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Making It to Friday! Round 1 puzzle below

ACROSS: 1 Improve 6 Greedy ones 10 Border 14 Boss, oftentimes 15 Not busy 16 Understands 17 Friday feeling 19 Gasp 20 Common insect 21 Allows 23 Finish even with 24 When I was a__" (from 'HMS Pinafore') 26 Cuts severely 28 Airport info. 31 Joe Friday, eg 33 Building wing 34 Zip 35 After Wed. 37 Type of system 41 World explorer 43 Scarf 44 Slows down 45 More withered 46 Musical of impaired boy 48 Patriots football org. 49 Like an ump 51 Hoover's org. 52 Overly 53 Lauds 57 Where the grass is greener 59 Straggle 60 Pale colored 62 Shrimp dish 67 College subj. 69 Fri. at five 71 Nautics leader 72 Type of enemy 73 Net lace 74 Ivan was one 75 Piece of paper 76 Willamette runs through it

DOWN: 1 Type of horse 2 It's like 1 d. clue 3 Vogue competitor 4 Ex-speaker Gingrich 5 Comical 6 Wrestler's aim 7 Hollywood star 8 Joins 9 Alight 10 Sixth sense 11 Kiss of___ 12 Wish granter 13 Park in Colo. 18 Arm's extension 22 Why you work 25 Skepticism 27 Veer 28 Goals 29 What you do before the weekend 30 Washington apple scare 32 Where's your___? 35 Ms. Heinz-Kerry 36 Brazil dance 38 Effort 39 Data 40 Capital on a fjord 42 Lotion brand 47 Stranger in our___ 50 Celebratory 53 Clothing fold 54 Speeds 55 Greek marketplace 56 British county 58 Group of Gaels 61 Work-out place, often 63 Blue color 64 Ponder 65 Large quantity 66 Article 68 “Neither a lender__..." 70 Above 30,000 megahertz

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The Lighter Side! Round 2 puzzle below

ACROSS: 1 “Most Happy__” 6 Eve’s mate 10 Where teacher Anna worked 14 Utopian 15 See 16 a. 16 Island 17 A singer/comic 19 Like Kangaroo, in short 20 Please a lot 21 Large land mass 23 Sound of surprise 24 Peke sound 26 Current 28 Acid 31 Grass patch 33 Indicate assent 34 Lager 35 Daughters, eg 37 Pal of 17 a. 41 South American plain 43 Logical operator, negative 44 Tree in Monty Python skit 45 Fishing lure 46 Body without head 48 Chit 49 Just a guess, in short 51 Word fun 52 Bang stuff 53 Funny man Jonathan 57 Tiny___ 59 Type of mania 60 Buddhist monk 62 Funny Phyllis 67 __ mater 69 Doubt 71 Amble 72 What___? 73 __ has left the building 74 __and daughters 75 Rip 76 Leg extender

DOWN: 1 Bona__ 2 Eve’s garden 3 Heavy substance 4 Kent’s friend 5 Facial soap brand 6 Reduced reduced 7 Bits and bytes 8 Atilt 9 Subordinate 10 Urge an attack 11 Abraham’s son 12 Omega’s opposite 13 Bronze, eg 18 Get up 22 Greek God of music 25 Get the___? 27 Notion 28 Circuits 29 Swat 30 For showing, in short 32 Wilt 35 Figure from Grimm’s 36 Show one’s stuff 38 Holy___ 39 Symbol 40 Open and___ 42 Coleridge, eg 47 Derogatory 50 Kind of business vessel 53 Has on 54 Ice abode 55 Ulysses’ name, once 56 Beam 58 “___to go before I…” 61 Org. 63 Tune 64 ___Strauss 65 Corrupt 66 Leave the race for a while 68 Radio settings 70 No__of roses

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Simply Gripping! Round 3 puzzle below – to determine the Puzzle-off)

ACROSS: 1 Kudos 6 South American indian 10 Short for an overweight person 14 "I was at a party", eg 15 __of the manor 16 Lead __ cinch 17 Very well adhered 19 Not for 20 Research role 21 Bird home 23 Cambridge VIP 24 Doo__ Parade 26 Running well 28 Damp 31 __or me? 33 Banana cream, eg 34 County Kerry site, short for 35 Ravines 37 Helpful dietary enzyme  41 More than sock 43 Watercloset 44 Adhere to 45 Ersatz chocolate 46 Refuse 48 From here to Lloyd Center 49 Six-shooter 51 Where the water egresses 52 Pale and perhaps ill 53 Caught up in 57 Bomber outfit 59 __against nature 60 What chawers do 62 Golf carrier 67 Char 69 Phobic, perhaps 71 Land unit 72 Upper hand 73 Kind of phone call 74 What is heard when a bee stings 75 Batman player Adam__ 76 Parachute stuff

DOWN: 1 Towards Boise 2 Board game with a rope  3 Mash's Hot__... 4 Help 5 Dead__ 6 Doing poorly 7 Nail, eg 8 Sneak slowly 9 Totals 10 April 15 ally 11 Asian language 12 "Jungle" author's first name 13 Living thing 18 Annoy 22 Kind of law 25 Hail word 27 Atoll material 28 Stopped, in short 29 First name of "The grass is greener..." author 30 Dam in the water 32 High 35 What a BASICA worker does 36 TV seats, oftentimes 38 __good... 39 Pinta cohort 40...ollie__ 42 Kind of party 47 Keeping up with 50 Louie to Donald Duck 53 Pope's "__on Mankind" 54 An heir, perhaps 55 Twist 56 Kind of light emitter 58 Ship space 61 Harbor craft 63 Small boat 64 __controls 65 Likes (with "is") 66 Barbara, of "I dream of..." 68 What others say about you, in short 70 Group

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Song and Dance! (Puzzle below) For the Puzzle-off, with everyone looking on!

ACROSS: 1 Marry quietly 6 Support a candidate 10 1960s musical 14 Symbol of parenthood 15 Wind instrument 16 Reverse 17 "Before the parade passes by" musical 19 Type of road 20 USSR city 21 Change 23 Eastern state, in short 24 Omega 26 Shooters in hiding 28 Hair cream amount 31 Fish type 33 Harden 34 Sickly 35 Lamp inhabitant 37 Grow 41 Mickey’s dog 43 Badger 44 Unbeliever 45 Its capital is Damascus 46 Fish tank growth 48 Full house sign 49 Past 8-tracks 51 93 mill. miles from us 52 Greek deca in English 53 What you need to see 17 a 57 Zip 59 North of Mexico 60 Roster 62 What bettors seek  67 Undressed 69 Musical opened in '56 71 Poet Mr. Pound 72 Lot map 73 Author of Tortoise and Hare 74 Often a lovesong for two 75 Worker in bondage 76 Night sound

DOWN: 1 Type of chamber 2 Used a whopper 3 Eye 4 Pen__ 5 Uneven 6 22 day off sound 7 __was I ere ... 8 Winter downers 9 Car vandalism 10 Shanty 11 Terminal end 12 Loafer 13 Small breads 18 Waltz 22 A third 25 Bella follower (one word) 27 Drama form 28 Bends 29 Supporter 30 Indistinct 32 Tunes in 35 Teaser 36 Make angry 38 Part of MIT 39 Father 40 Univ. subj. 42 Mark 47 Excuse 50 Treads heavily 53 Stay __ ! (keep watching) 54 Car manufacturer 55 Core action group 56 Coolness 58 Former Milan money 61 Close? not! 63 Valley 64 El __, Texas 65 Smell 66 One suited for a role (with cast) 68 Consume 70 A FED bureau's focus

All puzzle clue mistakes are Caleb's!