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The Name Is the Game

New York Times, Sunday, September 7, 2025

Author:
Derrick Niederman
Editor:
Will Shortz
Blog:
114-Across : The shark-warning notes of "Jaws," for example
TotalDebutLatest
165/22/19835/17/2026
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
16000000
RebusCircleDebutPre‑WSFlowFresh
22141433.077%
Derrick Niederman

This puzzle:

Rows: 21, Columns: 21 Words: 140, Blocks: 68 Missing: {JQXZ} This is puzzle # 15 for Mr. Niederman. Grid flow: 42.6 Sunday freshness: 67%
Will Shortz notes:
Derrick Niederman, of Charleston, S.C., is a writer, mathematician, and game designer who was, until recently, an adjunct math professor at the College of Charleston. His game inventions ... read more
Jim Horne notes:

Some artists just need a large canvas. This is Mr. Niederman's 15th NYT crossword, all Sundays.

1
H
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A
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V
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N
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O
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C
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D
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G
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O
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B
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A
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H
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D
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O
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B
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F
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L
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O
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F
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F
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N
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B
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S
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D
© 2025, The New York Times9/7/25 ( No. 27,697 )
Across
1
Where Gloria Estefan was born : HAVANA
7
Hairstyle that can be casual or formal : UPDO
11
Relative of a sultan : EMIR
15
Strikebreaking sort : SCAB
19
One who gives a good talking-to? : ORATOR
20
Spring's opposite, tidally : NEAP
21
Constant nuisance : BANE
22
Mansión, por ejemplo : CASA
23
As the British pound rises in value, the dollar ___ : BILLWITHERS
25
Sure things : SLAMDUNKS
27
Area with pews : NAVE
28
Part of many a morning routine : SHAVE
29
Equipment : GEAR
30
Orchestra section toward the middle of the pit : OBOES
31
With 76-Down, individually : ONEAT
33
Fury : IRE
34
After spending the afternoon at Epcot, we had dinner at a ___ bistro : TONYORLANDO
36
Ancestor of the tuba or sousaphone : BASSHORN
38
Low-quality paper? : RAG
39
Like a naughty Beetle Bailey, in brief : AWOL
40
Overdone : TRITE
41
The "E" of Q.E.D. : ERAT
43
Depleted : USEDUP
48
Facetious suffix with most : EST
51
Did Joyce write courtesy of a ___? : ULYSSESGRANT
55
Blunt negative : NOPE
56
Philosopher who purportedly said "The best fighter is never angry" : LAOTSE
58
Have a bawl : SOB
59
Son of Hanna-Barbera's Doggie Daddy : AUGIE
60
Reason to relocate a picnic blanket, maybe : ANTS
61
Borneo neighbor : SUMATRA
63
Female moose or elephant : COW
65
Fish-eating raptors : ERNS
66
Dab with a towel : BLOT
67
Subdivisions of some counties: Abbr. : TWPS
68
An increase in ham prices forced the deli to ___ sandwiches higher : MARKCUBAN
71
Begged : PLED
72
Scorch the surface : SEAR
73
Andean stimulant : COCA
74
Source of the films "The Blues Brothers" and "Coneheads," in brief : SNL
75
Gerald Ford or William Howard Taft, once : YALEMAN
78
Peter, Paul and Mary, e.g. : TRIO
79
Words before sea or lunch : OUTTO
81
Summer mo. : AUG
83
Decks for reading : TAROTS
84
Biblical preposition : UNTO
85
To Washington ___, Germany, seemed far from Tarrytown, N.Y. : IRVINGBERLIN
88
Big word in advertising : NEW
89
Toady : YESMAN
91
Buzz, so to speak : CALL
92
Charles or Ray who lent their name to a kind of chair : EAMES
94
Unpleasant look : LEER
97
Social gathering of a sort : BEE
98
Certain canines : EYETEETH
102
Some Californians consider Santa ___ on Earth : BARBARAEDEN
107
___-cone : SNO
108
Stockpile : STORE
109
Anesthetic first used on a patient in 1842 : ETHER
110
"Fine as is, actually" : STET
111
Canada's first national park, founded in 1885 : BANFF
113
"___ Three Lives" (early TV drama) : ILED
114
The shark-warning notes of "Jaws," for example : LEITMOTIF
116
The supermodel was holding a copy of ___ herself on the beach : ELLEFANNING
118
Tackle box item : LINE
119
Home makeover, in brief : RENO
120
Election Day is one: Abbr. : TUES
121
Work on the score of : NOTATE
122
Carbon compound : ENOL
123
Beat one's chest : BRAG
124
Set of pull-ups? : ARMS
125
Very high : STONED
Down
1
Schmooze : HOBNOB
2
___ Afghan Airlines, carrier to the Mideast : ARIANA
3
Parts of a heart or trumpet : VALVES
4
No fewer than : ATLEAST
5
"Stat!" : NOW
6
Media personalities Melber and Fleischer : ARIS
7
Remove a restraint from : UNHARNESS
8
Irk : PEEVE
9
Have the nerve : DARE
10
Special ___ : OPS
11
Buddy who portrayed TV's Jed Clampett : EBSEN
12
Peninsula in southeast Asia : MALAYA
13
Consecutively : INAROW
14
Somnial acronym : REM
15
Aquatic acronym : SCUBA
16
Collection of laws : CANON
17
"Jeez, sorry I ___!" : ASKED
18
Sarastro in Mozart's "The Magic Flute," e.g. : BASSO
24
Product of the first three primes : THIRTY
26
Tiny house occupants : DOLLS
29
Get crazy (over) : GOGAGA
32
Pushes with force : THRUSTS
34
Smears : TARS
35
Directs, as cargo : ROUTES
37
Edmonton N.H.L. player : OILER
38
International shoe brand originating in England : REEBOK
42
Extremely loyal : TRUEBLUE
44
One who's a well-meaning but bad influence on a friend, maybe : ENABLER
45
Why do none of the Fruit of the Loom characters ___-colored clothing? : DONLEMON
46
Current : UPTODATE
47
Annoyance : PEST
48
Trains above street level : ELS
49
White wine named for a region in France : SAUTERNE
50
Peeping ___ for Lady Godiva to appear : TOMWAITS
52
Like some philosophical arguments : SOCRATIC
53
Taj Mahal's city : AGRA
54
Numbskull : NINNY
57
Bar with drafts : TAPROOM
62
Love, in Lyon : AMOUR
64
Spots to go in the U.K. : WCS
69
End of any Shakespeare play : ACTV
70
Powerless : UNABLE
71
Space balls : PLANETS
72
Bed-___ (Brooklyn neighborhood, familiarly) : STUY
73
Shakespeare, vis-à-vis the expression "brave new world" : COINER
76
See 31-Across : ATIME
77
Sydney's state: Abbr. : NSW
80
How some risks are taken : ONABET
82
Immaturity : GREENNESS
86
Secluded valley : GLEN
87
"Take it easy, will you?!" : LAYOFF
90
Startle : ALARM
93
Mounted below the surface of : SETINTO
95
___ Sunday : EASTER
96
Body part containing photoreceptors : RETINA
99
Relating to the wind's movement : EOLIAN
100
Vingt + dix : TRENTE
101
Equivocated : HEDGED
102
Ball girl? : BELLE
103
Didn't dine out : ATEIN
104
Large safari sight : RHINO
105
Intoxicating Asian plant whose name sounds like an insect : BETEL
106
Clear, in a way, as a windshield : DEFOG
107
Beaver State capital : SALEM
111
Sight of a speeding car, maybe : BLUR
112
Season ticket holders, presumably : FANS
115
Spherical shape : ORB
116
Info for a traveler, for short : ETA
117
Follower of waste and want : NOT

Answer summary:
5 unique to this puzzle, 1 debuted here and reused later.

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