| TELEVANGELIST | T.D. Jakes or Jerry Falwell, e.g.; like our other three theme entries, this is a "portmanteau word," combining letters and meanings of two words to form a third |
| ARIANAGRANDE | Singer who began a new partnership with Starbucks on March 5, fittingly since her surname is a drink size there; they should hire our other three theme entries, too |
| MORALMAJORITY | Organization founded by Jerry Falwell |
| WEIRD | Merriam-Webster recently released its 2024 Words of the Year list, on which 40-Across was the winner; this word, one of the runners-up (like our other theme entries), went viral when used by Minnesota |
| SPARERIBS | Barbecue offering, or what the other three theme answers do? |
| AMEN | Word from Bishop T.D. Jakes |
| PREACHTHEGOSPEL | Emulate T.D. Jakes |
| PHOTOFINISH | Incredibly close end to a race -- or a feature of the three theme entries (2 wds.) |
| EMOTICON | A portmanteau word for a smiley :-) or other combination of characters representing one's facial expression, feeling or state of mind, in an email or SMS ;-) (8) |
| BLEND | A portmanteau word such as banoffee, blog, Bollywood, bromance or brunch; or, a mixture generally (5) |
| BOMBAY | The word Bollywood is a portmanteau of this city's former name and Hollywood. What was this city earlier called? |
| MARON | WTF podcaster whose first and last name start with the same three letters; ditto for our other four theme entries |
| CATCHSOMEZS | Snooze, or what each of the three theme entries does (3 wds.) |
| WATTSTAX | 1972 benefit concert whose name is a portmanteau of an L.A. neighborhood and a record label |
| ANARMANDALEG | What something expensive may be said to cost...and what each of the three theme entries features (5 wds.) |
| ALLFALLDOWN | End of a nursery rhyme, or the fate of this puzzle's other three long answers |
| ATC | Grp. that coordinates E.T.A. and E.T.D. |
| ATTHEDROPOFAHAT | Instantly ... or how this puzzle's other three longest answers came about? |
| RELIEFMAP | A chart indicating a terrain's hills, mountains, valleys and other three-dimensional topography by means of colours, hachures and shading, rather than contour lines alone (6,3) |
| FEARFACTOR | Old stunt reality show, and a feature of the other three long Across answers |
