Took me three guesses but nudge-free. A tricky little second step!
Darth 🤓17:33 · 2022-03-06T04:13:32.006Z
Busy week, so I put this meta on the back burner... I didn't know what to do with fair tide and foul tide, but I found what I needed when I focused on the others. Fun puzzle. Thanks, Mike!
Sure! The "TIDES OF MARCH" (which reinforces the title) is meant to indicate that you are looking for TIDES. Five of them - LOW, EBB, NEAP, HIGH, and RIP - are hidden in entries in the grid. Using the other entry, FIRSTANDLAST, if we take the FIRST and LAST letters BELOW each of these tides (the title, the clue for FIRSTANDLAST, and the nature of tides all clue into this), we get MW, AA, KV, EE, SS, which - taking the first letters, then the second - spells out MAKES WAVES, the answer!
Common crossword noun that's a homophone of 16-Across
14A
Asian capital
15A
Barely running, like my exercise bike at the gym
16A
Common crossword surname that's a homophone of 13-Across
17A
Bad way to run
18A
"How about you actually cut the lawn right this time"
19A
"Above all else..." (But perhaps "Below all else..." is more fitting!)
22A
Musical instrument that is the first four letters of two other musical instruments
23A
Capital of the country with the most gold medals at the Winter Olympics
24A
Pressing need?
27A
Fictional character born in ABC prime time on February 22, 1963
30A
Civil rights activist Davis
32A
Met ___ ("Fashion" event, or so they say)
33A
A cat's eye, occasionally
36A
Source
37A
Took a course?
38A
Laissez-___ (YEAH NO RULES)
39A
They've got so many questions
40A
A test solver who has the first crack at the meta, say
42A
Toil
45A
Liar in a logic problem
46A
Form a union (a more perfect one, we hope!)
49A
"Uh, please, allow me"
50A
Branch
51A
Last word in a Shakespearean title
52A
Where femurs are found
55A
Some 62-Downs
57A
"___! OF! FORTUNE!" (fake TV show about expensive fish - just go with it)
58A
Bring in
61A
Functions
62A
When Caesar went swimming, he was told to beware the ___
66A
If you wear it, you might get knight sweats LOL
69A
How you may get to the airport
70A
Fury
71A
Seizes
72A
Up to
73A
When the fish salesman came to the house, he brought his calling ___
74A
PC keys that I could use in real life
75A
"Yes!"
76A
Rte. 66, e.g.
Verticali
1D
[And just like that, I figured out the meta!]
2D
Reach
3D
Just awful, like my puns
4D
"___ do" (what you say after I try to tell another 3-Down pun)
5D
Nickname of the winningest French Open champion
6D
Shortly
7D
"Really???"
8D
Places for plants
9D
Tech. news and review site
10D
Popular street name (but it's not that Poplar)
11D
Murmur in a lovey-dovey way that will cause this millennial to roll his eyes
12D
"Yuck, that crosswordese is disgusting!"
15D
Bean, for one
20D
It's commonly eaten in Japan on New Year's Eve
21D
Just like
24D
Boardroom VIPs
25D
What a novel idea!
26D
"Gargantuan fiddlesticks of lugubriousness" (in a slightly more common way)
27D
Org. for good drivers?
28D
Actor Morales whose Wikipedia page says his name frequently comes up in crossword puzzles
29D
Moves furtively
31D
Sportscaster Gumbel
34D
First name of singer of 1983 lyric "Take your passion / And make it happen"
35D
What helped to get a party started?
38D
Ginger Cat's covering
39D
This is a no-win situation
40D
1970s "Show" that awarded its winners a check for $516.32
41D
GIs that rank under Sgts.
42D
___ rock (easy-listening radio format)
43D
Pine
44D
Leave, colloquially
46D
Cry from a couple who wins the "$1,000,000,000 Meta Grand Prize" (this is not a thing)
47D
Owns it, like an ill-advised bird joke ("But I thought it couldn't be beak!")
48D
No and others, briefly
51D
Rachel : Jennifer :: Phoebe : ___
53D
When successors of an estate call my radio show, I'm putting on ___
54D
Kind of sack
56D
Pie I've eaten before (See 47-Down)
59D
Type of puzzle central to "Concentration"
60D
Band of Joey Fatone (who was also the Rabbit on season 1 of "The Masked Singer," and these parentheticals are obviously the quality content you've come to expect)
62D
See 55-Across
63D
Quadri- plus quadri-
64D
"Well, that's ___" (word that sounds exactly like 38-Across and maybe it's a dupe but not really)
65D
Actress Lamarr who helped pioneer the precursor to Bluetooth
66D
I don't act mine
67D
Certain lines, briefly
68D
Open ___ night ("And, now, I'd like to recite poetry in honor of my love of Wordle")