Solution to Evan Birnholz’s May 2 Post Magazine crossword, “Lifting Weights”

Whenever I use an odd trick like this, I aim to have an otherwise normal-looking grid in that all answers are legitimate crossword entries before and after applying the theme. When I was searching for possible theme answers, I originally sought out ways to hint at raising an OUNCE out of phrases too. But only a small handful of phrases with OZ in the middle result in real words on both the left and right sides. There’s NO-GO ZONE, THE OZARKS, SCHMOOZING, and the baseball term MENDOZA LINE, but that’s about it.

Source: WP