| TAKEITDOWNANOTCH | Reduce one's excitement slightly ... or what you have to do to the final letter of five long answers in this puzzle? |
| ATLAST | Etta James song, and a hint to the final letters in both words of the starred clues' answers |
| BOUNCERS | People prepared to deal with one if troublesome - curb one's excitement |
| PARTLY | Slightly or somewhat (6) |
| PITTSBURGH | City that had the final letter of its name removed in 1891, only to be restored in 1911 |
| TRANSGENDER | What the final letter of LGBT stands for |
| ERA | What the last letter of 5-Down stands for |
| ALITTLERNR | Quaint vacay, and a hint to five long answers in this puzzle |
| PCS | Some laptops, and a hint to five long answers in this puzzle |
| MOVINGVAN | Starting at 19-Across and ending here, vehicle making its way through five long answers |
| RUSH | Ambush, as the defense tries to do to the passer (or what have to do if you're in a hurry) |
| MOVEDOVER | Change a map of southern England? ... or, when parsed differently, what you need to do to the answers to the starred clues |
| MEASURE | What you have to do to make sure there's the right amount of sugar in your homemade cookies (or to find out how tall you are) |
| DROPINS | Unexpected guests, and what you'll have to do to make sense of the starred answers |
| DROPALINE | Say hi to in writing...or what to do to the first letter of each starred clue? |
| GRAB | What kids scramble to do to the candy that falls out of a pinata (or to pick up a handful of movie theater popcorn) |
| OMEGA | Twenty-fourth and final letter of the Greek alphabet, used as the symbol for the SI unit of electrical resistance, the ohm (5) |
| METATARSUS | The skeleton of the human foot consisting of five long bones |
| APPLYFORLEAVE | Rub in on trim body and resist the temptation to touch - it's what fighters have to do to guarantee the rest (5,3,5) |
| SUPERBOWL | Event that could feature any of the athletes found in five squares in this puzzle ... and a Feb. 9, 2025, event featuring the athletes spelled out in the first letters of five Across entries and then |
