussaud: Abbr.

76 ‘‘Midsommar’’ director Aster 77 Digs up 78 Carpenter’s wedge 80 Does gentle stretching postexercise, with ‘‘down’’

82 Amp knob

84 Die like the Wicked Witch of the West 85 Give zero stars 86 Ne’er-do-wells 88 E.R. inserts 89 By birth 90 Plant said to repel

bugs

93 ____ Ryerson, insurance salesman in ‘‘Groundhog Day’’

94 French pronoun

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95 Quarter ____ (when the big hand is at three)

97 No-longer-current source for current events

99 Hot, mulled punch traditionally drunk around Christmas

101 Bacteria destroyer

104 French port on the

English Channel

106 Like the Minotaur

legend

110 University of Oregon

site

112 How to see the image formed by this puzzle’s circled letters

115 What’s formed by the circled letters in this puzzle

117 ‘‘We’re live!’’ studio

sign

118 Ancient land in Asia

Minor

119 Domino, e.g.

120 Martinez with a statue outside the Seattle Mariners’ stadium

121 Makes less powerful,

in video-game slang

122 Domino, e.g.

123 ‘‘To . . . ’’ things

124 Dino’s tail?

125 Muse of love poetry

126 Arises (from)

DOWN

1 Eastern cicada killers,

e.g.

2 Suggestions

3 ‘‘ . . . said ____ ever’’

4 School

5 Resolves out of court

6 Org. that flew a helicopter on Mars in 2021

7 Fail to mention

8 Information, old-style

9 Rounded quarters

10 Without stopping

11 How Alaska ranks first among the states

12 It’s often left on the

table

13 What ‘‘vey’’ of ‘‘Oy,

vey!’’ translates to

14 ____ Games, company

behind Fortnite

15 Rey, to Luke

Skywalker

16 Sword handles

17 ‘‘Einstein,’’

sarcastically

18 Puts pressure (on)

21 What can make men swear from men’s wear?

26 ‘‘____ pass Go . . . ’’

28 Leading medal winner at the Tokyo Olympics

29 Forman who directed ‘‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’’

35 Farm refrain

36 Weight of a paper

clip, roughly

38 Ancient: Prefix

39 Soul-seller of legend

40 Half-baked?

41 Duck and goose, at

times

42 ‘‘See ya’’

43 Group dance popularized in the U.S. by Desi Arnaz

45 77-Down is on the most collected one in U.S. history

47 Epiphany

48 Voice actor Blanc

49 Show with over 1,000 handwritten cue cards each week, for short 51 City hazard

52 ‘‘My word!’’

53 Pol in the ‘‘I am once again asking . . . ’’ meme

56 City whose police cars are adorned with a witch logo

58 Card game with a

PG-rated name

60 Boring

62 Purse

65 High degree

68 Not at all popular

69 Messes up

70 x, y and z

71 Chaotic skirmish

72 Fragrant compound

74 Saturn has more

than 80 of them

75 Golf-course machine

77 He performed 636 consecutive sold-out shows in Vegas from 1969 to ’76

78 Burn-prevention

meas.

79 The future Henry V, to

Falstaff

80 Fight tooth and nail

81 One who consumes a ritual meal to absolve the souls of the dead

83 Bits on book jackets

87 Roc-A-____ Records

91 Part of U.C.L.A.

92 Fashion designer

Geoffrey

94 It may run from an

emotional situation

95 [Mwah!]

96 Departed by plane

98 Green vehicle

99 Frank

100 Duke’s org.

101 Pasta topper

102 Like the dog days of

summer

103 Acrobatic

105 Make restitution

107 Faint color

108 ‘‘Take me ____’’

109 Approaches

111 Where the lacrimal

glands can be found

112 Pasta topper

113 Pump some weights

114 Not exactly

116 Vaccine-approving

agcy.