| VAX | Oxford Word of the Year for 2021 |
| COOPERKUPP | Current Rams wide receiver named the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year for 2021: 2 wds. |
| LPGA | Patti Tavatanakit was its Rookie of the Year for 2021: Abbr. |
| GOBLINMODE | Oxford Word of the Year 2022 |
| ROT | Brain ___: 2024 Oxford Word of the Year |
| RIZZ | Charming and stylish; Oxford's word of the year for 2023 (4) |
| GOBLIN | With 27 Across, Oxford's Word of the Year for 2022, defined as self-indulgent behavior |
| SELFIE | Oxford English Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2013 |
| GASLIGHTING | Term for psychological manipulation, that was Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2022 (11) |
| OED | Lexicon that had no single word of the year for 2020 (Abbr.) |
| AUTHENTIC | *Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2023, whose increased usage is driven largely by concerns about AI; our starred theme entries won honorable mentions |
| NOVISAD | One of the three European Capitals of Culture for 2021, in NE Serbia on the Danube river (4,3) |
| PHILLIP | ___ Schofield, host of Dancing On Ice, back with 16A, Jayne, Chris and the rest for a new series for 2021 (7) |
| TOKYO | Host of the Olympics scheduled for 2021 |
| JOY | "Face With Tears of ___" (non-word that was named Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year in 2015) |
| BRAINROT | 2024 Word of the Year, per Collins Dictionary (just the shaded squares) or Oxford (the entire entry) |
| EMOJI | The Oxford Dictionaries 2015 "Word" of the Year is one |
| ANSCOMBE | Gareth - - - , the URC's Gilbert Golden Boot winner for 2021-22 with a 93.5% success rate for Ospreys (8) |
| BALI | Tripadvisor's best destination in the world for 2021 |
| POSTTRUTH | Political term that was the Oxford Dictionaries' 2016 Word of the Year |
