My wife and I are in Ireland right now, for Christmas and to start off the New Year with family. I just managed to slip away to solve the puzzle, and write up this abbreviated post. I will get to the full post just as soon as I can.
1 “Rent” character who sings “Light My Candle” : MIMI
5 “And there you have it!” : VOILA!
10 “Woo-hoo! The weekend’s here!” : TGIF!
14 Stench : ODOR
15 Darling one : MOPPET
16 Otherwise : ELSE
17 Titular animated character whose theme music is by Henry Mancini : PINK PANTHER
19 Place for a ponytail : NAPE
20 Add, as an extra perk : TOSS IN
21 Indian and Arctic : OCEANS
23 Baseball great Mel : OTT
24 Cereal mascot whose catchphrase is “They’re gr-r-reat!” : TONY THE TIGER
29 Like a famed piper : PIED
31 Winning tic-tac-toe line, when player X isn’t paying attention : O-O-O
32 All together : AS ONE
33 Barely manage : SCRAPE BY
36 Certain sib : SIS
38 Triumphed : WON
39 Fictional feline from Japan … or how one might greet 17-, 24-, 54- or 65-Across : HELLO KITTY
42 Yard cover : SOD
45 Wooden part of a railroad track : TIE
46 Animal with a long, sticky tongue : ANTEATER
50 ___ Gay (W.W. II plane) : ENOLA
52 Song refrain syllable : TRA
53 There’s no place like it : HOME
54 Oz resident lacking in courage : COWARDLY LION
59 Jenna Fischer’s role on “The Office” : PAM
60 Negotiator’s refusal : NO DEAL
61 Toy item set up to be toppled : DOMINO
63 Cried : WEPT
65 Lewis Carroll character with a disembodied smile : CHESHIRE CAT
68 Hoppy beers, in brief : IPAS
69 “Take the ___” (Duke Ellington classic) : A-TRAIN
70 Partner : MATE
71 London art museum : TATE
72 Body parts that might be “bumped” : FISTS
73 Celebratory stadium cries : OLES
Down
1 Shaggy Beatles hairdos : MOPTOPS
2 Inane : IDIOTIC
3 Under-the-bed resident, in a child’s imagination : MONSTER
4 Peeves : IRKS
5 Middle of many German names : VON
6 Choose : OPT
7 Old Apple picture-editing app : IPHOTO
8 Freeloader : LEECH
9 “___ Grows in Brooklyn” : A TREE
10 Pickleball relative : TENNIS
11 Scottish city on the River Clyde : GLASGOW
12 Web connection letters : ISP
13 Around 2%-3%, for a customer using a credit card : FEE
15 Hand: Sp. : MANO
18 Avocado’s center : PIT
22 Just one tiny bite : A TASTE
25 Like the gases argon and xenon : NOBLE
26 Ma who once left a $2.5 million cello in the trunk of a taxi : YO-YO
27 Ambient music trailblazer Brian : ENO
28 Stimpy’s pal in cartoons : REN
30 Morse code “morsel” : DAH
34 Old explosive device used to breach castle walls : PETARD
35 Retired QB Manning : ELI
36 Mount that Moses mounted : SINAI
37 Hairy cousin in “The Addams Family” : ITT
40 Philosopher Marx : KARL
41 “___, sure, you betcha!” (classic Minnesotan expression) : YAH
42 Fraction of a min. : SEC
43 Artist/activist Yoko : ONO
44 Thoroughly memorized : DOWN PAT
47 Buzzworthy, say : TOPICAL
48 Flow (from) : EMANATE
49 Broadcasts not done in a studio : REMOTES
51 Founder of Taoism : LAO-TSE
52 White House family in the 1840s : TYLERS
55 Common after-dinner coffee preference : DECAF
56 Christine of “Chicago Hope” : LAHTI
57 Norse god of wisdom and war : ODIN
58 Negative conjunction : NOR
62 Note “to all staff” : MEMO
63 Cleverness : WIT
64 Energy-monitoring org. : EPA
66 Ordeal for many H.S. seniors : SAT
67 What’s-___-face : HIS
