TED GIOIA, THE IMPERFECT ART (Reflections on Jazz and Modern Culture) — We should... be thankful for second-rate art. The poorest practitioners of a... craft are often, like clumsy magicians or awkward liars, more revealing than their betters. The... neophyte... magnifies the flaws of a whole generation.
| A. | Remain completely dry | TEETOTAL |
| B. | Peak in the Bernese Alps, first ascended in 1858 | EIGER |
| C. | Recast for less sophisticated minds (2 wds.) | DUMBDOWN |
| D. | Scottish range that separates the Highlands from the Lowlands, with "the" | GRAMPIANS |
| E. | People like P. G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster (2 wds.) | IDLERICH |
| F. | Excess of telephone traffic or incoming data | OVERFLOW |
| G. | Gilbert and Sullivan operetta in which a fairy marries a mortal | IOLANTHE |
| H. | Country that sent its first female athletes to an Olympics in 2004 | AFGHANISTAN |
| I. | Expression of insouciance (hyph.) | TRALA |
| J. | Native wit (2 wds.) | HORSESENSE |
| K. | Somewhere back in the stream of time | ERSTWHILE |
| L. | How one goes streaking by (3 wds.) | INTHERAW |
| M. | Form of government in Qatar | MONARCHY |
| N. | Joking nickname for a person seemingly learned | PROFESSOR |
| O. | Classic brokerage acquired by Shearson Lehman Brothers in 1987 (3 wds.) | EFHUTTON |
| P. | Quill feathers on the wings of a bird | REMIGES |
| Q. | Ruffle or flounce on a garment | FURBELOW |
| R. | Power to produce the desired result, as of medicine | EFFICACY |
| S. | Southernmost point of North Carolina (2 wds.) | CAPEFEAR |
| T. | Group of noodle users (2 wds.) | THINKTANK |
| U. | Trunk carrier | AORTA |
| V. | TV sensation of January 1977 | ROOTS |
| W. | Mother's whistler? | TEAKETTLE |