Mark McClain,

Title: NOPE!

Our new friend Mark McClain delivers a fun comparatively easy Friday. The letters "PE" are removed from common phrases to reveal a new entertaining phrase. What makes the puzzle elegant is the first two relate to bad people and the next two are golf related. I am not sure I have seen a "remove letters" that was so precise. CAD CRUSADER required perps but that opened the rest. There were few 3/4 letter fill and some glitz with 6/7 fill.  I liked TUMTUM,  MIRREN,  TRISTE ERRATIC,  RETINAS  and TRUISMS. He does this all in a nice pinwheel. Well lets get to it.

17A. Insensitive zealot? : CAPED CRUSADER (11). Batman (a good guy) is replaced with a CAD (a bad guy). Nice.

56A. Reprobate's regular expense? : SINNER'S REPENT (11). Yes sinners must find a place to live.

10D. Golf course equipment of the future? : FLYING CARPETS (11). Having both seen and done bad driving on the golf course, the thought of crazy golf throwing clubs also in the sky woth a golf cart is frightening.

25D. What many golfers regularly engage in? : THE PAPER CHASE (11). Par Chase is not a phrase I am familiar with, but it does accurately describe what most golfers seek. Birdies and eagles are icing on the cake
And the reveal:

66A. Casual refusal ... and, another way, a hint to this puzzle's four longest answers : NOPE. Puzzle falls into place with the correct parsing of this word.

on to the rest.


Across:

1. Tablet input : DATA. Your handy I- or Samsung product.

5. Stick (on) : PASTE.

10. Groovy : FAB. Properly cluing this out of use with a passe clue.

13. "The Quiet Man" co-star : O'HARA. Maureen. LINK.

15. Take in, maybe : ALTER. I was thinking duping someone ar first.

16. Mauna __ : LOA. 120 feet lower than one of the other volcanoes that are the creation  of Hawaii.

19. Wine bottle figs. : YRS. A CSO to our wine peddler Chairman Moe, who can discuss vintages as long as you listen.

20. Asian capital : HANOI.

21. Where Gauguin painted "Woman With a Flower" : TAHITI.

23. Lays to rest : INTERS.

26. Eye parts : RETINAS.

27. Gung-ho : RAHRAH.

28. Concurrent with : DURING.

29. Poetic praise : ODE.

30. Like Mandarin Chinese, linguistically : TONAL.

32. '80s-'90s slugger Fielder : CECIL.

35. Popular wine region : NAPA.

37. Summer Triangle twinkler : DENEB.

39. All there : SANE.

40. View : SLANT.

42. Get rid of : SCRAP.

44. Rotation meas. : RPM.

45. Downgrade, maybe : RERATE.

47. Tot's indigestion area : TUMTUM.

49. Grows periodically : ACCRUES.

51. Sad, on the Seine : TRISTE.

52. Sweater wool : MOHAIR.

53. Rodeo critter : STEER.

55. Item under a top : BRA.

61. Funny pair? : ENS.

62. Like Mexico's Pyramid of the Magician : MAYAN.

63. Part of UTEP : TEXAS.

64. Whiskey option : RYE.

65. Rested : SLEPT. A word we have discussed at length.

Down:

1. Bashful comrade? : DOC.

2. "I thought so!" : AHA.

3. 1860s White House boy : TAD.

4. Tell, memorably : ARCHER.

5. Part of UTEP : PASO.

6. Fronton game word : ALAI.

7. Kind of deviation: Abbr. : STD.

8. Wobble : TEETER.

9. Unpredictable : ERRATIC.

11. Big artery : AORTA.

12. Rationale : BASIS.

14. Genesis mount : ARARAT.

18. Like wild horses : UNSHOD.

22. Duncan of baking fame : HINES.

23. Shackles : IRONS.

24. Clay-court legend : NADAL.

26. Yardstick : RULER.

28. Reel, for one : DANCE.

31. Fledgling launching spots : NESTS.

33. Feedback : INPUT.

34. "I wanna try!" : LEMME.

36. End of __ : AN ERA.

38. Frying preparation : BATTER.

41. Self-evident actualities : TRUISMS.

43. Least spoiled : PUREST.

46. Ham's accessory : AERIAL.

48. "The Queen" (2006) star : MIRREN.

49. Color in "America the Beautiful" : AMBER.

50. Like many bar jokes : CORNY.

53. Blow a fuse : SNAP.

54. Canvas shelter : TENT.

57. Actress Carrie who was married to Dick Cavett : NYE.

58. Skeletal opening? : EXO.

59. Toddler's downtime : NAP.

60. Japanese market letters : TSE.