| Critter that can follow the ends of this puzzle's five longest answers | 74 |
| Common soap opera plot device (as in, "When will they wake up?") | 74 |
| Catcher Buck ___, elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in its first year | 74 |
| Composer who wrote piano transcriptions of Beethoven's nine symphonies | 74 |
| Children's book author Brown who created the "Arthur" series | 74 |
| Chuck Berry title girl who's repeatedly asked "Is that you?" | 74 |
| Cheri who portrayed a "Morning Latte" co-host on "SNL" | 74 |
| Country singer with the 1997 triple platinum hit "How Do I Live" | 74 |
| California's ___ Valley, known as "America's salad bowl" | 74 |
| Critic's complaint about the new restaurant "Charley Horse"? | 74 |
| Cry in Metropolis while pointing ... and a hint to this puzzle's theme | 74 |
| California-based semiconductor company founded in 1981 (hidden in FALSIFY) | 74 |
| Crime novelist Walters who won a 1994 Edgar for "The Sculptress" | 74 |
| Critically acclaimed Scottish actor Williamson who died in the Netherlands | 74 |
| Cheers bartender Woody's slimy menu addition, in his new Brooklyn bar? | 74 |
| Characteristic of ''fat'' but not ''fate'' | 74 |
| Common misspelling online (or, on "___ Interwebz" if you prefer) | 74 |
| Clapton "I'm ___ down, I'm almost level with the ground" | 74 |
| Certification requirement from the American Turntablist's Association? | 74 |
| Cartoony yell if your butt's on fire and you're running in circles | 74 |
| Christmas season / Greet a villain / Speak aloud / Query / Monthly payment | 74 |
| Classic Dickens title (from whose 10 letters this puzzle was constructed) | 73 |
| Coulter who called the members of a 9/11 widows group "harpies" | 73 |
| Club where "music and passion were always the fashion," in song | 73 |
| Classic cereal now sharing shelf space with Vanilla and Chocolate cousins | 73 |
| Cannon who was Alice in "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" | 73 |
| Crooner/actor whose albums are widely available in moldy garage sale bins | 73 |
| Channel champ with a 24-year record that Chadwick's challenge changed | 73 |
| Company that was the subject of "The Smartest Guys in the Room" | 73 |
| Comic who played Robin Williams's son in "Mork & Mindy" | 73 |
| Country that becomes its official language when you drop the final letter | 73 |
| Certain NASA equipment ... shown literally in the solution to this puzzle | 73 |
| Cheri who was the voice of Sleeping Beauty in "Shrek the Third" | 73 |
| Chris Rock's order in ''I'm Gonna Git You Sucka'' | 73 |
| Cocktails made with Southern Comfort, sloe gin, amaretto and orange juice | 73 |
| Comet co-discoverer who shares his name with a father-and-son acting pair | 73 |
| Character actor who played Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol," 1951 | 73 |
| Company whose motto is "Our pilots are moderately intelligent"? | 73 |
| Country where it's customary to have diamond-encrusted prophylactics? | 73 |
| Character voiced by Demi Moore in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" | 73 |
| Connecticut town nicknamed "The Submarine Capital of the World" | 73 |
| Character in Chesterton's "What's Wrong With the World" | 73 |
| Cute animal fawned over by murderers, whoremongers, idolaters, and liars? | 73 |
| Critic's complaint about the new restaurant "Double Fault"? | 73 |
| Carol sung by Ginger and Mary Ann from "Gilligan's Island"? | 73 |
| Costar of Andy Samberg in a popular "Saturday Night Live" video | 73 |
| Complaint to the chiropractor from "American Idol" singer Clay? | 73 |
| Common chamber music form that includes Beethoven's "Ghost" | 73 |
| Cartoon character whose debut film was "Golddiggers of '49" | 73 |
| Co-firing technique used to reduce pollution from electrical power plants | 73 |
| Credit card purchase a little kid was forbidden to make, but made anyway? | 73 |
| Cannabinoid agonist responsible for many a vapid philosophical discussion | 73 |
| Country whose name becomes its capital when you drop its last two letters | 73 |
| Character who made his debut in the 1945 cartoon "Hare Trigger" | 73 |
| Contract extras, and read differently, a hint to this puzzle's theme | 72 |
| Classic Belushi comedy, or an apt description of this puzzle's grid? | 72 |
| Charlie's last name in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" | 72 |
| Cosmetics company that has released brands by Faith Hill and Halle Berry | 72 |
| Classic song with the words "Look away! Look away! Look away!" | 72 |
| Cop show that claimed "the story you are about to see is true" | 72 |
| Creator of the "Microsoft sound" played when Windows 95 starts | 72 |
| Crystal ___ (singer of "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue") | 72 |
| Car that's "really lookin' fine," in a 1960's song | 72 |
| Conglomerate whose N.Y.S.E. symbol is the same as the company's name | 72 |
| Creator of the currency system consisting of galleons, sickles and knuts | 72 |
| Casey who provided Shaggy's voice in TV's "Scooby-Doo" | 72 |
| Chuck Berry "You Never Can Tell" aka "C'est ___" | 72 |
| Character in "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" | 72 |
| Console advertised in Fred Savage's "The Wizard," casually | 72 |
| Capital whose name comes from an Algonquin word for "to trade" | 72 |
| Cola brand that claimed to be "The Choice of a New Generation" | 72 |
| Cheer ending the first name of each of this puzzle's featured ladies | 72 |
| Comic who declared "I'm not a liberal, I'm a radical!" | 72 |
| Clothing store with models who weight A LOT less than Ralph Lauren's | 72 |
| Comedian who donned many big costumes in "The Nutty Professor" | 72 |
| Cartoon whose guest voices have included Leonard Nimoy, Al Gore and Beck | 72 |
| Cable channel that airs reruns of "Press Your Luck," for short | 72 |
| Comment to one, previously thought to be a stranger, after an aha moment | 72 |
| Co-writer of Michael Jackson's posthumous hit "This Is It" | 72 |
| Complaint about which whiskey is being served at a Friars Club function? | 72 |
| Constellation seen on the flags of Australia, Samoa and Papua New Guinea | 72 |
| Conduct a smear campaign against a bull's-eye covered in fish sauce? | 72 |
| Classic name in retail clothing ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme | 72 |
| Captain with a "regal overbearing dignity of some mighty woe" | 71 |
| Character on "The Simpsons" who's the father of octuplets | 71 |
| City that's home to the jocks of this puzzle's theme, for short | 71 |
| Connecticut town where "Gentleman's Agreement" took place | 71 |
| Company with a 1998 Nasdaq I.P.O. that hired its first employee in 1996 | 71 |
| Cartoon character whose secret code was "Eep, Op, Ork, Ah-Ah" | 71 |
| Cranberries "Everybody ___ Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?" | 71 |
| Company notoriously affiliated with the Arthur Andersen accounting firm | 71 |
| Co-worker of Igor and Frau Blücher in "Young Frankenstein" | 71 |
| Cinematography nominee Emmanuel Lubezki for "Children of ___" | 71 |
| Car that came in any color the customer wanted, so long as it was black | 71 |
| Cultural attraction offering free admission every Fri. from 4 to 8 p.m. | 71 |
| Character who first appeared in "The Secret of the Old Clock" | 71 |
| Colorado city that's home to the Federal Citizen Information Center | 71 |
| Country singer who was an 8-year-old "Star Search" contestant | 71 |
| Characters in "Back to the Future" and "Radio Days" | 71 |
| Cheese said to inspire Dali's "The Persistence of Memory" | 71 |