Fourth of July by Dave Fisher
Note: This puzzle contains two diagonal entries running from top and bottom left which spell out two timely phrases.

Across
1. Hawkeye State
5. Grocery, e.g.
9. Scruffs
14. Comparison: abbr.
15. Throb
16. Bay window
17. Deluxe insulation
19. Above: prefix
20. Lost, figuratively
21. Indian bread
22. Associate
23. Commercial-free network
25. Hole in the head?
27. Martini option
28. Kindle
32. It has riser and tread
34. Tom, Dick and Harry, for example
35. So __
38. These in Ste-Thérèse
40. Omen
41. Lyric poem
42. Baseball Hall-of-Famer, Slaughter
44. Frat letter
45. Paid the pot
47. Westwood campus
48. Gloucester good byes
50. Opie to Bea
52. Afternoons
54. Compass pt.
55. Michigan or Ontario in French
56. Very eccentric
58. IV tripled
60. Minor official
65. Braid
66. Limitless
68. Bunsen burners
69. Once more with a difference
70. Salty sea
71. Sashay
72. Period of calm

73. Just

Down
1. UN nuclear watchdog
2. Taking care of (as a task)
3. Large amounts
4. Away from the wind
5. Boy
6. Desktop images
7. Unstressed vowel
8. Volunteer State
9. Cosa __
10. Wild sheep
11. Hand tool with jaws
12. Spooky
13. Incline
18. Engrossed
24. Maude portrayer
26. _ Z
28. "__ You" (Hollies hit)
29. Film crew member
30. Bit of bedroom furniture

31. Ancient Greece
33. What windows do in cold weather
36. Platonic
37. Banned pesticide
39. Dover fish
43. Spotted
45. Support grps.
46. Test often in the news
49. African bloodsucker
51. Color of unbleached silk
52. John Paul et al
53. Opposite of uni-
55. Slander
57. Iranian dollar
59. Northern natives
61. Within: prefix
62. The ideal garden
63. Scallopini, often
64. Whirlpool
67. Potter bird
crossword copyright ©dave fisher