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Interpretive Art

Erratum on Sat, 1/14/23, 8:34 AM UTC: The number in the 5th cell of 25 across should read 4 instead of 5. This has been fixed on the page.

These artists may have misinterpreted their source material.

The numbers in the top-left corners are provided for convenience and are not part of the puzzle.
1
1
2
1
3
2
4
2
5
2
6
7
2
2
8
4
9
10
2
1
11
12
1
13
14
2
15
1
16
17
18
1
2
19
2
20
2
21
1
1
4
1
22
5
23
3
3
24
6
25
4
26
27
28
29
3
7
30
31
3
3
4
32
33
3
1
34
1
1
35
36
1
37
2
38
2
2
3
39
3

_______          ____?___    ?   

Across

  • An explanation why one loves to go fishing, but only for quantities single, double, or fourfold (8 / 5)
  • A reaction to eating fried ice cream, perhaps (6)
  • What one shopping tote might ask another when it's feeling disposable (8)
  • When Wendy's frozen dessert is cheerful and capable of reincarnation (according to Hinduism, but not Buddhism) (8)
  • How one could greet a member of Kazuma's party whom they've known for a long time (5)
  • What a stranger might say in an insane situation while handing out their business card (9 / 8)
  • How one might explain a habit of embroidering their brain on the arm of their shirt (11)
  • How one could propose using a copy of Twilight in lieu of a ring (8)
  • When a large cat's sensory organ is the melee's excitement (6 / 6)
  • When a gal from Dannebrog, Nebraska is the last person alive (10)
  • A dismissal of Atlas's job from a team of sedentary giants confident in their own lankiness (4 / 3 / 4)
  • How an accountant might begin listing taxable gifts from their soulmate starting in late December (12)
  • How a rich food critic could go up and greet a chef (6 / 7)
  • A rumor that the Earth will turn over on its axis and crush me (10)
  • A request to rouse oneself within their home (4)
  • When you're both acquainted with affection and its regulations (5 / 8)
  • What stammering parents might tell their baby in a swinging crib (6)
  • How a man might reminisce about childhood trips to the metropolis with his dad (8 / 5)
  • What an animal shelter employee might ask (repeatedly) (5 / 5)
  • How parents could praise their newborn (3)
  • A love letter written to Calcifer from a yearning crush (4 / 3)

Down

  • How one might describe the start of a scary encounter with Medusa (8)
  • A request to applaud with a cheerful fellow for ancient Romans who emotionally relate to atria, perhaps (3 / 11)
  • What Superman might say to his feminine counterpart, if they lived in an alternate universe where beings are fences (2 / 8 / 3 / 3)
  • An explanation of why the group is staying up to watch North by Northwest instead of The Notebook (6)
  • What an escaped bird might say at a therapy session (11)
  • What a young Prometheus might ask Epimetheus if they were titans of Europa instead of Earth (6)
  • How the "despicable" Gru may introduce himself (3)
  • When a doll in a dollhouse runs the marketing campaign for cosmetic surgery (8 / 5)
  • How a boss starts a company meeting about Eurasian nomadic competitors (9)
  • How one who freed a genie desires that they stay for the holidays, maybe (5 / 7)
  • When a gambler and smoker recounts how they met the love of their life through their vices (6)
  • How a fan of Batman might greet Dickie Greenleaf's actor (13)
  • The start of a tale where one's existence was capsized (8 / 7)
  • An oneirologist's yielding response to a kid who claims that marshmallows form the worlds of Inception, perhaps (6 / 5)
  • What you could say to your interviewer or your boxing opponent (3)
  • A description of the last Tarot card if it held Dracula's face (5)
  • What a passersby might scream about a young lady in a burning building (5)
  • A possible command to a sentient alarm clock for October 1st (6)
  • How a touring bather from Svalbard might describe their frozen birthplace during the summer (10 / 9)
  • A simile relating us to the allure of gravity-defying gemstones (7)
  • What someone might ask while searching for the homeowner of an underwater fruit (8)
  • A phone jingle for a company that makes sculptures of the head and shoulders of spirits (4 / 1)
  • What a substitute teacher might say during roll call when multiple students answer to the name Marshall (8)
  • A lemma that the lack of knowledge about one's attractiveness elevates said attractiveness (6 / 5)