NPR, WAIT, WAIT… DON'T TELL ME! — [A]... contortionist... experienced a rubber man's worst nightmare... — his... foot got stuck behind his neck. ...[H]is circus pals ignored his cries for help because they thought he was joking. ... [He] had "...pins and needles for ages afterwards."
| A. | Businesslike, utilitarian (hyph.) | NONONSENSE |
| B. | City named for a poet, formerly a summer residence for czars | PUSHKIN |
| C. | Building housing Germany's parliament | REICHSTAG |
| D. | Loss in accounting (hyph.) | WRITEOFF |
| E. | Man in a pointed hat | ARCHBISHOP |
| F. | Dye used in the wrappings of some Egyptian mummies | INDIGO |
| G. | Flirt with disaster (2 wds.) | TEMPTFATE |
| H. | Point of significant change | WATERSHED |
| I. | Secretary of state under Truman | ACHESON |
| J. | Where the Isle of Man lies (2 wds.) | IRISHSEA |
| K. | Indeed, without question | TRULY |
| L. | Vacation spot for city folk (2 wds.) | DUDERANCH |
| M. | Where J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis taught | OXFORD |
| N. | "A ___ is someone better looking than you are" (Gore Vidal) | NARCISSIST |
| O. | Establish contact (2 wds.) | TOUCHBASE |
| P. | 1999 film set in Iraq (2 wds.) | THREEKINGS |
| Q. | Having natural gifts or a steady provision of funds | ENDOWED |
| R. | The crust and upper mantle of the earth | LITHOSPHERE |
| S. | Weapon of modern science fiction | LIGHTSABER |
| T. | Lottery jackpot | MEGABUCKS |
| U. | "Fear of Fifty" memoirist, 1994 (2 wds.) | ERICAJONG |