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Present Time

New York Times, Sunday, December 21, 2025

Author:
David Kwong
Editor:
Will Shortz
Blog:
Prickly denizen of coral reefs
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David Kwong

This puzzle:

Rows: 22, Columns: 21 Words: 143, Blocks: 72 This is puzzle # 25 for Mr. Kwong. Grid flow: 42.8 Sunday freshness: 93%
Notepad: Once the puzzle is complete, the circled letters, when read from left to right, will spell a punny two-word phrase.
Will Shortz notes:
David Kwong is a magician in Los Angeles. When he was seven, a magician at a pumpkin patch fooled his father, a biochemist (to the boy, "the smartest man in the world"), with a magic ... read more
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PALM
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B
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OAK
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PINE
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N
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D
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CEDAR
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Y
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W
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© 2025, The New York Times12/21/25 ( No. 27,802 )
Across
1
Some Arctic transports : SKIPLANES
10
S.E.C. football powerhouse, for short : BAMA
14
1950s hangout with a jukebox : SODASHOP
20
Game piece made of four squares : TETROMINO
21
"The Kite Runner" protagonist : AMIR
22
Skulks : PROWLS
23
Joins gradually : EASESINTO
24
"Doggone it!" : DARN
25
Treatment : REMEDY
26
Blue colorant obtained from the indigo plant : ANIL
27
Wrangler alternative : LEE
28
Brightly colored Mediterranean flowers : SUNROSES
30
Rap's Run-___ : DMC
31
Course catalog? : MENU
32
When Aries transitions to Taurus : APRIL
34
Sweetly, on scores : DOLCE
35
"I'll pass" : NAH
36
Input of certain mining : DATA
38
Montalbán who played Khan in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" : RICARDO
40
Timer setting : OVEN
42
Areas of influence : SPHERES
45
Mental health org. : APA
46
Fraudulently make seem like : PALMOFFAS
48
Covers completely : COATS
49
Wyoming peak : TETON
51
Like a corporation with a new logo, perhaps : REBRANDED
54
Comment from someone caught in the rain : IMSOAKED
56
Yellow avenue in Monopoly : VENTNOR
58
A bit off, say : ONSALE
59
Hyatt alternative : OMNI
60
Hard-boiled genre : NOIR
62
TheForce.net for "Star Wars," for example : FANSITE
64
Dark side : YIN
65
Former big name in browsers : NETSCAPE
67
U.F.O.-watching org. : SETI
68
By way of, informally : THRU
70
Kemo ___ (the Lone Ranger) : SABE
71
Sailor's patron : STELMO
72
Fleetwood Mac hit named for a Celtic goddess : RHIANNON
76
Daddy : POP
79
Eponymous British financier James ___ : BARCLAY
81
By saying this you mean well : BIEN
82
Wrap seller : DELI
83
Adopted, as a pet : TOOKIN
85
Wasn't folded in a suitcase, say : LAYFLAT
87
Developed, as baby teeth : GREWIN
89
Sci-fi miniaturizer : SHRINKRAY
91
Emanations : AURAS
93
Boldly face : BRAVE
94
Kind of cipher in which A becomes B, B becomes C, e.g. : CAESAR
95
Guardians, on a scoreboard : CLE
96
Bit of birdspeak : CHITTER
98
Damp, mildewy quality : MUST
99
They hold water : VESSELS
102
Silence : HUSH
103
Lying faceup : SUPINE
104
___ Park, Calif. : MENLO
105
Air : ETHER
107
Disney subsidiary : ESPN
111
A little help? : ELF
112
Evaded, as a sensitive issue : DANCEDAROUND
114
Some pings, in brief : IMS
115
"Fie on ___!" (Shakespearean cry) : THEE
116
Skips over : ELIDES
118
Few and far between : RARE
119
Regulars at parks with ramps, informally : SKATERATS
121
Reply after having one's memory jogged : YESYES
122
Some time ago : ONCE
123
"What's done is done!" : GETOVERIT
124
Stick (to) : ADHERE
125
Garden interloper : WEED
126
Church parts crossing naves : TRANSEPTS
Down
1
Make furious : STEAM
2
"The Family Circus" cartoonist Bil ___ : KEANE
3
Tennis line judge's ruling : ITSIN
4
Duke Ellington classic with the lyric "That was my heart serenading you" : PRELUDETOAKISS
5
West side of L.A.? : LOS
6
"Is there still time for me to join you?" : AMILATE
7
51 to the hour : NINEPAST
8
Stage direction : ENTER
9
Phillipa of Broadway : SOO
10
Grammy winner Erykah : BADU
11
___ Gorman, "The Hill We Climb" poet : AMANDA
12
Copy : MIRROR
13
Iced-tea-and-lemonade refreshments : ARNOLDPALMERS
14
Spending romp : SPREE
15
Output of certain mining : ORES
16
Counterpart of a sub : DOM
17
Fast start? : ASHWEDNESDAY
18
Father, familiarly : OLDMAN
19
Mentally overpower, with "out" : PSYCH
28
Like most moccasins : SLIPON
29
Great Dane of cartoons, informally : SCOOB
33
More livid : IRATER
37
Keister, in Leicester : ARSE
39
2015 chart-topping hit for the Weeknd : CANTFEELMYFACE
40
Symbolic for its time : OFANERA
41
Shoe company with an iconic checkerboard design : VANS
42
Descendant : SCION
43
Apple: Fr. : POMME
44
Is without : HASNT
47
Rabid in appearance : FROTHING
50
Woman's nickname that sounds like two letters : EVIE
51
Rice-A-___ : RONI
52
"Borderlands" director ___ Roth : ELI
53
Hiding place : DEN
55
Gene pools? : DNABANKS
57
Org. with its own alphabet : NATO
61
Abbr. not found on most smartphones : OPER
63
"Aren't ___ lucky one?!" : ITHE
66
It has a lot of secretaries : CABINET
67
Shirt collar stiffener : STAY
69
Where to find six "presents" in this puzzle? : UNDERTHETREE
71
Knock 'em dead : SLAY
72
Coolidge who sang the theme for "Octopussy" : RITA
73
Just getting started with : NEWAT
74
Green shade : OLIVE
75
What Joe Montana was in the '80s : NINER
76
A TD scores six of these : PTS
77
"Fancy, that!" : OOH
78
Prickly denizen of coral reefs : PORCUPINEFISH
80
Famed lawyer in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial : CLARENCEDARROW
81
Most minimal : BAREST
84
Some Korean exports : KIAS
86
Calmed deceptively : LULLED
88
Baseball slugger's stat : RBIS
90
Bird used to deliver messages on "Game of Thrones" : RAVEN
92
Blueprints : SCHEMATA
97
Author Zora Neale ___ : HURSTON
98
Noodled on, with "over" : MULLED
100
Girlfriend in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" : SLOANE
101
Informant : SOURCE
103
"Ta-ta!" : SEEYA
104
Tricky pool shot : MASSE
106
Someone enjoying a walk in the park : HIKER
108
Mentally with it : SHARP
109
___ four : PETIT
110
Fits one inside the other : NESTS
112
Porcine : pigs :: cervine : ___ : DEER
113
Essential : NEED
117
It might be good for a change : DYE
119
One who knows the drill?: Abbr. : SGT
120
Teslas, e.g., for short : EVS

Answer summary:
14 unique to this puzzle, 2 unique to Modern Era but used previously.

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