| First and only fictional group to have a #1 hit song, with "The" | 74 |
| First baseman Mientkiewicz who caught the final out of the 2004 Boston World Series victory | 91 |
| First British group since the Beatles to have two albums in the U.S. top 10 at the same time | 92 |
| First celebrity to use his likeness on a video game (albeit his was a primitive square) | 87 |
| First female singer to have three different singles in Billboard's Top 10 at one time | 89 |
| First female skater to land a triple/triple jump combination in competition | 75 |
| First First Lady to announce the Best Picture winner at an Academy Awards ceremony | 82 |
| First golfer to win the U.S., British and Canadian Opens in the same year | 73 |
| First hockey player to win Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year | 73 |
| First Latin American country to nationally legalize same-sex civil unions | 73 |
| First Mayflower passenger to set foot on Plymouth Rock, so it's said | 72 |
| First name associated with Christmas, from the Hebrew for "rock of help" | 82 |
| First name invented by Jonathan Swift for his paramour, immortalized in his poem "Cadenus and ___" | 108 |
| First name of a civil rights activist who would turn 85 today, and whose adopted last name is a hint to this puzzle's theme | 127 |
| First name of a former president ... or, read another way, what each of the circled lines is | 92 |
| First name of Professor Brainard in "The Absent Minded Professor" | 75 |
| First name of the Cardinal who made a "mad dash" from first to home in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 1946 World Series | 147 |
| First name of the only person in the Inventors and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame | 78 |
| First name of the only two-time Super Bowl MVP who, both times, beat another two-time Super Bowl MVP | 100 |
| First NHL player to win the Art Ross Trophy, Maurice Richard Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award, and Hart Memorial Trophy in a single season | 137 |
| First of 12 popes (just put the Roman numeral in now and get the name from the crossings) | 89 |
| First of a pair of letters swapped six times in this puzzle's theme entries | 79 |
| First of three Mets to hit a lead-off home run in a World Series Game 3 (he did it in '69, Garrett in '73, and Dykstra in '86) | 138 |
| First part of an erroneous "Christian Science Monitor" headline published on April 15, 1912 | 101 |
| First person inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach | 81 |
| First person to win a Smarties Prize, for children's books, three years in a row | 84 |
| First player to hit an inside-the-park home run during an All-Star Game, 2007 | 77 |
| First player whose HR was reviewed (and upheld) by umpires using instant replay | 79 |
| First professional musician to become Chairman of the Board of Lincoln Center | 77 |
| First publisher of Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" | 86 |
| First tennis player to simultaneously hold Grand Slams on clay, grass and hardcourt | 83 |
| First tennis player to win more than a million dollars in a single season | 73 |
| First word across in the first-ever crossword (1913) and the first of a dozen appearances of the word in this puzzle's grid, written word search-style (left, right, down, and diagonally) ... Can you f | 204 |
| First words of the title of Sue Grafton's as-yet-unwritten 24th Kinsey Millhone mystery | 91 |
| First-century governor of Britain, whose name was Latin for "farmer" | 78 |
| Fish dish served with lemon and pepper, simmered in pretty hate and dissonant synthesizer lines? | 96 |
| Fish in "Finding Nemo" who thinks her reflection is her sister Flo | 76 |
| Fish in Guy Fieri's unfortunate "Tex Wasabi's Fish Tacos" | 75 |
| Fisher who plays "Mytle Wilson" in 2013's "The Great Gatsby" | 84 |
| Five-time teammate of Bryant, Duncan, and Nowitzki at the NBA All-Star Game | 75 |
| Fixed as a target ... or a hint to four pairs of intersecting answers in this puzzle | 84 |
| Flagmaker Ross (and, starting on the T, an 11-word quote that "runs" diagonally through the grid) | 107 |
| Flamboyant '40s men's outfit with baggy pants and padded shoulders | 74 |
| Flattering courtier who changed places with the tyrant Dionysius, in Greek legend | 81 |
| Flight from Israel [SEE NOTE ABOVE for explanation of last week's answers] | 78 |
| Flight-ending words from the captain of the "Miracle on the Hudson" | 77 |
| Floors [an avxwords.com subscription makes a great holiday crossword gift!] | 75 |
| Florida city that was once home to the world's largest Shuffleboard club | 76 |
| Flower mentioned initially by character on TV's "Entourage" (8) | 77 |
| Flower whose name is derived from the Turkish/Persian for "turban" | 76 |
| Flowers that materialize above Magrathea, in "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" | 97 |
| Flying by the bookstore, you were caught doing "One Hundred ___" in a "Fifty Shades of Grey" zone... | 120 |
| Folk art pieces that are the subject of a museum in Havre de Grace, Maryland | 76 |
| Follower of Brink, Carnation, Pig, Shocking, and Tickle Me in Crayola color names | 81 |
| Food brand that was the sole sponsor of the first "60 Minutes" broadcast | 82 |
| Food that "did fall on the Israelites most gently, vexing those burdened with meathead pride" (Exodus 17:17)? | 119 |
| Foodie who's the "Lady" of the Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah | 83 |
| Football coach Bill Parcells's nickname (not a standard sushi option) | 73 |
| Football coach who said, "If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?" | 109 |
| Football formation in which the quarterback doesn't receive the snap | 72 |
| Football Hall of Famer Carl who was a member of the Vikings' Purple People Eaters defensive line | 100 |
| Football Hall-of-Famer Ronnie, playing an extra in "Lord of the Rings"? | 81 |
| Football legend who was the first non-referee to do the Super Bowl coin toss | 76 |
| Football player-turned politician whose autobiography is titled "What Color Is a Conservative?" | 105 |
| Football tackle Warren who competed on "Dancing With the Stars" | 73 |
| Football target, in a lot of "America's Funniest Home Videos" submissions | 87 |
| Football team involved in a notorious 2005 "love boat" scandal | 72 |
| For example, any of the women who claimed to have had sex for money with Sen. Robert MenendeZ | 93 |
| For our Mixed-Up Lit class, you'll have to read "Charlotte Brontë" by ___... | 93 |
| For whom Safire wrote the words "nattering nabobs of negativism" | 74 |
| For whose benefit "the quality of mercy is not strain'd" in Shakespeare | 85 |
| Form of address for a supreme ruler, after "His" or "Her" | 77 |
| Form of Japanese dance drama in which the performers often wear white body makeup | 81 |
| Former "Headbangers Ball" regulars with "Round and Round" | 77 |
| Former "On Language" New York Times columnist who died on 9/27/09 | 75 |
| Former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Bill who played the character Stefon | 87 |
| Former Buccaneer whose dismissal was named 2003's worst sports event by "Time" | 92 |
| Former Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher who played for the Yanks in the late '90s | 80 |
| Former CIA agent Philip who wrote the 1987 memoir "On the Run" | 72 |
| Former Disney head Michael [This is the 2nd-to-last Ink Well! Continue to solve Ben Tausig puzzles @ avxword.com] | 113 |
| Former Dodgers third baseman whom Chris Berman nicknamed "Born in the U.S." | 85 |
| Former editorial page editor of The Washington Post and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for Newsweek | 101 |
| Former Kansas senator who said "Life is very important to Americans" | 78 |
| Former kids' show title character named for the large pockets in his coat | 77 |
| Former L.A. Ram who holds the N.F.L. record for most receiving yards in a game (336) | 84 |
| Former Lakers center who won two Olympic silver medals playing with Yugoslavia | 78 |
| Former New York Giants star currently in jail after shooting himself in the leg | 79 |
| Former NFL quarterback Tim whose name became a dictionary-recognized verb in 2012 | 81 |
| Former Prince percussionist/singer who had a 1984 hit "The Glamorous Life" | 84 |
| Former senator for whom Georgia Tech's School of International Affairs is named | 83 |
| Former teen heartthrob James Van Der ___ ("Dawson's Creek" star) | 78 |
| Former U.S. Open champ Chris's answer to "Who'll be tops this year?" | 86 |
| Former U.S. Open champ Monica's cry upon seeing wooden rackets in her locker? | 81 |
| Former U.S. Representative Bella who once ran under the slogan "A Woman's Place is in the House" | 110 |
| Former UN leader Hammarskjöld [Note: The circled letters comprise a three-word instruction that, when applied to one square in the completed grid, reveals a group who might follow a code of silence] | 201 |
| Former weekly mag that still publishes an annual "Best Colleges" issue | 80 |
| Former Yankee Aaron whose 2003 ALCS Game 7 homer extended the "Curse of the Bambino" | 94 |
| Fortuitous point in the Showcase Showdown to land on $1.00, on "The Price Is Right"? | 94 |
| Fortune magazine named it "America's Most Innovative Company" from 1996 to 2000 | 93 |
| Founder of the first institution of higher learning in the Western world | 72 |