| BEADYEYES | Some birds' peepers, and a phonetic hint to three letters within 17-, 24-, 50- and 59-Across |
| LEIGHTONMEESTER | *She played Blair Waldorf on "Gossip Girl" (Theme hint: Notice three letters within each starred clue's answer) |
| FASHIONPOLICE | Wearers of 17-, 24-, 50- and 59-Across? |
| ORBS | Globes, peepers and spheres |
| BIGSHOESTOFILL | What a successor may have, and a hint to three letters hidden in each starred answer |
| THEBIGAPPLE | Empire State Building locale ... or a hint to three letters in 16-, 19-, 52- and 57-Across |
| TED | With 45-Across, popular lecture series ... or a hint to three letters plus the last word of each starred answer? |
| THINGSFALLAPART | Classic 1958 Chinua Achebe novel ... and a hint what literally happens in 17-, 24-, 50- and 61-Acros |
| YOUDOYOU | Encouragement of individuality ... or a hint to a letter, a word and another letter within each starred clue's answer |
| NAMEDROPPER | "Look who I rub elbows with" sort, and a hint to three Across answers |
| GHOSTING | Suddenly cutting all contact... or what happened to three letters in four Across clues |
| NOTWOAREALIKE | Description of snowflakes ... and the letters within each of the answers to the starred clues |
| JOHNNYONTHESPOT | Handy guy to have around, or a hint to this puzzle's theme found in 17-, 24-, 50- and 62-Across |
| OUTOFAMMUNITION | Defenseless, in a way, and hint to what 17-, 24-, 50- and 62-Across are |
| INTHECLOUD | Stored on a remote server, and a hint to three answers |
| REDACTED | Used a black marker on ... or a hint to three chunks of black squares in this puzzle |
| PREINSTALLATION | Software service provided by hardware sellers ... and a hint to three long puzzle answers |
| MIXEDBAG | Variety, and what's literally hidden within 17-, 23-, 32-, 42- and |
| BTW | Incidentally, in texting ... and a hint to three long puzzle answers |
| LITTLEITALY | Neighborhood near SoHo, and a hint to three squares in this puzzle |
