Fish Story
by Kegler

Fourteen answers must be modified before entry into the diagram, as suggested by the nine-word phrase in the gray rows.

Across 12 Ocean hunter's instrument ultimately no unique thing 13 Redundancy complicated some plan 16 Reverend Spooner's lover corresponded with Dory 18 Pierce small fruit 20 Boor initially claimed fling 21 Extinct bird's mother covering egg 22 Chum, taking over, forgave 24 Ordinary folk surrounding essentially prissier administrative officials 27 Outlaw grabbing back of the head 28 Flavored great quantities with dash of oregano, backing study 30 Dry out all but the front of tresses 31 Overheard mantras for certain units 33 Father and son at last search for gold 34 Native-born Israeli is South American supporter 36 Headstone I damaged displays Indian language 37 Measures reflection of small animals 40 Digs black suit 41 Cretan's exotic drink 42 Nobody starting to nod in favor of Bond's ignoring of the law

Down 1 Promise ring by end of month 2 Person necking with native Oklahoman, keeping quiet 3 Greeting extremely nerve-wracking flier inside, yelling 4 Riding a little Malibu pony 5 Takes the crown from Spanish gentleman, back after heartless destruction 6 That man's describing unfortunate moron's endocrines 7 Silky hair twisted on a rag 8 Naive actors hassled people out of work? 9 Shortstop chases pitcher's penultimate curve 10 Always time to turn outward... 11 ...and not, finally, return to center 12 Artificial fruit juice container's temporary snag 14 A trial involved a rope 15 Italian city hosts commercial for dish container? 17 More domineering South African embraces confused Sis 19 Scene of unfavorable review by Oregon group of doctors 22 Defensive wall section protecting gorilla, perhaps 23 Good-looking foreign steno arrested for deceit 25 Threaten players with high card 26 Rejected in-box clutter with certain pictures 27 Ordered sample of berry drink 29 Numeric superscript = (e times p) over ten, surprisingly 32 Onion's skin left color in cut melon 34 Thus, note place to sit 35 Rubber gloves holding mass of ice 36 Uncle, not nieces, holding back chant 38 Color of squirming ant 39 Climbing hill is nonsense

Solution