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MERGER MANIA

New York Times, Sunday, April 11, 2021

Author:
Dick Shlakman and Will Nediger
Editor:
Will Shortz
Blog:
15-Down : ___ Ng, author of the 2017 best seller "Little Fires Everywhere"
TotalDebutLatestCollabs
32/2/20144/11/20213
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
2001000
CircleScrabDebutFresh
11.572843%
Dick Shlakman
TotalDebutLatestCollabs
515/27/20069/18/202414
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
2303102211
RebusCircleScrabDebutFresh
161.7239669%
Will Nediger

This puzzle:

Rows: 21, Columns: 21 Words: 140, Blocks: 68 Missing: none – this is a pangram. Puzzle has duplicate clues. This is puzzle # 3 for Mr. Shlakman. This is puzzle # 37 for Mr. Nediger. Sunday freshness: 37%
Will Shortz notes:
Dick Shlakman, who's turning 82 next Sunday, is a retired lawyer and corporate executive from Plano, Tex. Will Nediger, 31, is a professional crossword constructor from London, Ont. Dick ... read more
Constructor notes:
DICK: I "met" Will Nediger by requesting his mentorship, freely offered on a Facebook group of cruciverbalists. That led to our collaborating on a number of already published and pending ... read more
Jeff Chen notes:
I didn't fully understand the theme until I read Will Nediger's notes. I'm glad that he had a formula, because my first impression was that the products were a mish-mash, too loosely ... read more
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© 2021, The New York Times4/11/21 ( No. 26,087 )
Across
1
Men are pigs (after she's through with them, anyway!) : CIRCE
6
The "A" of James A. Garfield : ABRAM
11
Naysayers : OBJECTORS
20
Lower-cost option on a popular rideshare app : UBERX
21
Egg: Sp. : HUEVO
22
Frontiersman's headgear : BEAVERHAT
23
Result of a merger between Quaker Oats and Greyhound? : LIFECOACHES
25
Maintaining equilibrium : INBALANCE
26
Discourage : DETER
27
Soft drink concentrate, e.g. : SYRUP
29
"Night on Bald Mountain" or "Finlandia" : TONEPOEM
30
With 18-Down, what has four legs and sprints? : RELAY
32
Musician who was booed in 1965 for playing electric guitar : DYLAN
34
Letters before Gerald R. Ford and Ronald Reagan : USS
35
Luau instrument, for short : UKE
37
Zoom : TEAR
39
Corner : NOOK
41
Second-longest human bone, after the femur : TIBIA
46
Result of a merger between Kraft and Hershey's? : SINGLESBARS
51
Result of a merger between Google and Planters? : DRIVENUTS
53
Like the wights on "Game of Thrones" : UNDEAD
54
Best of the best : ATEAM
56
Spelling ___ : BEE
57
What Santa checks twice : LIST
58
R-rated : ADULT
59
Rulers' staffs : SCEPTERS
61
Fire man? : STELMO
63
On the ___ : LAM
64
Poet Lazarus : EMMA
66
Prefix with thermal : ISO
67
Bad sound for an engine : SPUTTER
68
Result of a merger between Hasbro and Nikon? : TROUBLESHOOTERS
72
Bird like the Canada goose or arctic tern : MIGRANT
75
Lummox : OAF
76
Cheese offered tableside at Italian restaurants, informally : PARM
77
Recipe amt. : TSP
80
Eagle constellation : AQUILA
81
Passive acquiescence : DOCILITY
84
Voice a view : OPINE
86
Firm decision maker? : SUIT
87
Revolutionary Guevara : CHE
89
Klum of "Project Runway" : HEIDI
90
"My love," in Madrid : MIAMOR
91
Result of a merger between Procter & Gamble and Jacuzzi? : TIDEPOOLS
94
Result of a merger between Hormel and Instagram? : SPAMFILTERS
96
Warehouse : STORE
97
10 to 10, say : TIED
99
___ reform, cause for the Marshall Project : BAIL
100
Middling grade : CEE
101
Pub choice : ALE
103
Shot across the bow? : ARROW
106
___ Waldorf, the so-called "Queen B" on "Gossip Girl" : BLAIR
109
Leaves nothing to the imagination : BARESALL
114
Measured : SIZED
116
"Been there, done that" feeling : ENNUI
118
Disney's world : ANIMATION
120
Result of a merger between Ralph Lauren and Starbucks? : POLOGROUNDS
123
"Stop your foolishness outside!" : GETINHERE
124
Not on : UNLIT
125
Chops up finely : DICES
126
Was uncomfortably hot : SWELTERED
127
Basil-based sauce : PESTO
128
___ Allen, one of the founders of Vermont : ETHAN
Down
1
___-de-sac : CUL
2
Ditto, in scholarly journals : IBID
3
Brexit vote, e.g. : REFERENDUM
4
Home to the Minoan civilization : CRETE
5
Shine : EXCEL
6
"Now I get it!" : AHA
7
2021 Super Bowl champs : BUCS
8
Drink up during a timeout, say : REHYDRATE
9
Tex who directed the first Bugs Bunny cartoon : AVERY
10
Iraqi city on the Tigris : MOSUL
11
Kimono accessory : OBI
12
Natural talent : BENT
13
___ Young-White, comedian/correspondent for "The Daily Show" : JABOUKIE
14
Lead-in to an Indiana "-ville" : EVANS
15
___ Ng, author of the 2017 best seller "Little Fires Everywhere" : CELESTE
16
Piehole : TRAP
17
"Oops!" : OHNO
18
See 30-Across : RACE
19
Part of a musical note : STEM
24
Held forth : ORATED
28
"Two thumbs down" review : PAN
31
Answer to "Are you asleep?" that can't be true : YES
33
Drift off to sleep : NOD
35
Ordinary : USUAL
36
"Eh, not really" : KINDA
38
1981 hit Genesis album whose name resembles a rhyme scheme : ABACAB
40
Balls in the sky : ORBS
42
Little sounds : INLETS
43
Muscular : BUILT
44
"Who's there?" response : ITSME
45
Nancy who served as the first female member of the British Parliament : ASTOR
47
Come together : GEL
48
Like some thinking : LATERAL
49
A.O.C., e.g. : REP
50
Meets : SATISFIES
52
Evening prayer : VESPER
55
Come together : MESH
59
Raw material? : SMUT
60
Quintana ___ (Mexican state that's home to Cancún) : ROO
62
Mayhem : TURMOIL
65
Land governed by the House of Grimaldi : MONACO
67
Obedience school command : STAY
68
More hackneyed : TRITER
69
A head : LOO
70
A head : EACH
71
Best-case scenarios : OPTIMA
72
Clipper parts : MASTS
73
"You can't fire me!" : IQUIT
74
Italian poet Cavalcanti who influenced Dante : GUIDO
77
Procrastinator's problem : TIMECRUNCH
78
[Bo-o-o-oring!] : SNORE
79
In essence : PERSE
81
Where heroes are made : DELI
82
Sass : LIP
83
Co-founder of the N.A.A.C.P. : IDABWELLS
85
Word that, when spelled backward, becomes its own synonym : PAT
88
Member of the inn crowd? : HOTELIER
90
One of the Canterbury pilgrims : MILLER
92
One doing the lord's work : PEASANT
93
In which you might do a deep dive : SEA
95
Mistruth : FIB
98
JAMA contributors : DRS
102
Tool in a wood shop : LATHE
104
Shred : RIPUP
105
___ hole : OZONE
107
Battery part : ANODE
108
Language group related to Yupik : INUIT
109
Birkin stock? : BAGS
110
From scratch : ANEW
111
Quinceañera, e.g. : RITE
112
Man's name that spells a fruit backward : EMIL
113
Passed-down stories : LORE
115
"Stop stalling!" : DOIT
117
"The slightest" or "the foggiest" thing : IDEA
119
Oscar-winning lyricist Washington : NED
121
Classic Pontiac : GTO
122
Phishing target, for short : SSN

Answer summary:
9 unique to this puzzle, 3 debuted here and reused later, 3 unique to Modern Era but used previously.

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