Lower and Lower by Fred Piscop

Across 1. Sticks up 5. Big bash 9. Scissors sounds 14. Continental coin 15. Author Bagnold 16. Fortuneteller's card 17. Be particular about formalities 20. Apt. feature 21. Cleveland's lake 22. Halloween color 23. Like much of MTV's viewership 25. Fourth down option 26. Grand __ Opry 27. Dipstick wiper 28. Pint, to a quart 32. __ acid (protein component) 35. Cut off 37. Lav, in London 38. Don't play all year 41. Lyricist Gershwin 42. Gogol's "__ Bulba" 43. Palm leaf 44. Put up on eBay 46. Black or chocolate pooch 47. Relative of ante- 48. Hard to grasp 50. Ballerina Moira 54. __-Matic (classic tabletop baseball game maker) 57. Neighbor of Cambodia 58. "The odds __ ..." 59. Be a slacker 62. Burns partner 63. Division word 64. Weigh down 65. Hacienda drudges 66. Like excellent corned beef 67. Author Silverstein

Down 1. Bowling alley button 2. Protruding navel 3. "I __ for animals" 4. Business partner, perhaps 5. Babe Ruth's given first name 6. Sandy's owner 7. Mature nits 8. Suffix with cannon 9. Howard of satellite radio 10. Football's "Broadway Joe" 11. Spinach is rich in it 12. Beer __ (bar game) 13. Eyelid woe 18. Distribute, as cards 19. Red cosmetics 24. "__, Nanette" 25. Blacktops, say 27. "Drying out" program 29. To boot 30. Bird on a Canadian dollar 31. Warmly affectionate 32. Buyer's caveat 33. Mucky stuff 34. Slanted: Abbr. 35. Like an alley cat 36. Update, as a computer screen 39. Soap maker's need 40. Surface figure 45. Like a sinker 47. Particle with zero mass 49. Some jackets or collars 50. Year-end temp 51. Big Indian 52. Chip away at 53. James Dean persona 54. Assault from Moe 55. Mah-jongg piece 56. Move, in Realtor lingo 57. Without company 60. Zilch 61. Ernie of the PGA Copyright © Fred Piscop