Puzzle

 ACROSS



  1 Mud bath venue

  4 Backpack part

  9 Buy things

 13 Elephant ___

 14 Cape-waving combatant

 15 Folded food

 16 Judges at a Scottish food contest? (hint: the last letter was originally letter 5)

 18 Pub array

 19 Spacious car

 20 Request for permission

 21 Creative writing degs.

 22 Retiring hairstylist's final job? (... letter 1)

 25 Faithfully following

 28 Tinted

 29 ___ packing (dismiss)

 30 Sticks with flat blades

 34 ___-Seltzer

 37 In short order, for short

 38 Adequate coat? (... letter 2)

 40 Kind of code on an envelope

 41 Patriotic march composer

 43 Siamese, now

 44 Preliminary software version

 45 Alibis

 47 Big name in small trains

 49 Unload a slippery fish from a truck? (... letter 7)

 54 Hawaiian party

 55 High male voice

 56 No longer too young

 60 E.g., e.g.

 61 Lawn machine used on 16-, 22-, 38- and 49-Across

 63 Major Egyptian water source

 64 Made one

 65 De Armas of "The Informer"

 66 Action

 67 ___-walsy

 68 Word of assent

DOWN

  1 Hardens

  2 Cut the rind from

  3 Lacking in moisture

  4 Soak (up)

  5 "Fast Car" singer Chapman

  6 Kidney-related

  7 Large venue

  8 Remove roughness from

  9 Speak haltingly

 10 Six

 11 School zone?

 12 Group that made the Wild West less wild

 14 Principle

 17 Worked on a driveway

 23 Chess "castle"

 24 Low brass instrument

 25 192 of them make a qt.

 26 Decorate anew

 27 Full of profanity, perhaps

 31 Fitting

 32 "Yay, team!"

 33 Mrs., in Managua

 35 Tick's relative

 36 Iridescent gem

 38 "&$#!," for one

 39 NATO alphabet word after "Juliett"

 42 Sewed by a surgeon

 44 Wow-inducing, in old theater slang

 46 Make airtight

 48 Despairing poker declaration

 49 Pituitary or thyroid organ

 50 Jazzman Blake

 51 Justice Kagan

 52 Online merchandising

 53 Many Soho dwellings

 57 Out of office

 58 Hereditary determinant

 59 Periods

 62 Queen ___ ("Halo" singer, to fans)

Solution