(BURKHARD) BILGER, NOODLING FOR FLATHEADS — [H]ow could I miss such a huge fish? A twitch of my... hand solves the conundrum: I can't feel [it]... because my arm is... down its throat. [We]... realize this at... the same time, like stooges backing into each other in a haunted house.
| A. | Stanley Cup champions of 1970 and 1972 | BRUINS |
| B. | Piscine | ICHTHYIC |
| C. | Someone halfway out the door? (2 wds.) | LAMEDUCK |
| D. | African exporter of bauxite and gold | GUINEA |
| E. | Express great admiration | ENTHUSE |
| F. | Small cinnamon candy (hyph.) | REDHOT |
| G. | Mississippi terminus of a frontier trail | NATCHEZ |
| H. | The state of being hated | ODIUM |
| I. | Lose flexibility; get set in one's ways | OSSIFY |
| J. | Serve, as food; give, as advice (2 wds.) | DISHOUT |
| K. | Proposition used to prove another proposition | LEMMA |
| L. | Communicating (2 wds.) | INTOUCH |
| M. | Spiral stairway's central post | NEWEL |
| N. | Attribute shared by Lenin and Uncle Sam | GOATEE |
| O. | Ludicrously circuslike event (2 wds.) | FREAKSHOW |
| P. | Mitch Miller, as a musician | OBOIST |
| Q. | Like some dry white wines of Germany | RHENISH |
| R. | Fictional river providing power for the Dorlcote Mill | FLOSS |
| S. | Comprehensible to non-engineers (hyph.) | LOWTECH |
| T. | Disorder often triggered by allergens | ASTHMA |
| U. | Queen of the fairies; moon of Uranus | TITANIA |
| V. | Dull as dishwater (hyph.) | HOHUM |
| W. | Under a rapturous spell | ECSTATIC |
| X. | Book of Zoroastrian scriptures | AVESTA |
| Y. | Knucklehead, numbskull | DIMWIT |
| Z. | Color of some roofing slate (2 wds.) | SEAGREEN |