| DIRECTIONFINDER | Device useful in navigation, or in discovering the hidden theme in the answers to starred clues |
| LOVEISALLAROUND | 1968 Troggs Top 10 hit, and a hint to the hidden puzzle theme in the answers to starred clues |
| SCANNER | Diagnostic device useful in the office |
| WHERESTHEBEEF | Classic ad line, and question you need to answer to find the hidden theme in four starred answers |
| ROLLCALL | Attendance check, and a hint to the puzzle theme in the first words of the starred answers |
| ROBINSON | Winner of the 1947 Nobel Prize for his work in discovering the structure of alkaloids (last name only) |
| NFL | HBO's "Inside the __" (and hidden theme in this puzzle's four longest answers) |
| GROVEL | Note be Fright vehicle southeast humble lover at in discovering the (5) |
| RISE | Word providing a hint to the hidden theme answers |
| EMBARK | Engage in discovering the measure of canine communication (6) |
| IMME | Hidden theme of the five starred clues' answers |
| AROMA | A main theme in the little seen Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. |
| TICTACTOE | Game that's the hidden theme of this puzzle |
| DECKHOUSE | A cabin on the top level of a boat or ship used for navigation or accommodation (9) |
| JOHNMACLEOD | Scottish scientist; joint winner of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his part in discovering insulin (4,7) |
| LIGHTMETER | Device useful to umpires came across in barge (5,5) |
| ICEDIN | Stranded at the ski lodge, perhaps, and a hint to this puzzle's hidden theme |
| OLDFASHIONED | SOMETHING nostalgic in a glass (unscramble all circled squares to reveal hidden theme - 2 wds.) |
| BASSOON | Instrument that plays the main theme in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" |
| ALPENHORN | This instrument of Austria and Switzerland inspired a theme in the finale of Brahms's first symphony |
