S(TEVEN) JOHNSON, ENEMY OF ALL MANKIND—By cultivating a reputation for … mayhem, … pirates made their … jobs easier. A … captain who … read … of one of his peers being force-fed part of his own anatomy would … be … inclined to surrender … at the first sight of a black flag.
| A. | Small, social passerine bird | SPARROW |
| B. | Ominous naval ensign (2 wds.) | JOLLYROGER |
| C. | Poet banished by Augustus | OVID |
| D. | Major-General Stanley knew "many cheerful facts" about the square of this, in a Gilbert and Sullivan tune | HYPOTENUSE |
| E. | Cooler, neater, dandier | NIFTIER |
| F. | Right-hand man for a character missing his right hand | SMEE |
| G. | # | OCTOTHORPE |
| H. | Racy outfit? | NASCAR |
| I. | High-protein baking ingredients (2 wds.) | EGGWHITES |
| J. | Making small incisions in | NOTCHING |
| K. | Collection of corrections | ERRATA |
| L. | Rebels | MUTINIES |
| M. | Oscillated around a vertical axis | YAWED |
| N. | Composer of the "Barcarolle" | OFFENBACH |
| O. | On-the-water front? | FORESHIP |
| P. | Maersk ____, cargo vessel attacked by Somali teens in 2009 | ALABAMA |
| Q. | 19th-century buccaneer Jean | LAFITTE |
| R. | Embellishes; covers with fat | LARDS |
| S. | Express indistinctly | MUTTER |
| T. | Toward the stern | ABAFT |
| U. | "No further discussion needed!" (2 wds.) | NUFFSAID |
| V. | Ralph ____, Pittsburgh outfielder inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975 | KINER |
| W. | Of unknown cause, as a disease | IDIOPATHIC |
| X. | Pooh-bah | NABOB |
| Y. | Author of the novel inspired by real-life Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk | DEFOE |