ALTERNATE ENDINGS

Sid Sivakumar is an M.D./Ph.D. student at Washington University in St. Louis. This is his 15th Times crossword in three years. He likes theme ideas and clues that are challenging but not forced. When you figure something out, he wants you to say, ‘‘Of course!’’ not, ‘‘Uh . . . OK, I get it.’’ When possible, Sid includes South Asian references in his puzzles, as in the clue for 111-Down here. — W. S.

ACROSS

1 Greek letter that’s a symbol for torque

4 Done without foresight

8 Small samples

12 Chocolatier’s unit

15 Holding areas in Capture the Flag

17 Thoughtless mode

19 Declares confidently

22 Novelist/shortstory writer ____ Bender

23 ‘‘The Rise of ____’’ (2019 film subtitle)

24 Coat with small droplets

25 Mrs. or Sra. equivalent

26 Prepares to deal, perhaps

28 Western ____ (coll. course)

29 Name repeated in a nursery rhyme

31 Item sometimes made with wiliwili seeds

32 Flaky, syrupy pastry

34 Divisions represented by the answers to starred clues in this puzzle

36 Livestream, e.g.

38 Worry-free

39 French for ‘‘between’’

40 Small fox with unusually large ears

41 University of Cincinnati athlete

44 ____ Command (Atari game of the 1980s)

47 Abbr. in a birth announcement

49 Longtime

50 Invitation in a therapist’s office

51 Minecraft block with a fuse

54 Designer of Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art

55 Analogy words

57 ‘‘Yes, that spot right there ... ’’

60 Added streaks to, say

63 Honey ____! (ringshaped cereal)

65 Young bloke

66 Ruin

67 Last word in ‘‘America the Beautiful’’

68 Anna of Arendelle’s elder sister

69 Festival with lion dances

70 Mobile ____

71 Ultimatum word

72 Pitch

73 Part of a gasmileage rating

74 Start-up loan agcy.

75 Damascene’s country

77 What ‘‘gladiator’’

literally translates to 80 Beer brand with mountains in its logo

82 Jessica ____, astronaut who participated in the first all-female spacewalk

83 Not the same

84 It ‘‘sounds like a clarinet with a cold,’’ per Victor Borge

85 Battery in a Wii Remote

88 Stinging pests

89 Some residents of the eastern Mediterranean

91 Banks

93 Lung or brain segments

94 Like a dirty film

95 Chlorophyte, e.g.

96 Org. for D.C. United and the L.A. Galaxy

97 Impediments to team productivity

98 Get in a knot

101 ‘‘Thou God ____ me’’ (Genesis quote)

103 Fred who co-created ‘‘Portlandia’’

107 Campus part

108 In a scuffle

110 Hopping herbivore

112 Captain of fiction

113 Address that’s often shown in blue letters

114 With 116-Across, procedures in which drivers take turns joining a single stream, as demonstrated five times in this puzzle

116 See 114-Across

118 Crow’s cry

119 Backside

120 Air Seoul’s parent

airline

121 Hubbub

122 Actress Mowry of

‘‘Sister, Sister’’ 123 Green expanse 124 Commander for

Joe Biden, e.g. 125 Pass judgment on 126 Tricksy

DOWN

1 *Person with a stopwatch

2 Drink that may be spiced

3 Potential scenario in which a piece of software might be helpful

4 Person who worships Jah

5 Puffins, e.g.

6 Total dump

7 *‘‘Is it even possible?!’’

8 *It’ll take a second to get it

9 Similar group

10 Elegy, e.g.

11 Boba tea is often served with a wide one

12 Miniature-cheese-wheel brand

13 ‘‘____ Maria’’

14 *Chinese New Year decoration

15 *Meat-and-vegetables dish with Creole and Cajun varieties

16 Target

18 Coat that may take awhile to put on

20 Witherspoon of Hollywood

21 *Electrical wiring nexus

27 Pigmented eye layer

30 Lower-interest deal, for short

33 Blood work, colloquially

34 Start of a detective’s trail

35 Uno + dos + tres

37 Site with gadget reviews

42 *Revolutionary cooking device?

43 Conflict over seceding from the Galactic Republic, in sci-fi

45 Some brandy cocktails

46 *Hair-salon goo

47 *Many a presidential election occurs in one

48 Prospective eBay buyer’s figure

52 ‘‘Better than I thought’’

53 *Where hip-hop originated

54 State of matter in the sun

55 *Theoretical substance for which a chemistry law is named

56 Fifth in a scale

57 Stadium with the first animated scoreboard

58 *Where newlyweds are typically seated at a wedding reception

59 Severity

61 Latin ‘‘is’’

62 *Toddler drop-off locales

64 Equilibria

76 Home to the sport of hurling

78 Americans usually spell ‘‘cancelled’’ with this

79 Queens players

81 Enters like slime 86 Grammy-winning Mexican singer Downs

87 *Exercise that strengthens hip flexors

89 *Compilations of laughably bad takes 90 Bit that bonds

92 Mineral collection site

94 Motion to ____ (court request)

98 Are

99 Certain essential worker

100 Taco topping

101 Job increasingly replaced by speech-to-text programs

102 G7 member, informally

104 Some offshoots

105 What might have attachment issues?

106 ‘‘You’re kidding!’’

109 Tablet you might take in the bathroom

111 The Hindu god Ganesha is often depicted with four of them

114 Ray-gun sound

115 Makeshift towel

116 N.Y.C. commuter rail overseer

117 Pedestrians cross them: Abbr.