Instructions: Guess the words defined by the cryptic clues (answers vary in length from four to eleven letters, and six are capitalized) then enter them in the grid one after another in the same order as their clues, starting in the upper left corner. Across words that don't end at the right continue on the next row, and down words that don't end at the bottom continue in the next column. Eleven across words and ten down words won't fit in the grid unless one of their letters is omitted. Those twenty-one letters, taken in order as they occur in across and down words, spell a seven-word message related to the mystery entry. Thanks to Kevin Wald for test-solving and editing this puzzle. (If you are having trouble printing these puzzles, you can download an Adobe Acrobat version of the puzzle and grid). [Want to see some hints?]

1. Mystery entry
2. Capp was around yard forever
3. Playwright holding a rope
4. Naval officer Wright's terminal disease
5. Allure of ten cut diamonds
6. City of note—New Orleans
7. Harsh test damaged loader
8. French filmmaker has an article for a Russian princess
9. Evers failed to put the ball in play
10. Bird of Tanzania
11. Hardy love organ
12. Secret change with number removed
13. Scale reversed in dinosaur, for example
14. Husband consumed with dislike
15. Meeting recreated a scene
16. Medic embraces nymph in house of fashion
17. Warehouse covers 100 square meters
18. Victor later fired servant
19. Called about large knot
20. Help a Princess of Ethiopia
21. Can the music, including song
22. Charles X exhibits discipline
23. Talk of war making bishop tense
24. Old robber doesn't have right drug
25. Mystery entry

1. Period of low interest
2. Me and Clara chewed candy
3. Guy first to identify a mental illness
4. Change overwhelms Old Testament worshipper
5. Youngster started learning in bed
6. Keen Charlie turning up to make merry
7. Trail apparently wraps around circuit
8. Negotiate rate changes before trading begins
9. Come up without one thing to sit on
10. Beginnings of active Soviet intervention across continent
11. Bar wild talk, initially about goose genus
12. Crucial temperature inside container
13. Gave essentially plenty
14. Virgin goddess of Indian army
15. Hold back clamor about letter
16. Partitioning confines proton, for instance
17. Erratic pitcher Young wins series
18. Defensive player is surprisingly agile catching ball
19. Machine made by the French and the English
20. Baltic country stretching into sea
21. Mix up "lie" and "refusing to admit the truth"
22. Intrinsically confined in upper section
23. Frail, small, and fair
24. Spacecraft carries a bit of unclean wash
25. Sharpen pen for truthfulness