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Arranged Marriages

New York Times, Sunday, July 27, 2025

Author:
John Kugelman
Editor:
Will Shortz
Blog:
Forgiving middle-aged dads for their dad jokes, say?
TotalDebutLatestCollabs
137/30/20237/27/20251
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11100100
ScrabDebutFresh
1.6012860%
John Kugelman

This puzzle:

Rows: 21, Columns: 22 Words: 141, Blocks: 72 Missing: {JQYZ} Spans: 5 This is puzzle # 13 for Mr. Kugelman. Sunday freshness: 30%
Will Shortz notes:
John Kugelman, of Gainesville, Va., is a software engineer specializing in cybersecurity. This is his 13th crossword for The Times. It has five carefully chosen, elegantly clued theme answers ... read more
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© 2025, The New York Times7/27/25 ( No. 27,655 )
Across
1
Maintains, as a superstition : CLINGSTO
9
Subject of the 2017 musical film "The Greatest Showman" : BARNUM
15
"Same with me" : ASAMI
20
Not funny : HUMORLESS
22
Ralph Ellison novel about a nameless protagonist's journey in racist America : INVISIBLEMAN
24
Forgiving middle-aged dads for their dad jokes, say? : EXONERATINGGENERATIONX
26
Picket line? : FENCE
27
Bud in Cooperstown : SELIG
28
Dorm room staple food : RAMEN
29
Cross-country conveyances : SKIS
30
Darth Vader's childhood nickname : ANI
32
Inflexible : RIGID
34
Have away with words? : EDIT
36
Muppet of Mexican descent : ROSITA
39
Knows just when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, maybe : CHEATS
42
Gives lip : SASSES
47
Attire for Larry Page and Sergey Brin when visiting Google incognito? : TECHNOCRATSTRENCHCOATS
51
Columbus sch. : OSU
52
Carnage : GORE
53
Down Easter : MAINER
54
One with a set of pipes : ORGAN
55
Come out of one's shell : MOLT
57
Sherlock's sister on TV : ENOLA
60
___ bag : SWAG
62
Much-maligned 2019 movie about which one review said "It's 'Battlefield Earth' with whiskers" : CATS
63
One of classical music's Three B's : BRAHMS
66
Landscaper's supply : MULCH
69
Tundra or taiga : BIOME
71
"You think that hunk of junk'll pass inspection? Please!"? : STREETLEGALLETSGETREAL
78
Trademarked refrigerant : FREON
79
Uncle Sam's land, informally : USOFA
80
Lithe : SVELTE
81
+/- : ORSO
84
Drink mixed in mixed drinks : SODA
86
Handy : UTILE
89
Avatar of Vishnu : RAMA
90
Back in, in a way : RETRO
92
Try to hit in laser tag : FIREAT
95
Older sister of Rachel, in Genesis : LEAH
98
Basic BASIC statements : IFS
99
Real chess playa? : CHECKMATINGCHICKMAGNET
104
Contemporary of Gauss and Faraday : AMPERE
105
James who played Scotty on "Star Trek" : DOOHAN
106
"No ___, Bob" : SIRREE
107
Part of une pièce de théâtre : ACTE
110
Plunderers of Rome : GAULS
112
Hindu honorific : SRI
113
Clock toggle : AMPM
117
Hollowed out, as an apple : CORED
120
Hogwarts's "Half-Blood Prince" : SNAPE
122
Burnt pigment : UMBER
126
Greeting from a famous Italian character to a famous Italian American actress? : MARISATOMEIITSAMEMARIO
130
DC power player in the late 1800s? : THOMASEDISON
131
Good thing to play in a trick-taking game : TRUMPCARD
132
Magical symbol : SIGIL
133
Dispensing, with "out" : METING
134
Art lovers : ESTHETES
Down
1
One always cooking up new ideas? : CHEF
2
Ritzy : LUXE
3
"That's my cue" : IMON
4
___ compensation (stock options, for instance) : NONCASH
5
Revegetation, e.g. : GREENING
6
Canon option, in brief : SLR
7
They may be Thai or chai : TEAS
8
Cuisinart competitor : OSTER
9
Noted rapper with an oxymoronic name : BIGGIESMALLS
10
Director Lee : ANG
11
Traveler in no need of hotels, for short : RVER
12
Columbian caravel : NINA
13
"I'm your guy" : USEME
14
Bogged down : MIRED
15
___-right (political category) : ALT
16
Twice tres : SEIS
17
Out of control : AMOK
18
Nail salon request, familiarly : MANI
19
1980s band among Australia's all-time best-selling groups : INXS
21
Quartz compound : SILICA
23
Cast out : BANISH
25
When doubled, "Sleep well" : NIGHT
31
Langston Hughes poem that begins "___, sing America" : ITOO
33
Word with mine or dump : DATA
35
___ the Town (punny fast-food restaurant name) : TACO
36
Vacation package offerer, perhaps : RESORT
37
Visionary? : OCULAR
38
Lot unit : ACRE
40
Prefix with angular : TRI
41
D.C. 100: Abbr. : SENS
43
Mickey Mouse's boss in "Fantasia" : SORCERER
44
Whale of a tale : SAGA
45
Géorgie, par exemple : ETAT
46
Identity thief's acquisitions, in brief : SSNS
47
The pyramids, essentially : TOMBS
48
Stimpy's TV pal : REN
49
Rookies : NEWBS
50
Bond's man? : CRAIG
56
Skill taught to Luke Skywalker : THEFORCE
58
Texter's gasp : OMG
59
Feast with kalua pig : LUAU
61
Skedaddles : GOES
64
___ de Glace (glacier in the French Alps) : MER
65
Fr. holy women : STES
67
Desperate pursuit of fame, in modern lingo : CLOUTCHASING
68
Weight : HEFT
70
Channel that popularized video jockeys : MTV
72
Shower scrubber : LOOFA
73
Split : ENDIT
74
Mai ___ : TAI
75
TV friend of Jerry, George and Kramer : ELAINE
76
Money for your money : ATMFEE
77
Slightest : LEAST
81
Black-and-white hunter : ORCA
82
Longtime NPR host Diane : REHM
83
Part of a flight : STEP
85
Bone-dry : ARID
87
Business entity inits. : LLC
88
Shrill cries : EEKS
91
Slimy veggie : OKRA
93
Brian who co-founded the Long Now Foundation : ENO
94
In awe : AGOG
96
Chums, in Chamonix : AMIS
97
"Bah, humbug!" : HARRUMPH
100
Nashville and New Orleans, for musicians : MECCAS
101
Stomping ground : HAUNT
102
Bringing up the rear : INLAST
103
[Yuck!] : GRIMACE
108
Sacred object : TOTEM
109
Lose ground? : ERODE
111
Slash on a scoresheet : SPARE
113
Qtys. : AMTS
114
When repeated, a tropical fish : MAHI
115
___ rock (genre for Pink Floyd and Dream Theater, familiarly) : PROG
116
Apt name for a narcissist? : MIMI
118
Release : EMIT
119
He loved Lucy : DESI
121
Nesting pair in the Outback : EMUS
123
Army ___ : BRAT
124
The Emerald Isle : EIRE
125
Photosensitive cells : RODS
127
Seasoning for una margarita : SAL
128
Bit of plasma : ION
129
One whose uniform bears the Star of Life, for short : EMT

Answer summary:
8 unique to this puzzle.

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