Crossword

ACROSS 1 Carpet thickness 5 Crowbar, basically 10 Vanishing ski lift 14 Pre-emptive 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