The World's Tallest Cryptic
"Tall, isn't it?"
"It tries to be. Choose your entries right,
and you can head up as high as you want."
"But then I'll never reach a final answer!"
"Well, that you have to do in the altogether different way described."
ACROSS
2:
Lord Vader comprehends horrible woe, not the correct way to read the final
answer to this puzzle (4, 2, 5)
11:
Emotionless jerk comes after mug and ring (7)
13:
Note about comedienne Margaret's academic organization (6)
14:
Our lady, in shackles, reveals the exact length of the final answer to this puzzle
(4, 7)
16:
Revolutionary obtains submachine gun (4)
18:
Celebrated getting the German area united into a larger political entity (9)
19:
At last, that weirdo barber Sweeney (4)
21:
Ripe to tangle with a supernatural being (4)
22:
A bunch of stitches look sound (4)
25 + 45n:
Semitic language lacks masculine word meaning "beer" (4)
Look and sound of resentment (4)
Noisily drops horseriding equipment (4)
26 + 45n:
The French gutlessly honor the Cowardly Lion's portrayer (4)
Fifty-one-foot elevator (4)
Knocks box over (4)
28 + 45n:
Change caused by an effect of the moon spinning (4)
Norse God in love with noise (4)
Behead cod; otherwise, it stinks (4)
31 + 45n:
Network showing Cavemen, a cartoon about cavemen (3)
Do I fill the role of Pierre's friend? (3)
In Arles, you mostly work (3)
32 + 45n:
One who is in love, dear -- or crazy (6)
One who positions things in real confusion (6, var. spelling)
Druggie starting to snort printer ink (6)
33 + 45n:
Fired after getting old, misguided Dan bombed (10)
Hauled around a nob that's tossed back bubbly (10)
Vehicles containing Mr. Weasley, fruit drink, and guns (10)
34 + 45n:
Spots headless boys (3)
Desire for the riches of the East (3)
37 + 45n:
He'd misread an Old English letter (3)
Upset Playboy's founder with expression of disdain (3)
The ultimate in hyacinths (3)
38 + 45n:
Lunatic erases things for relaxation (6)
Lets Ed hurt the presumptive heir (6)
Trees filled with, um, a kind of glue (6)
39 + 45n:
Metal shirts and shades (5)
Ultimately, not suspicious of the Lone Ranger's sidekick (5)
41 + 45n:
Fabrics of the first of seven types (5)
Each bird that sings a Weird Al parody (3, 2)
42 + 45n:
Evacuated Ferrara with one Italian's animals (5)
Eye part of over-trimmed veal (5)
Perform numbers with one actress named Reed (5)
43 + 45n:
Humongous nude actor named McKellen (3)
Attention: This is a serving of corn (3)
Californian airport is negligent (3)
45 + 45n:
A mass of ice secondarily absorbs a ten-millionth of a joule (4)
Is in the wrong English train, son (4)
Shamuses mentioned in issues of an MIT paper (4)
47 + 45n:
One unbelievably long time (3)
Stimpy's pal is almost torn apart (3)
Where you permanently store data for a Gypsy (3)
49 + 45n:
Set is little help (4)
I run around, becoming a wreck (4)
Ashen after getting red alert (4)
52 + 45n:
Some bread, left out for a dullard (3)
A cur's remark is far inferior (3)
54 + 45n:
1,101 here in Quebec (3)
Electronic chips is complicated [sic] (3, abbr.)
55 + 45n:
Stare with disgust, essentially, at a scripting language (4)
Exhibit surprise by staring at the tail-biting snake (4)
56 + 45n:
Heard about Damon's pad (3)
Needlefish found in hangars (3)
57 + 45n:
Not-quite-subdued Scotsman's cap (3)
Leg Maxim perhaps flipped over (3)
Lass is to delay heading back (3)
58 + 45n:
Tail wild female singers (4)
Legendary king of the Huns, at Long Island (4)
Each hurt! (4)
Shaft put MDMA into beer (4)
59 + 45n:
Prefix on "form," "phyll," or "loch," oddly (6)
Dance in a medical facility, wearing a string tie (6)
60 + 45n:
Variant lyre modified to serve the purposes of a bard (11)
Disturbed rest isn't his motivation for drinking (11)
That senior's remarkably husky vocal quality (11)
63 + 45n:
Made certain act involving $5 pasta perverse (11)
Petey and Gertie Minuit will get drunk in cheap bars (11)
Zeroes in Met damaged coins again (11)
65 + 45n:
Bed in a small house (3)
Mr. Serling's punishment (3)
Posed as madcap Tesla (3)
67 + 45n:
Author and she almost get engaged (4)
Metro Goldwyn Meyer initially thinks they run things (4, abbr.)
Pat's failing a high school exam (4, abbr.)
68 + 45n:
Weapon in a room (3)
Seldom ignoring every odd character with a teaching degree (3, abbr.)
Despot exhibits psychic power (3, abbr.)
UP
1:
Cold, reddish outer layer (5)
3:
Wind ought to exist, with oxygen in it (4)
4:
Twisted and hurt (5)
5:
Scrabble piece shows ~ but not D (4)
6:
Organic compound a biblical book discussed (5)
7:
Hears about flightless birds (5)
8:
Reason for a suit to reflect at both ends (4)
9:
Socks a biblical prophet (5)
10:
Lump of uranium extracted from mass of condensed vapor (4)
12:
As announced, bishopric had to yield (4)
15:
Three or four centers from the local football team (4)
17, 62 + 45n:
Italian wines damage dateless veggie dishes (8)
Surveillance agents capturing one criminal with dead body parts (8)
Lab I rave about is not always the same (8)
18, 64 + 45n:
Spilled dirt from large books (6)
Former Philippine president's manuscript about an oil company (6)
Mistakenly put Roman "I" in John Wayne's first name (6)
20, 66 + 45n:
Naiad frolicking with goddess (5)
Weeping leaves Rory disheartened (5)
Cooked tater and fish (5)
21, 67 + 45n:
Men's sad, pathetic, irrationality (7)
Ms. Zadora left fashionable street musician (7)
Shamus turned down pierced Carya glabra seeds (7)
23, 68 + 45n:
Top-notch text from Mao, nevertheless (1-3)
Cry of rage in Dublin and environs (4)
24, 69 + 45n:
Ares, keep gripping a grim, tawdry Caltha palustris (5, 8)
This part has no misdirected arrows fired while retreating (8, 5)
25 + 45n:
Wild rice I got can be created by prokaryotes (13)
Cause excitment in Paris's summer with 999 (about a thousand) spacecraft
components (6, 7)
One who pledges has abused coke, tritium, and a Bic, say (6, 7)
27 + 45n:
Immoderate iron magnate John Jacob, by reputation, has pull (5, 2, 6)
The Riga banker is corrupt? Very sad (13)
Oy, Cain's plants adapted proteins used in photsynthesis (13)
29 + 45n:
Legendary queen of Carthage finally uttered wedding vow (4)
A bird rendered extinct by party after party (4)
Deer takes small amount of drugs (4)
30 + 45n:
Embarrassed after mostly unnecessary vehicle is frequently punctured (6-7)
Philosopher and seer can't see Dr. Awkward (4, 9)
Crusading group and mad doctor reunite (8, 5)
32 + 45n:
Allows a bit of discussion of this school (6)
Powerful ditty about Roosevelt (6)
35 + 45n:
Mentioned eatery in an Indian city (5)
Discourage retrospective about Senator Kennedy (5)
One who catches long fish U. S. Grant's opponent tossed back (5)
36 + 45n:
Poorly written "if" ran further down the page (5)
Ruled by German and British Queen (5)
40 + 45n:
The Way Grain Spills (3)
Using your tongue, draw a digit (3)
Also shouted at (3)
44 + 45n:
In the style of Somerville's leadership, unfortunately (4)
A tavern turned Egyptian, perhaps (4)
That's cute -- a youngster's heading out (4)
46 + 45n:
Six-legged critter infesting them Mets (5)
Send money found in clock back (5)
Nonsense about (for example) somersaulting thesaurus writer (5)
48 + 45n:
No, I'm (gevalt!) the guy who played Spock (5)
Bloom and Minderbinder's Greek island (5)
Caroming truck follows Monsieur Marcel Marceau et al. (5)
50 + 45n:
Prize is a reversible tie (5)
"Flying Ur" is a former name for a flying company (5)
51 + 45n:
Morse code symbol had rotated (3)
That item following "D" is a Morse code symbol (3)
Name the Venetian "Zilch" (3)
52 + 45n:
Dramatic sequence within farce (3)
Turned to codeine, originally not requiring a prescription (3, abbr.)
Sphere a male sib spun (3)
53 + 45n:
Assemble like soldiers entirely enthralled by Flipper (4, 2)
Leaf is folded up to form a bra pad (6)
57 + 45n:
Reportedly obtain water from the French Quarter of a city (6)
Leave unfinished number with Faust's author (6)
Band featuring Matt Johnson and wildly het twins (3, 3)
61 + 45n:
Poetically superior to "Titania" or "cinnabar" in sound (1'2)
Rabbi and former actor Harrison (3)
Criticize inscription on a tombstone (3)