| THEMATRIX | Place explored in a 1999 film (and the 2003 theme of the 39-Across) |
| MARS | Place explored in 2004 by Spirit |
| CARMENSANDIEGO | Character chased in educational computer games (and the 1999 theme of the 39-Across) |
| DETECTIVE | Dennis Potter wrote the screenplay for the successful BBC series and the 2003 film adaptation, The S |
| CAVE | Place explored by a speleologist |
| RIPLEY | Tom, character played by Matt Damon in a 1999 film based on a Patricia Highsmith novel (6) |
| ELMO | Adventurer in Grouchland, in a 1999 film |
| LITTLE | Stuart, anthropomorphic mouse voiced by Michael J. Fox in a 1999 film (6) |
| PELLETHECONQUEROR | Film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988 |
| DENCH | Actress in the forthcoming Blithe Spirit who has played Queen Victoria in two films and the character "M" in several of the James Bond movies (5) |
| ANNA | Jodie in a 1999 film |
| CARS | 2006 Disney film, and the ends of the eight longest entries in this puzzle |
| PINCKNEY | Charles ___ (1757-1824), US Founding Father and one of the 39 signers of the Constitution (8) |
| JULIASTILES | Actress who played Nicky Parsons in the Jason Bourne films and the lead role in the 2017 Irish drama series Riviera (5,6) |
| 1OTOMIDNIGHT | 1983 Charles Bronson film (and the start of the countdown) |
| BLAIR | Old name of a Maryland town, home of an apparent murderer and kidnapper in a 1999 supernatural horror film |
| LARACROFT | Fictional character in a series of films and the video game Tomb Raider (4,5) |
| LARA | Fictional character in a series of films and the video game (4,5) |
| CROFT | Fictional character in a series of films and the video game (4,5) |
| BADARTFRIEND | "Who Is the ___?" (viral Times Magazine article about a literary feud, whose theme of fictionalizing others' lives without permission is also explored in Andrew Lipstein's 2022 novel "Last Resort") |
