The Final Frontier - SOLUTIONS

Unlike the Kobayashi Maru, this puzzle does have answers.

I made use of the Memory Alpha wiki while compiling this one. It’s remarkable how much effort we nerds will put into filling the internet with nonsense!

ACROSS

1/51 I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS SHALL BE, YOUR FRIEND Last words carelessly freshen any abrasively bull-headed Iowan (1,4,4,3,6,5,2,4,6)

Spock’s last words in The Wrath of Khan are an anagram (carelessly) of the rest of the clue. Kirk is, at least in the JJ Abrams movies, a bull-headed Iowan.

13 REVIVABLE Minister #4 is capable and can be brought back (9)

REV (minister) + IV (4, in Roman numerals) + ABLE.

15/26 TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO-ONE HAS BEEN BEFORE The mission: improperly, wholeheartedly bone one of green boobs (2,6,2,5,5,3,4,6)

The Enterprise’s ongoing mission (in the Next Generation titles) is an anagram (improperly) of the remaining words, which also describe the standard caricature of Kirk.

17 RUIN True kink; both naked, leaving a mess (4)

tRUe kINk, removing first and last (‘both naked’).

20 OPS Morphs regularly in the heart of the station (3)

Alternating letters (‘regularly’) of mOrPhS give the core of Deep Space 9.

21 TANAGRA Gargantuan drops gun, communicates the place to face a common foe (7)

Anag. (communicates) of GARgANTuAn, removing GUN. The definition refers to the classic TNG episode Darmok.

22 JOLTS Shakes staff lieutenants in a hurry (5)

JO (a kind of staff used in martial arts) + LTS (lieutenants, abbreviated).

24 ASSIGN Allocate content of Uhura's signal (6)

Concealed (content) in UhurA’S SIGNal.

27 COMMERCIAL BREAKS Monetary damages cause interruptions (10,6)

COMMERCIAL (monetary) + BREAKS (damages).

32 SCANNED Took a good look at fancy dances round Neelix's opening (7)

Anag. (fancy) of DANCES, containing N (Neelix’s opening).

35 SCRAP MERCHANTS Barely sufficient to carry hip-hop branded goods, samples finish those who deal in recycled material (5,9)

SCANT (barely sufficient) containing (carry) RAP MERCH, last (finish) of sampleS.

39 USER One who exploits unclothed lush nerd (4)

Remove first and last (unclothed) from lUSh nERd.

40 OPTIMISM For a positive outlook, choose 999 when SIM breaks (8)

OPT (choose) + IM (999 in Roman numerals) + anag. (breaks) of SIM.

42 BLOW OVER Strike ended - it'll pass (4,4)

BLOW (strike) + OVER (ended).

44 BORG Collective choice between two notes, perhaps? (4)

OR (choice), surrounded by B and G (two musical notes).

45 THOUGHT CONTROL Mental influence not needed at the wall (7,7)

Reference to Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall (“we don’t need no education / we don’t need no thought control”).

49 RUBBERY Scrub beryllium to discover it's bouncy (7)

Concealed (discover) in scRUB BERYllium.

52 See 71

56 NO MORE Semi-erotic Monean turns back - never again! (2,4)

Half (semi) of EROtic and MONean (a species in the Star Trek universe), reversed (turns back).

57 CELEB Cancel e-book exposing star (5)

Concealed (exposing) in canCEL E-Book.

58 RETRACT Withdraw from collapsed crater holding tritium (7)

Anag. (collapsed) of CRATER, around T (tritium).

61 EBB Drop off Enterprise's final bomb casings (3)

Last letter (final) of EnterprisE + 1st and last (casings) of BomB.

62 REDS Half of redshirt found under the bed (4)

First half of REDShirt.

66 OFFENSIVE WEAPON Deactivated ensign Four of Six - even a POW in rebellion is designed to cause harm (9,6)

OFF (deactivated) + ENSI (4 of the 6 letters in ensign) + anag. (in rebellion) of EVEN A POW.

69 GUERILLA Irregular ape reported (9)

Homophone (reported) of gorilla.

71/52 THE NEEDS OF THE MANY OUTWEIGH THE NEEDS OF THE FEW Why does teen Wes' image often offend, huh? The teeth? Misguided utilitarianism? (3,5,2,3,4,8,3,5,2,3,3)

Kirk’s utilitarian message is an anagram (misguided) of the preceding words, which reference the Trek fandom’s dislike of TNG’s Wesley Crusher.

DOWN

1 INFRA-RED Francis Drake's missing cask comes out when it's hot (5-3)

Anagram of FRANcIs DRakE, removing (missing) CASK.

2 VALIANT Brave Latvian beaten (7)

Anag (beaten) of LATVIAN. Also the name of a series of star ships and a DS9 episode in which one of them appears.

3 BETA Beef starter consumed, thrown up - it's not done yet (4)

B (1st of beef) + ATE (consumed), reversed (thrown up).

4 NINE Northeast embraces fashionable number (4)

NE (northeast), containing (embraces) IN (fashionable).

5 NEXT Rebellious Texan without a following (4)

Anag (rebellious) of TEXaN, removing (without) A.

6 AHAB Captain's singular humbug rises (4)

A (singular) + BAH (humbug), reversed (rises).

7 WHALE What led shortly to 6's obsession (5)

WHAt LEd, dropping final letters (shortly).

8 YIELD Give up torpedo charge (5)

Double definition.

9 SUNGLASSES Protection gave voice to northern girls (10)

SUNG (gave voice to) + LASSES (girls, slang in the North of England and Scotland).

10 AVOWS One promises and professes (5)

A (one) + VOWS (promises).

11 LIVE LONG AND PROSPER Thrive by weirdly overselling DNA prop (4,4,3,7)

Anag (weirdly) of OVERSELLING DNA PROP.

12 EXTENSIVE DAMAGE Widespread carnage as sixteen variously oppose Dutch cheese vintage (9,6)

Anag. (variously) of SIXTEEN + V (oppose) + EDAM (Dutch cheese) + AGE (vintage).

14 LUNG Organ found at tail-end on climbing antelope (4)

L (last of tail) + GNU (antelope), reversed (climbing).

16 ODD JOB Casual work as henchman, perhaps? (3,3)

Double definition, Oddjob being a henchman of the Bond villain Goldfinger.

18 INTERCEPTOR Fighter's place in grave holding Roman Catholic terrible poet (11)

INTER (place in grave), containing (holding) RC (Roman Catholic) + anag. (terrible) of POET.

19 DATA New man's hasty "father, thank you" (4)

DA + TA (short forms of ‘father’ and ‘thank you’). Data is an android in the Trek series TNG and Picard.

23/69/46 TEA, EARL GREY, HOT Unruly "aye" to the larger captain's order (3,4,4,3)

Picard’s regular command to the Enterprise’s food replicators is an anagram (unruly) of the following four words.

25 IDEA Divide Andoria - now there's a thought! (4)

Concealed (now there’s arguably a semi-indicator) in divIDE Andoria. The latter moon is a founding member of the Federation.

26 See 15 Across

28 CHARIOT Casual conversation detains Brazilian on old-fashioned transport (7)

CHAT (casual conversation) containing (detains) RIO (Brazilian).

29 LYE Corrosive untruth spoken (3)

Homophone (spoken) of LIE (untruth).

30 REC Somewhere to relax about light speed (3)

RE (about) + C (the speed of light). A Rec Room is somewhere to relax.

31 SET Solidify the place where we shoot (3)

Doubel definition. Shoot in the sense of filming.

33 CAME TO A HEAD Reached breaking point and visited ship's toilet? (4,2,1,4)

Double definition, the latter cryptic.

34 VULNERABLE POINT Five Plutonian rebel agitators find a good spot to strike (10,5)

Anag. (agitators) of FIVE PLUTONIAN REBEL.

36 MRI Scan rim, bottom-to-top (3)

Move the last (bottom) letter of RIM to the front.

37 ROM Ferengi rarely offer money up front (3)

Initials (up front) of Rarely Offer Money. Rom is a regular character on DS9, the brother of Quark and father to Nog.

38 SHORT OF Without lace, after school can be lacking (5,2)

Anag (can be) of aFTeR ScHOOl, removing LACE.

41 SQUEEZE Statuesque Ezekiel reveals boyfriend (7)

Contained (reveals) in statueSQUE EZEkiel.

42 BIT Little information from primary backups on computers (3)

B (first - primary - of Backups) + IT (computers)

43 ODO Love to act, constable (3)

DS9’s shapeshifting security chief Odo. O (love, as 0 in tennis) + DO (to act).

46 See 23

47 HUE Initially hot, umbrella engenders shade (3)

Initials of Hot Umbrella Engenders.

48 CAD Rogue cadet drops out early (3)

CADet, shortened (drops out early).

50 ELIM Tailor spied a distance back (4)

Reversal (back) of MILE (a distance). Elim Garak is a former Cardassian spy living in exile as a tailor on DS9.

51 See 1 Across

53 EMBRYO Mother's boy loses hots for young one (6)

Anag. of MothER’s BOY, removing HOTS.

54 SARU Kelpian is, as a rule, uncovered (4)

Concealed (uncovered) in aS A RUle. Doug Jones’ Discovery character is a Kelpian.

55 DISPATCH Send off to inspector's area (8)

DI’S (Detective Inspector’S) + PATCH (area)

59 T’PAU Famous Vulcan group? (4)

Cryptic doubel definition - the (real-world) band are named for a Vulcan TOS character.

60 TRAINEE Initiate's ruined retinae (7)

Anag (ruined) of RETINAE.

63 ON CUE Active transmission from omnipotent being at the right moment (2,3)

ON (active) + homophone (transmission) of Q (a mischievous, omnipotent being who appeared throughout TNG and elsewhere).

64 KEIKO Klingon head's rookie or absent teacher (5)

K (first of Klingon) + anag. of roOKIE, removing OR. The botanist Keiko O’Brien works as a teacher for much of the run of DS9.

65 REFIT Supply elevation of rank centred on function (5)

Reversal (elevation) of TIER (rank), containing (centered on) F (function).

67 PIKE One of 66 fish, captain (4)

Triple definition. A pike is a polearm (answer 66), a fish and the name of a captain who appears in TOS.

68 NOVA River flowing north flashes brightly (4)

The river AVON (in South-West England and Wales), reversed (flowing north).

69 See 23

70 RIFT Opening discovered in rainforest without reason (4)

Anag (discovered) of RaInForesT, removing REASON.