| ALLALONG | What across answers have always been from the beginning |
| BREAKINGBAD | Show what across answers are doing? |
| WERE | Had been, from the rain, little protection (4) |
| FORESEES | Anticipates announcement of what across rows in this puzzle contain (8) |
| BACKDATES | Makes retroactive ... or what the eight other longest Across answers have |
| EIEIO | What the seven longest Across answers have in common |
| LEADINGMAN | Evidence Fed's been shot for top actor (that all other across answers have here) (7,3) |
| TEN | What's across from "4" on an analog clock |
| INDUSTRY | In the beginning, what's at the heart of this is what we have always been, really, from start to finish, despite all of this busy work. (8) |
| TROUBLESHOOTERS | People have always been brought in from the outside to fix problems, but we only started calling the |
| HEROES | "My ___ Have Always Been Cowboys" Willie Nelson |
| AGELONG | Seeming to have always been so (3-4) |
| CARRYONESBAT | To have always been in base, contrary to order (5,4,3) |
| VEAL | They have always been giving up meat. (4) |
| TRADITION | How things have always been done |
| ABSENCE | Sonnet 97: How like a winter hath my ___ been / From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! / What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! / What old December's bareness everywhere! |
| HOLLYMADISON | "The Girls Next Door" reality TV actress who should have been from Wisconsin? |
| MONGOLIA | Since 2003, six of the eight sumo champions have been from this country |
| HUB | "The ... capital has always been the financial of the country" |
| TRACYAUSTIN | Former tennis champ who should have been from Texas? |
