| PARTINGSHOT | Last word, and a hint to the starred answers |
| ALCAPONE | "you can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone" |
| BOTTOMSUP | Toaster's words, and a hint to solving eight puzzle answers |
| MOTET | In French, a word and a piece for the choir (5) |
| AMENDMENT | For a change, 500 men stood between the last word and the first (9) |
| AMEND | Change the last word and the first in dictionary (5) |
| NOWYOUSEEITNOWYOUDONT | Magic words ... and a hint to four side-by-side pairs of puzzle answers |
| YOUREOUTOFORDER | Judge's words ... and a hint to this puzzle's circles |
| SHAZAM | A magic word and a superhero portrayed by Zachary Le vi (2019) |
| AMENDED | Changed the last word and finally pleased editor (7) |
| NEWTESTAMENT | Holy work or novel? Try The Last Word and bit of Thackeray |
| OATHS | One four-letter word and a second? (5) |
| BLACKARTS | Movement that empowered African American creators (Hint: Unscramble this answer's last word and think "Toronto") |
| LOWSTANDARD | Last word, and it could be, 'poor' (3,8) |
| ETTU | Famous last words (and homophonically, a hint to this puzzle's theme) |
| PARSEC | A very long way to analyse words and a number (6) |
| LIPSERVICE | Insincere words, and a description of a hidden word in this puzzle |
| RANDOMORDER | Ideal deck-shuffling goal ... and a hint to a hidden word, and how it appears, in the four other longest answers |
| ITGETSBETTER | Comforting words, and a theme hint |
| INVISIBLEHAND | Unseen market force, or a hint to what can follow each starred answer's first word and precede its last word |
