Universal Crossword

Across

1 Cross-country event

5 Less taxing

11 Oft-stubbed digit

14 6:5 or 3:1

15 Light fixture on a wall

16 Tattoo sleeve liquid

17 Big social event in “Back to the Future”

20 Oktoberfest vessel

21 Italian volcano

22 Some whiskeys

23 Periphery

25 “___ so there!”

27 Zoom through, as a movie scene

36 Candid Q&A on Reddit

37 Monastery member

38 ___ Monica Parker (electric blues singer)

39 Wine, in Naples

41 Perry of fashion

43 New Mexico art colony

44 At the pinnacle

46 Justice Kagan

48 ___ the sack (go to bed)

49 AAA offering for stranded drivers

52 “Encanto” songwriter ___-Manuel Miranda

53 “Now do you get it?”

54 Sandal, e.g.

57 Platter’s shape

61 Coins in Cancun

65 Minor distance ... or alternate clues for 17-, 27- and 49-across?

68 Apt letters missing from “l_ger a_ternativ_”

69 Mozzarella shredder

70 9, for a 3x3 square

71 Dudes

72 Low-voiced singers

73 Longings

DOWN

1 Friedrich who created a mineral hardness scale

2 Modify, as a poem

3 Periphery

4 Not-so-fancy concert garment

5 Key above ~

6 Feel sore

7 Chimney accumulation

8 Aware of

9 Profiterole relative

10 Word before “Cross” or “carpet”

11 Lilliputian

12 Some time ago

13 Squeaks (out)

18 Scornful sound

19 Axe target?

24 “Keep singing!”

26 Starbucks spots, e.g.

27 Party handout

28 Type of acid in proteins

29 Kriss Kringle

30 Vexed

31 Anti-consumerist Pixar film

32 Sign after Pisces

33 Tokyo beer brand

34 Far from emotional

35 Sample, as wine

40 So, so many

42 Console found in “hornet’s nest”

45 Trident-shaped Greek letter

47 Venezuelan cornmeal cake

50 Gandhi who was the third prime minister of India

51 MTV host

54 Fraudulent thing

55 ___-in-the-wall (small, dingy place)

56 Candid

58 Hoppy brews: Abbr.

59 Pre-coll. exams

60 Elbow’s lower counterpart

62 Certain

63 Broken mirror, some say

64 Hotel amenities

66 CIA : USA :: ___ : USSR

67 Med. workers