| ONCEUPON | How to start a story or, alternatively, continue a poem (4,4,1,4) |
| ONCE | How one might start a story about the last 2,000 years? |
| ONCEUPONATIME | Start tale thus or continue a poem willy-nilly? (4,4,1,4) |
| FROMTHEWORDGO | How to start playing monopoly at the beginning (4,3,4,2) |
| DEARSIR | How to start a note to Lancelot or Gawain: 2 wds. |
| SAGO | Announced how to start a race to get starchy material (4) |
| DEARME | How to start a letter to oneself |
| DIALO | How to start a collect call, old-style |
| HERESTO | How to start a toast for heroes, perhaps - about time! (5,2) |
| SERVE | Verse about how to start a game of tennis (5) |
| DRIVE | How to start a round with ambition (5) |
| UPON | Continue a poem after recollecting beginning of childhood romance - w 15dn (4,4,1,4) |
| SLOWLY | How to start a czardas |
| GREETING | how to start a conversation |
| DEAR | How to start a letter? (4) |
| SIR | Dear ___: how to start a letter? |
| ATIME | Continue a poem after recollecting beginning of childhood romance - w 23ac 15dn (4,4,1,4) |
| PAGE | Word for a leaf in a book, thus a figurative turn in a story; or, a varlet (4) |
| NARRATOR | She tells a story, or provides a spoken accompaniment to a performance. (8) |
| SPLASH | To print a story or photo prominently in a newspaper (6) |
