puzzle

 ACROSS

  1 Salve relative

  5 Riyadh native, e.g.

  9 "___ a shame"

 14 City north of Pittsburgh

 15 Work (up)

 16 Blackjack request

 17 *Sparks emanate from it (Anagram hint: Think "roofing")

 19 Remove from a VCR

 20 Greenish eye color

 21 Tropical fruit

 23 *Shredding (Anagram hint: Think "countertops")

 29 ABBA song that pairs well with "Help!"?

 30 Boxer Laila

 31 ___ Lanka

 32 Thick with greenery

 36 Entirely

 38 Settlement-building game

 40 Nirvana genre, or a hint to the first word of each starred clue's answer

 44 Cache

 45 Buck's mate

 46 Stocking stuffers?

 47 Flub

 48 Julius Erving's nickname

 51 Nintendo console

 53 *Just keep talking (Anagram hint: Think "statues")

 58 Washer cycle

 59 Decree

 62 (I dunno)

 65 *Forms a scab (Anagram hint: Think "oil")

 68 Cobbler fruit

 69 Slight advantage

 70 Move, in Realtor slang

 71 Item in the plus column

 72 Went blond, perhaps

 73 "___, Fat, Acid, Heat" (Nosrat cookbook)


DOWN

  1 Sister of Meg, Jo and Amy

  2 Zone

  3 "Hungarian Rhapsodies" composer

  4 Brawl

  5 Rainbow's shape

  6 2016 Olympics city

  7 Straighten

  8 "Baby" whale in a Raffi song

  9 Reality competition featuring Ariana Grande

 10 Muslim head cover

 11 Munched on

 12 TV network focused on films

 13 Word after "tea" or "train"

 18 "Sadly ..."

 22 Ga. hub

 24 Multicolored horse

 25 Actress Fisher of "Now You See Me"

 26 "Not so!" response

 27 Hard-to-detect amount

 28 Bathroom and kitchen fixtures

 32 Eye surgery tool

 33 Extremely

 34 Marvel hero who can control weather

 35 She/___

 37 Inc., in Britain

 39 State of the ___

 41 A blinking one is equivalent to a stop sign

 42 State where Captain Kirk will be born?

 43 Leaf line

 49 Kylo ___ (Leia's son)

 50 Kidded

 52 March 15, e.g.

 54 First name of Batman's alter ego

 55 Like the have-nots

 56 Foul smells

 57 Skin care brand

 60 It contains a nucleus

 61 Gait faster than a walk

 62 Massage venue

 63 "For ___ a jolly ..."

 64 Dorm VIPs

 66 It's "just a number"

 67 Kind of bulb or TV

solution