Solution to Evan Birnholz’s April 28 crossword, ‘Closing Time’

Seven answers in this puzzle have asterisks in their clues:

• 22A: [*Norwegian author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920] is KNUT HAMSUN.
• 37A: [*Rare creatures of video games and trading cards] is LEGENDARY POKEMON.
• 44A: [*Some classical sculptures] is GREEK STATUES.
• 66A: [*Like a draft in a house, maybe?] is HOME-BREWED.
• 69A: [*He threw the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”] is KING ARTHUR.
• 86A: [*“What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine” author] is DANIELLE OFRI.
• 96A: [*Car whose model name is derived from the German for “trade winds”] is VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT.

Their connection is revealed at 114A: [Period for taking exams ... or a hint to the pattern shown in the last three or four letters of the asterisked answers] which is FINALS WEEK. The final three or four letters of the asterisked answers are the abbreviations for the seven days of the week in order (HAMSUN, POKEMON, STATUES, BREWED, ARTHUR, OFRI, PASSAT). I had considered using three-letter abbreviations for all of them, although Thursday would have forced me to use an answer like KLENDATHU (the home planet of the alien “bugs” in “Starship Troopers”). That’s an interesting word, but I figured you’re probably more likely to have heard of KING ARTHUR.