OBSERVER CROSSWORD PUZZLER

ACROSS 1. Select 5. Thus 11. Intimate 16. ___ Minor 17. Ancient parlor 18. Czech Republic’s Vaclav 19. Substitute 21. Blue hue 22. Judge 23. N.Y. neighbor 24. Emphatic, in a way 25. Back out 27. Motor nerve 29. Operating room 30. Fuddy-duddy 33. Dolts 34. Proposition 37. “___ rang?” 38. Fine wool 40. Surfing need 41. All there 45. Juju and mojo 47. Atomic number 75 50. Couple’s tune 51. Repeat 53. Prettifies 54. Flipper 55. Study of UFOs 57. “Hotline Bling” singer 61. Beethoven work in E flat 63. Associate in Nursing 65. Vocal range 67. Operational 71. Familiar with 72. Missile acronym 75. Related maternally 76. Trattoria offering 77. Petrified 79. Big 80. Foot part 81. Loamy fertilizer 82. Kills, as a dragon 83. Can’t stand 84. European language DOWN 1. Cuba’s Fidel 2. Certain shark 3. Allowed 4. Corset tightener 5. “If only ___ listened ...” 6. Tax collector, e.g. 7. Ashcroft’s predecessor 8. Biblical plot 9. Borneo sultanate 10. Starchy tuber 11. French castle 12. Lepers 13. Small eggs 14. Crystalline amino acid 15. Chooses 20. Before, of yore 24. Word before only 26. Happening 28. Aeronaut 31. Patch up 32. Collision 34. “How ___!” 35. Sword handle 36. Needle point? 38. Wacko 39. Australian runner 41. Make out, to a Brit 42. Breezy 43. Sister 44. Dash lengths 46. Taste, e.g. 48. Puts a stop to 49. Tokyo, once 52. Frequently, in poetry 54. Rankles 56. Bodies of work 57. Stone fruit 58. Flip 59. “To do” list 60. Urinary organ 62. Fine fur 63. Changes 64. Bug 66. __ and fro 68. Moray, e.g. 69. Cartoon art 70. Marketplace 73. Acad. 74. Nerve plexus 77. ___-Atlantic 78. Appropriate