puzzle

 ACROSS

  1 Ali ___

  5 Nudge

  9 "Forever Your Girl" singer Paula

 14 Beyond dry

 15 Chicago mayor Lightfoot

 16 Like myths about Asgard

 17 *What a British chef says after botching a pasta topping?

 19 Fluctuates wildly

 20 ___-Wan Kenobi

 21 Blast producer

 22 Perfect basketball shot

 24 Ancient Japanese assassins

 26 *Earworm?

 29 Stories that can be read backward?

 30 Complete, as this puzzle

 31 WOW upside down

 32 Seat

 34 Go to a diner, say

 36 Letters before a texter's POV

 39 Time off, briefly ... or two letters dropped from each starred clue's answer

 41 Coffee dispensers

 42 Lipton packet

 44 Painter's support

 46 "... and the list goes on": Abbr.

 47 Stale-smelling

 49 Sprays near waterfalls

 53 *Build farm enclosures?

 55 Mr. Peanut's headwear

 56 Zesty dip ... or dance

 57 Corn serving

 58 Tipper's banknote, often

 59 "Time is money," e.g.

 61 *Young cat's Elizabethan collar?

 64 Coyotes' cries

 65 Sandy shade

 66 Nourish

 67 Liability's counterpart

 68 Appear

 69 10:9 or 8:7

DOWN

  1 Conductors wave them

  2 Saudi ___

  3 Sharp, like a cold wind

  4 Name hidden in "lead actress"

  5 Strategies

  6 Beat decisively

  7 Tolkien beast

  8 What keeps a trucker going?

  9 "Do you have a guess?"

 10 Uplift

 11 Deadpan comedy

 12 G.I. entertainers

 13 "___ Miz"

 18 Squirrel away

 23 Is indecisive

 25 Twin of Esau

 26 Charlotte hoopsters

 27 Any thing

 28 CPR pros

 30 "Cheap Thrills" singer

 33 Bickers

 35 Flower in a 17th-century Dutch economic bubble

 36 Tabloid twosome

 37 Prefix with "physical"

 38 Fine-toothed hand tools

 40 February 29, 2020, but not February 29, 2022

 43 Most abundant

 45 University near Georgia Tech

 48 Mambas and boas

 50 Chased away

 51 Sun-kissed

 52 Mounts of yore

 54 Two under par

 55 Channing of "Magic Mike"

 57 Raison d'___

 59 "Caught ya!"

 60 Hairstyles, informally

 62 Diamonds, slangily

 63 Money exec

solution