Crossword

ACROSS

1 Carpet thickness 5 Crowbar,

basically 10 Vanishing ski lift 14 Preemptive

rescue op 15 Wear down 16 MasterCard rival 17 *Boot camp

newbie 19 Not fer 20 Slap in the face 21 Play the hand

you were dealt 23 Smooth engine

sound 25 __-Locka, Florida 26 Aetna’s bus. 27 Michelin product 31 Ancient vase in a

museum, say 33 Fuel-efficient

Chevy 34 Physics work unit 36 Starts the kitty 39 Truth stretcher 40 Nebula Award

genre 43 Undiluted 44 Untrue 46 Acquired 47 __ Minor: Little

Bear 48 Chinese menu

promise 51 Company co-founded by J.P. Morgan 53 “The Simpsons”

disco guy 55 Sport-__: 4 x 4 56 90 deg. at the

North Pole, e.g. 57 Overly long and generally unproductive activity 60 One of Santa’s

reindeer 65 “SOS” pop group 66 *Defensible alibi 68 Baked desserts 69 Latest craze 70 Ointment additive 71 Tortoise racer 72 Spiritual guardian 73 Identity hider

DOWN

1 Prefix with scope 2 Hall of Fame

catcher Rodriguez 3 Newton’s motion

trio 4 Color of raw silk 5 Professors’ talks 6 Boot the ball 7 “Parlez-__

français?” 8 Manuscript fixer 9 Make another

recording of 10 Promo on the

tube 11 *Grand scheme

of things 12 From China, say 13 Tirades 18 Pre-college,

briefly 22 Simba’s

playmate 24 Defunct Ford

division, for short 27 Baby whale 28 Sports shoe

brand 29 *It may be

rational, in math 30 Sculptor’s subject 32 Data to be

processed 35 Band tour

booking 37 Highland tongue 38 Close tightly 41 Basketball

transgression 42 “Agreed!” ... and what can be said about the start of the answers to starred clues 45 Grounded Aussie

birds 49 Mark of

disgrace 50 Columbus, by

birth 52 Lay’s chips-in-acan brand 53 Dangerous

bacterium 54 Knee-to-ankle

bone 58 Lessen, as pain 59 Skull Island ape 61 Rip-off 62 Island dance 63 Those, in Mexico 64 Cause serious

nose-wrinkling 67 Stop working, as

an engine