By Warren Manners
Across
1 Some library offerings
5 Caesar’s sidekick
9 Gate
14 Cul-de-sac
19 Yorkshire river
20 Poker declaration
21 The first string
22 Prepare for takeoff?
23 Musical style
24 “The Son of ___ in weary Night’s decline”: Blake
25 Keep it under your hat
26 Pet problem?
27 Start of quote
30 Gave bread to
32 “If ___ the Circus”: Seuss
33 Spanish wine bag
34 Mozart opera “Die Entfuehrung ___ dem Serail”
36 In a languid way
38 Peak in the Cascades
42 Washington’s ___ Peninsula
45 Sgwd yr ____
46 “Hey” band
48 Provencal possessive
49 Bit of kiddie litter
51 Baker’s tool
55 Asmara is its capital
57 Bottom-line figure
59 Fungo, e.g.
61 Mexican tree used as a source of rubber
62 Having a bearing on
64 Article of the Constitution regarding the Supreme Court
66 Most manly
68 Hardly
70 Ben-Gurion Airport city
72 Apian, in general
73 Parrot, perhaps
76 Quote part 2
79 Nelson Rockefeller was its gov.
80 Coal mine product
83 Pictorial PC display
84 Tailor of yore
87 Hard-wired
89 Beyonce’s “Love on ___”
91 Balkan natives
95 Tintin companion
96 Volleyball need
98 Termagant
100 Men’s clothing accessory
101 East Indian tree used in shipbuilding
103 Peruvian capital?
105 Santa’s helper?
107 Cavity common among birds
108 Snake eyes
110 Sources of literature
113 Where Alexander defeated the Persians
114 Course director
118 Bad ___, Michigan
119 Concert boxes
121 Wagner’s “Liebestod,” for example
122 Change one’s story?
124 Quote part 3
130 “And they sat down in ___” (Mark 6:40)
132 Messi and Maradona
134 Kitchen staple
135 Natural gas additive
136 Kind of drum or guitar
137 Ratoon
138 Norse deity who defeated Thor
139 George Eliot hero
140 Tot’s rocker
141 Some sandwiches
142 “One more thing…”
143 Well-known street
Down
1 Whit
2 Rehab target
3 Chess ending
4 Eve’s youngest
5 Small group of players
6 Iberian wine city
7 Germ sources
8 One of the Roosevelts
9 Skip
10 Previously GMT
11 Gather in
12 Bar offering
13 Dominion
14 Dixie product
15 End of quote
16 Gestation stations
17 Threaten to surpass
18 Hard to see, maybe
28 Celebrate
29 Family of languages spoken in southeastern Asia
31 Número between um and tres
35 Prepare to play the cello
37 Manifest great pain
38 Impersonator
39 Acute
40 Angle between a leaf and its branch
41 Tiny pests
43 Cry of triumph
44 Pen pal
47 Marine corridor
50 Nigerian culinary staple
52 Walk like a pigeon
53 Exalt to the heavens
54 Home buyers concern
56 Bee genus
58 It’s cool, supposedly
60 Low seat without back or arms
63 Ring bearer, maybe
65 Marker
67 Toward the middle
69 Email or ltr.
71 Some NFL linemen
73 Off the mark
74 Old Finnish coin
75 Controversial Starbucks water brand
77 Not in vogue
78 Cockpit stat.
81 Quote part 4
82 Indo-Europeans
85 Cleopatra’s Needle, e.g.
86 Affluent people in São Paulo
88 Q follower
90 Stops to smell the roses
92 Quaint plaint
93 Aka ICN
94 Things with springs
97 Mouthpiece
99 Some AMA members
102 Tout de ___ (all the same, in French)
104 Tide competitor
106 Jetty’s kin
109 Cruelty named for a marquis
111 Fills space
112 Memory triggers
114 Acerbic
115 Greek poetry muse
116 JD Vance accessory
117 Cranny
120 Alfresco locale, often
123 Complete idiot
125 Without a clue
126 Piece of one’s mind?
127 ___ man
128 Actions at auctions
129 Lord ___ (son of Queen Elizabeth, in “Richard the Third”)
131 Like Stallone?
133 Decalogue adverb
Solutions may be emailed to puzzles@actuary.org. In order to make
the solver list, your solutions must be received by Feb. 1, 2026.
Previous Puzzle: Show Me the Money
Solvers: Steve Altschuld, Dean Apps, Jon Barry, Jared Dashoff, Todd Dashoff, Clive Keatinge, Ken Kudrak, George Levine, Jim Muza, Ray Niswander, Madhumathi Windon, and Wendy Windsor