puzzle

ACROSS

  1 Yoda, for one

  5 Ride that often has a low mpg

  8 Strive toward

 14 Exclude

 15 Red ___ beet

 16 Oat-based skin care brand

 17 *Bedtime drink

 19 Hit with a magazine, say

 20 Bygone ruler also spelled with a "cz"

 21 Call ___ question

 23 Drag to court

 24 *Most recent "Fauci ouchie"

 28 Manors

 31 See 73-Across

 32 Like caviar

 33 ICU staffers

 35 Take to a seat

 39 *Picture whose subject is in a gown

 44 Desert mirage, perhaps

 45 React to chopped onions

 46 Wee boy

 47 Where Laos is

 50 Lucky Charms and others

 53 *Dramatic basketball play

 57 Odd ___ out

 58 Christmas, in Paris

 59 D.C. MLB team

 62 Tin Man's prop

 64 First chance's opposite, or what each starred clue's answer could be?

 68 Until now

 69 "Beware the ___ of the calm" (Muriel Spark)

 70 Merit

 71 Caught in a trap

 72 ___ out a living

 73 With 31-Across, soda that reacts with Mentos


DOWN

  1 Batiste with five Grammys

  2 Issue forth

  3 Makes a ditch, maybe

  4 Cornell's city

  5 Spider's egg pouch

  6 Where L.A. is

  7 Uninteresting

  8 Piece of body art

  9 Connection site for a camper

 10 Longbow wood

 11 Thanksgiving meal

 12 Timed perfectly

 13 "Today" weatherman Al

 18 Brisk pace

 22 Winter Olympics channel

 25 "Aloe" follower

 26 "This ___ what it looks like!"

 27 Jam ___ (band's meetup, informally)

 28 Therefore

 29 Songwriter Bareilles

 30 "___ the night before ..."

 34 (Error reproduced intentionally)

 36 Greeting in Lima

 37 And others: Abbr.

 38 Cones' counterparts in the eye

 40 "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" detective Rosa

 41 Body with a majority leader

 42 Predator with blubber

 43 Russian refusal

 48 Hard-pressed?

 49 Prez on a penny

 51 "Seasons of Love" musical

 52 Cleared, as one's name?

 53 Snow shoes

 54 "... in order to form a more perfect ___ ..."

 55 Legendary Nintendo princess

 56 Kemper of "The Office"

 60 "___'d You Over" (possible punny name for a restaurant serving khao pad)

 61 Achy

 63 Train segment

 65 Noah's vessel

 66 View

 67 Blasting letters

solution