THEME: intrusive V added to the sound of ordinary phrases
GOOD ONES: Wait on a knight? SERVE GALAHAD [sounds like Sir Galahad, without the V]
Computer maintenance tool? DRIVE CLEANER [dry cleaner]
Throw out all your stuff? SAVE NOTHING [say nothing]
One pulling in pushers NARC
They're grabbed on corners CABS ["grab a cab"]
Stake for Keats?: Abbr. ANAG [anagram: but he didn't need a stake --- though he probably liked a steak]
Wine seller STORE [not wine cellar]
Story opener PART I [not "Once…"]
Walkout walk-in SCAB [walkout as in strike]
Hoop site LOBE [not basketball arena]
Little sucker? VAC [short (little) for vacuum]
BTW: Traveler's nightmare… PAVE AS YOU GO [this theme entry doesn't make much sense: where's the nightmare? Aren't all such projects pay as you go?]
Domingo, for one {twice} TENOR [Placido] and DIA [Sunday, in Spanish]
Unacceptable NOT OK [in my view "not ok" is unacceptable]
Social worker's
backlog CASE LOAD [a case load is not a backlog; it is the number of cases, which may or may not be backlogged]
Revered one ICON [We seem to be confusing icon with idol. The icon is a picture and not revered; an idol is revered. A "cultural icon" may be a picture of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, or a Cambell's Soup can, but we don't really revere the can of soup. Now I've pointed this out once before. Don't let me have to tell you again!]
Personnel office array PENS [don't like clues with arbitrary modifiers designed only to mislead and devoid of cleverness]
Newspaper ad meas. SQ IN [maybe, but mostly it's by column inch]
Paris possessive ATOI [exactly: in London it's "yours"]
All 26 letters were used --- along with a lot of V's.
RATING:
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun