First-Name Basis

Thanks, Wendy! I'm horrible at film trivia and still had a great time solving (I think that's the mark of some mighty fine puzzle constructing!)

I didn't know all of them, but enough to be sure of the answer. Great puzzle!

Fun puzzle. Thanks, Wendy.

Much fun!! I confess first had TERRY GILLIAM but once I saw where the others were headed, I back-solved.

Thanks Wendy! Nice start to the week.

Thanks for the enjoyable solve experience of twists and turns ... sort of, well, wendy, you might say

Good puzzle.

Im absolutely horrible and dont understand how to solve a Meta. even with the answer to this one, I cannot figure out how to get to the answer? any help?

A city in Minnesota named for politician and farmer Robert (I don't think he was a blue blood)

Fun one, Wendy! Had to back solve for a few, but ultimately got there. TERRY THOMAS was the toughest, but thankfully, Mr. G was up to the task. Thanks for the puzzle.

Nicely done. I figured out what to do but only knew three of the actors with Mr. Google! Fun nevertheless.

Clever one, Wendy. Thanks! Definitely had to Google several of those names.

Beautiful. Very well done and fun.

Great fun. If only there had been a way to make it more of a challenge for the solver, not just the clue writer. When I'd finished and looked back at 1A, SHAM, I wondered if there were a way to make 68A KNOT or TONK to complete the anagram. There isn't. But there is the crypitic "Actor acknowledgements including mantra."

very clever! Great fun in figuring out that the film title was in the clues for the "first names" ! Thanks, Wendy, enjoyed this puzzle!

Great puzzle, Wendy! When I first solved I was thinking Peter "Falk", who always had trouble saying "goodbye" in his Columbo role ("Just one more thing.") and Dustin "Johnson" (the golfer, not the actor), who occasionally hits "hooks" off the tee.

Fun puzzle...thanks Wendy! Here's to many more in '24!

Thanks, Wendy! Clever concept and construction! Loved it. Yeah, I felt like I should know more but I knew three, which gave me a good inkling... then had to Google the rest. One of my fav actors, up there with Dustin and Jimmy. :)

How fun! Google gave me Terry Flores as the editor of Variety, so I had FOM HANKS for about half a second. ( : Also, fun how GRACE the attribute and GRACE the name really go together?? (I mean, she seemed to define “dignity plus poise”!)

Super clever, Wendy! Really enjoyed it.

the only one i watched was "Hook"... the rest I had to google but got there! fun puzzle thank you!!... For "Weeds" I thought it was the TV show, so i didn't remember any Nicks from it before I googled that it was a movie too! I had Hader first for "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs"... I had the wrong movie and had to go back in time even more!... 65A should be re-clued... the teletubby is spelled Laa-Laa

For some reason, I began working on the meta from the bottom up -- S, K, N?, ??, H -- so there it was! Glanced back to see that I could name the first three actors simply on "well-known"-ability in order to get my TOM. Oh, and I just trusted you completely when it came to that Linden guy, Wendy! Lots of fun and a great idea!

Fun idea! Needed Google for all but BILL/DUSTIN/JIMMY, but still pretty gettable. DUSTIN & hook was what finally tipped me to the mechanism. Love the 7D clue.

Enjoyed the trip down memory lane. I thought immediately of Rear Window when I saw both Jimmy and Grace in the grid, so was prepared to notice those words in the clues!

Very entertaining. Thanks.

I don't even know what you would be Googling. IMDB is my friend.

That was fun! At first I saw way too many names, both across and down. Once I narrowed them down by looking at your delightful clues, it all fell into place. Thanks!

Great puzzle! And even more amazing that all of these names could be placed symmetrically.

Thanks for such a clever puzzle!

Well I managed to get it from thinking who the names might be, particularly at the end; GRACE I immediately thought KELLY and JIMMY well STEWART. So if NICK could be NOLTE I thought, that gives me NKS and can the others...yep they can. Later I went back and saw the beauty. Hey, don't knock LINDEN ASHBY, he graduated from the high school (well more of a prep school) right across the street from my church....of course Mortal Kombat would be hard to sneak into a clue. Fun one Wendy.

Very nice, thanks Wendy! I've never heard of a few of these but fortunately OMHNKS points to a pretty obvious answer... and it's not "NOM, HUNKS!"

I got hung up on thinking the names on the left had one second name in common, and those on the right (e.g. Terry Jones, Grace Jones, etc.) - but then realized they had to be all different actors. There must be loads, how do I… aha the clue is in the clues!!! Lots of googling needed (forgive me, not from these shores lol) - but got there! Fun puzzle!

Wonderful puzzle! Tight cluing, good fill, clever meta. I needed to use Google to find a few of them, but this was great!

fun puzzle, thanks!