| ATASLANT | Like an escalator, and, aptly, like the six-letter word that begins where 40-Across ends |
| LIGHTS | Tips for links: I'm generously helping the six-letter answers here (6) |
| RHYTHM | Six letter word without a vowel |
| LEDA | H.D. work that begins, "Where the slow river / meets the tide, / a red swan lifts red wings" |
| REARWINDOW | Iconic 1954 thriller where '40-across' is briefly seen winding a clock (4,6) |
| ENGLISHAUTHOR | 20-, 30-, and 40-Across end with one |
| SOS | "Mamma Mia!" song that begins "Where are those happy days?" |
| OTIS | Maker of escalators and moving walkways |
| LIDOS | One closes loop - how synergy begins, where people take the plunge (5) |
| LINKINGVERB | Word such as "be" ... or a punny description of the seven-letter word that can create new action words when its letters are inserted in the breaks of the circled action words |
| ALL | Word that begins and ends the Three Musketeers' motto |
| BLEEP | Five-letter word that replaces a four-letter word? |
| DOCUMENTARIES | 13-letter word that each theme answer in this puzzle is an anagram of |
| STEWARDESSES | One of the only 12 letter words that typists can produce with just the left hand on a standard keybo |
| FOREGONE | Word that contains a six-letter state |
| CHANGINGTABLES | Furniture for new parents ... and a literal description of the circled squares (look on top of them to find this puzzle's six-letter meta answer) |
| NEW | Word that begins the names of four US states |
| SAN | Word that begins the names of many California cities |
| TIS | Word that begins with an apostrophe |
| TWAS | Word that begins with an apostrophe |
