puzzle

ACROSS

  1 Clears (of)

  5 Track event

  9 Fourth month

 14 It's a sign!

 15 Apiece

 16 Reeves of "John Wick"

 17 *Person who might teach consonant-vowel combinations

 20 According to

 21 See 23-Across

 22 Go out with

 23 With 21-Across, climb without a rope

 25 Pieces of lower-leg jewelry

 28 *Person who guides expectant and new mothers

 32 Nail polish brand

 33 Paving goop

 34 Report on

 38 Amanda Gorman, e.g.

 40 Kisses on the streets of London?

 43 Word sung twice after "Que"

 44 Eventually become

 46 Iron in a vein?

 47 Digital mapping tech

 48 *Person working with relief pitchers

 53 Country where Nadia Comaneci was born

 56 "So, next ... "

 57 Bonobo, e.g.

 58 Ballet skirt

 61 Former NPR host Cornish

 64 FedEx, for one ... and what the starred clues' answers all offer, in a way

 68 Pleasant smell

 69 Barely makes (out)

 70 TV anchor's audition tape

 71 Kept going (and going)

 72 "Judge not, ___ ye be judged"

 73 Flight board stats


DOWN

  1 Stoic "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" detective

  2 Mischievous ones

  3 Like Oreos at a state fair

  4 Snide looks

  5 "Didn't love it"

  6 Has some nom noms

  7 Reverberation

  8 It can be laid down but not picked up

  9 Letters before a pseudonym

 10 Liveliness

 11 Salary increase

 12 Alaska, on some U.S. maps

 13 Instruments with bent necks

 18 People of Canada

 19 Rice-A-___

 24 Some first responders

 26 Chain that sells buckets

 27 Some sun signs

 28 "Uh-uh"

 29 Atop

 30 McKellen of "Cats"

 31 Sag

 35 Eating regimen that forgoes animal products

 36 "The Little Mermaid" prince

 37 Overly hasty

 39 Low-end brass instrument?

 41 Test for aspiring profs

 42 Dispatched

 45 "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt," e.g.

 49 Lo-cal

 50 Wreath plant

 51 Burn on the outside

 52 Body of work

 53 Two-way device?

 54 Browser that's also a performance

 55 Fruit salad fruit, often

 59 Kiddo

 60 Baking soda has many

 62 Placed a cold pack on

 63 Sources of electricity in a current?

 65 "To me ...," in a tweet

 66 Touring band's vehicle

 67 Superlative suffix

solution