25x21 Themeless: Knickerbocker Holiday

Back on the big-center train. This puzzle was full of coincidences. The original version had black squares on the first letter of 51-Down and the last letter of 55-Down. After filling most of the center, I realized that these could be removed, forming a stack of five long entries going vertically, but a stack of seven long entries going horizontally. Then as I was cluing, I realized that 50-Down and 55-Across both feature in the play "Knickerbocker Holiday," which is as specific as it is random. For those of you who don't already know all of the characters and songs from 1930's Broadway plays (and I'm sure there are at least tens of you) I've added extra hints in those clues. There's a fair amount of these hints throughout the puzzle because I want things to be as fair as possible for a puzzle this wide-open. Even so, I'd call this a "very hard" puzzle, so proceed with caution, but listen to the void if it calls to you.



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