thanks for the puzzle! I tried solving this one downs-only, but ESCALADE did me in. I remembered that a SAVANNAH was an american car ... this did not go well for me!! at one point I was wondering if 9A could be SAIL YEAH (some kind of nautical cheer?!) ... hehehe.
lots of fun and engaging entries here (including in the acrosses, so I'm glad to have resorted to them!)