I met a guy once who did the NY Times Puzzle without using any of the down clues.  He sometimes could get all the way to Thursday (You know they increase in difficulty through the week up to Saturday.  Sunday’s bigger but the clues are often relatively easy.)   without using any down clues.  I tried it for a while.  Not easy.

Words added today to Words every puzzler needs to know:  Old dagger, Corp Money Managers; Feedbag Morsel

Already there: French Friend

Theme:  Well, we have these asterisks on the corner down clues…and 26-down also…of course 21-down tells us how they’re related (and they don’t just mean spatially) . ..and getting the idea will help with the asterisked clues you haven’t solved yet.

other:

Capital of Arizona:  He was a River in Sunday’s puzzle.  There are occasional carry-overs from one day to the next and one week to the next.

Boundless enthusiasm:  Must be the name of a perfume also