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Freestyle Exercise

New York Times, Sunday, August 9, 2026

Author:
Erik Agard
Editor:
Will Shortz
Blog:
Honey boo-boo?
TotalDebutLatestCollabs
8511/6/20128/9/202643
SunMonTueWedThuFriSatVariety
1281091015201
RebusCircleScrabFlowFresh
281.6042.961%
Erik Agard

This puzzle:

Rows: 21, Columns: 21 Words: 128, Blocks: 58 Missing: {JKQZ} Spans: 4, (2 double stacks) This is puzzle # 85 for Mr. Agard. Grid flow: 65.8 Sunday freshness: 97%
Will Shortz notes:
Erik Agard, of Kansas City, Mo., is a senior puzzle editor for the Andrews McMeel media company. This is his 84th crossword for The Times. Erik says his favorite thing about crosswords is ... read more
Erik Agard notes:
I've been meaning to put 57-Across in a puzzle ever since I learned about her (and Mamie Johnson and Connie Morgan) while visiting the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, one of the first ... read more
Jim Horne notes:
Read about Toni Stone on Wikipedia. Caitlin Lovinger over on Wordplay wondered if this was the first-ever Sunday grid with two double grid-spanning stacks. It is the first since 1990. The ... read more
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F
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X
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C
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C
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D
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B
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P
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G
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H
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W
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M
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P
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W
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F
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C
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O
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99
F
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100
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© 2026, The New York Times8/9/26 ( No. 28,033 )
Across
1
One bit : ATALL
6
Bad jobs : HEISTS
12
Target of an annual vaccine : FLU
15
x or y : AXIS
19
Swimmer's invitation : COMEONINTHEWATERSFINE
23
One of two in Hawaii : CONGRESSIONALDISTRICT
24
Father of the river gods, in Greek myth : OCEANUS
25
Overwhelm : SWAMP
26
Jamaican folk song about dock work : DAYO
27
Ones who've made the team : ROSTER
28
One at the U.S. mint? : UNUM
29
Long-handled tool : HOE
31
What might pile up during a digital detox : EMAIL
35
Show great fondness, in a way : DOTE
36
In the lead : ONTOP
38
Cow : DAUNT
40
Oscar winner Hathaway : ANNE
41
Foxlike : SLY
42
Winter pellets : SLEET
43
___ forgiveness : DEBT
44
Say without saying : HINTAT
46
Godsends : BOONS
47
Up to 150 years, for a tortoise : LIFESPAN
49
The first "C" of Vietnam's H.C.M.C. : CHI
50
Beaver's home : LODGE
51
Communicate through a disagreement : HAVETHINGSOUT
53
Counterpart of 53-Down : TODAY
54
Display perfect timing, much like dancers : MOVEASONE
55
Agcy. that protects the right to unionize : NLRB
56
Some Indian flatbreads : ROTIS
57
First woman to play regularly in a major American men's pro baseball league : TONISTONE
58
Bond between Lazenby and Dalton : MOORE
59
"Let's do it" : IMIN
60
Setting for Ghassan Kanafani's "All That's Left to You" and Mourid Barghouti's "I Saw Ramallah" : PALESTINE
61
Like a lion's coat : TAWNY
62
Reprimand that might be biting, ironically : TONGUELASHING
64
Group of partridges : COVEY
65
"www" string : URL
66
Honey boo-boo? : BEESTING
67
Like the Taj Mahal and the Hagia Sophia, architecturally : DOMED
68
Up for the day : ARISEN
70
Named names : SANG
71
[Oh God ...] : GROAN
72
Nurse : SIP
75
Many a spacious apartment : LOFT
76
Stand-up comic ___ Wang : SHENG
78
Where a band might go : WRIST
79
"Gimme!" : MINE
80
Go undefeated : SWEEP
82
Enterprise letters : USS
83
"Let's put a smile on your plate" chain : IHOP
84
Lover of Tristan : ISOLDE
86
Combine, as resources : POOL
88
Nintendo villain with a "W" on his cap : WARIO
90
Bothersome recurrence : FLAREUP
91
Controversial business oversight : CORPORATESURVEILLANCE
96
Amusement park ride in which one's legs dangle high off the ground : INVERTEDROLLERCOASTER
97
Lip : SASS
98
"___ bodkins!" (bygone oath) : ODS
99
Comes clean, with "up" : FESSES
100
Old Bulgarian rulers : TSARS
Down
1
Results of some peace talks : ACCORDS
2
"Wow!" : TOOCOOL
3
Government act whose name comes from the Greek for "forgetfulness" : AMNESTY
4
Papal representative : LEGATE
5
Michaels of "Saturday Night Live" : LORNE
6
Angry cat's "greeting" : HISS
7
Nav. rank : ENS
8
Retort of denial : ITISNOT
9
Offer emotional support (for) : SHOWUP
10
Time that's an artist's name backward : TENAM
11
Did the butterfly, e.g. : SWAM
12
Co. whose logo depicts the god Mercury holding flowers : FTD
13
Dutch city with a namesake jar : LEIDEN
14
___ Major : URSA
15
"Because I Got High" rapper : AFROMAN
16
12 letters? : XII
17
Magazine for entrepreneurs : INC
18
Good to go : SET
20
Branch with a stem? : NEUROLOGY
21
Number of letters? : ALPHABETSONG
22
Ocular affliction : STYE
28
Uintah and Ouray reservation people : UTES
30
Surpassed : OUTSHONE
32
Group in support of a queen : ANTCOLONY
33
Rushing around : INAHURRY
34
Last Beatles single before Paul McCartney's departure : LETITBE
37
Reality TV icon ___ Leakes : NENE
38
Edging, e.g. : DEFEATING
39
Title for Macbeth : THANE
42
Parts of many combo meals : SODAS
43
Selling off, as stocks : DIVESTING
45
Big inits. in Dutch banking : ING
46
Foretelling of : BODING
47
Bestowing extravagantly (on) : LAVISHING
48
Source of fragrant cones : PINE
50
Destiny : LOTINLIFE
51
Something that might not be well received when someone asks "How do I look?" : HONESTANSWER
52
Was flaky? : SNOWED
53
Counterpart of 53-Across : TOMORROW
54
It's not exactly fast food : MOLASSES
56
Almsgiving and pilgrimage, for two : RITUALS
57
Bit of folklore : TALE
58
Wonk : MAVEN
60
Hammer parts : PEENS
61
Main ingredient in salsa verde : TOMATILLO
63
Purple yam in Filipino desserts : UBE
64
Sounds from pigeons : COOS
67
Simple coffee brewing method : DRIP
69
Treeless tracts : STEPPES
71
Pleasing rhythms : GROOVES
72
Diamond component? : SILENTA
73
Gene-activating substance : INDUCER
74
Eyes, informally : PEEPERS
77
Danced at a luau : HULAED
78
Eddies : WHIRLS
79
Very complicated situation, so to speak : MORASS
81
___ People's Campaign (1968 S.C.L.C. movement) : POOR
83
Self-congratulatory declaration : IRULE
85
One of the Five Pillars of Islam, referring to prayer : SALAT
87
"___ take arms against a sea of troubles": Hamlet : ORTO
89
Since : ASOF
90
Some fan-made literary works, informally : FICS
91
Prefix with normative : CIS
92
___ shoestring : ONA
93
They're parked in parks : RVS
94
Some OT enders : TDS
95
Before, poetically : ERE

Answer summary:
12 unique to this puzzle, 6 unique to Modern Era but used previously.

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