The answers to the clues below will have something in common.

1. Royal comedian of long ago who had only one-liners
2. Instructions for closing a bottle cap
3. Where many allowances come from
4. Poetic elementary school classroom display
5. Very cold container of ice cream
6. Exoneration for a group of actors
7. Like silent Erato writing poetry
8. What baseball pitchers hope their pitches will do

HINTS:
#1: #3 - Washington and Jefferson were two
#2: #5 - 32 degrees F for water
#3. In the answers, the same letter has been dropped from one of the words.
#4. The dropped letter is O.

Answers:

 1. CURT JESTER
2. TWIST AND SHUT
3. FUNDING FATHERS
4. BULLETIN BARD
5. FREEZING PINT
6. THE CAST IS CLEAR
7. QUIET AS A MUSE 
8. MISS THE BAT

Credit:
NY Times Crossword
June 11, 2000
Nelson Hardy
OH, NO!