The Starting Gun by Fred Piscop

Across 1. Purse part 6. Harshly criticize 10. Diplomat's asset 14. Tara family name 15. Cartoon skunk __ Le Pew 16. Queens, NY tennis venue 17. Signaled "hello" 18. State to be true 19. "South Park" boy 20. Construction worker's bagful 23. Gene Kelly's "__ Girls" 24. Halloween witch features 25. Takes down a peg 29. Watergate hearings chairman Sam 32. One and only 33. Classic theater name 34. __ up (absorb) 37. Make big plans, in a way 41. Mined rock 42. Leave stranded during winter 43. Sax type 44. Be gaga over 45. Any Swiss state 47. __ acid (protein component) 50. Hoover, for one 51. Fail, slangily 58. "__ Lang Syne" 59. "Um, pardon me . . ." 60. __ as a rock 62. Sloth's home 63. Whodunit hero Wolfe 64. Fill with glee 65. Means justifiers 66. "Absolutely!" 67. __ out (distributes) Down 1. Piglet's mother 2. "__ she blows!" 3. Great review

4. Geographical datum 5. Implement of pain, on hell night 6. Bombards with bogus offers, say 7. Strauss of jeans 8. Pyramid's point 9. Chicago exchange, for short 10. Abel, discoverer of New Zealand 11. Fall bloom 12. Gregorian music style 13. Portable shelters 21. Thumbs-up response 22. "Dallas" family name 25. To boot 26. A Capetown citizen 27. Pot builder 28. Pirate's realm 29. Dog on "Frasier" 30. Bit attachment 31. Rocket scientist Wernher __ Braun 33. River to the Baltic 34. Bonneville __ Flats 35. Dog at Camp Swampy 36. Lowly laborer 38. Lehár's "The Merry __" 39. "Green" prefix 40. Rock's Steely __ 44. Battery parts 45. Black Halloween animal 46. Tickled pink 47. Rock with bands 48. Express grief 49. Wasted time 50. Exorcism target 52. The Darlings' dog 53. Not us 54. Roll call response 55. Western necktie 56. Line to Israel 57. Web spot 61. __ Moines, IA

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