| FALLINGSTAR | Meteor, and a hint to the word that descends in the starred clues' answers ... and this puzzle's grid |
| NINETYDEGREES | Temperature on a hot day, or a hint to the starred clues' answers and each black square arrangement in the grid |
| BUILDCHARACTER | Improve one's moral strength ... and what the starred answers and this puzzle's authors both do? |
| NACHO | In Mexican cookery, a snack consisting of a piece of tortilla topped with cheese and peppers and gri |
| AMULET | Gri-gri |
| ENDROADWORK | *Sign near a construction zone (Note the first word of each starred clue's answer, and think "curling" for this one) |
| LOCALLEVEL | *Like community government (Hint: Note the letters that bookend both words of each starred clue's answer ... and what these letters collectively spell) |
| WATER | The liquid that descends from the clouds as rain (5) |
| CASCADE | Type of waterfall that descends over a series of rocky steps (7) |
| COME | Meteor and small copper rocks occur as predicted (4,4) |
| MOTHERTOBE | Could make both meteor and woman pregnant (6-2-2) |
| STONEDSILENCE | Hush that descends at 4:20? |
| OPERA | Part of each asterisked clue's answer, and what might be seen in the 9 Down and 45 Down (5) |
| HAIRRAISING | *Eerie, and a hint to the word that progresses upward through the starred clues' answers |
| OPENSEASON | Period when criticism might pour in, and a hint to the words that bookend the starred clues' answers |
| STOCKSPLIT | Share increasing action, or a hint to the word that book- ends the starred answers |
| GROUPCHAT | Conversation among friends ... or a hint to the animal collectives in the starred answers and the conversations that follow them |
| GREASE | It's the word, it's the word that you heard, it's got a groove, it's got a meaning. It's the time, it's the place, it's the motion, it's the way we are feeling |
| SHAPESHIFT | Transform like a werewolf, or a hint to the starred answers and the grid art along the upper left-to-lower right diagonal |
| FOURSEASONS | Luxury hotel chain, and a hint to the phonetic "changes" in the starred clues' answers |
