I want to try and do something, but I honestly don’t know the progress. 
Had a thought that the super secret magic word could be モンブラン, in which case 8-across could be ライメイ, but I can’t see how イイ works for 12-down.
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Looks like you picked up a few more answers in the process of filling this out.
Did I? That’s what I’ve got written in my book.
How about ブイ for 12-down?
Don’t really know how it works for 7-across, but it’s the only thing that comes to mind.
Also, the rumbling after an atomic bomb is thunder? .-.
Ah, that does work. Think 7-across is one of the ones we were a bit unsure of anyway.
Who mentioned an atomic bomb?
Also, 4-down might be しかめっつら; frown or scowl
(If I understood anything about it)
What he said.
Also, apparently it can be described as thunder.
The fisherman was some 20 miles outside of Hiroshima, but “the thunder was greater than when the B-29s hit Iwakuni, only five miles away.”
John Hersey’s famous report, published in 1946 by The New Yorker , describes a “noiseless flash.”
Ah. I just read it as being half of ピカピカ. A flash, and then a rumble = thunder.
I can see how the word fits the definition, but I’m not sure it makes sensible cross words…
Yeah, the 7-across is destroyed.
I don’t understand that one, something about the mania of acquiring certifications being effective?
Would it make sense for 6 across?
Oh! Didn’t see that one.
Noun
- scalpel; surgical knife From Dutch; Flemish “mes”
But I don’t think so.
That also, but that makes as much sense as 雌…
I took it to be talking about something effective during that period in March when people are scrambling to get a job in Japan.
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Starting to wonder if we need to reevaluate the answers from further afield. Thing is, I’m pretty sure of キス for 11-down because it’s 鱚, which is 魚＋喜ぶ
Either that or start peeking in the back of the book…
The reasoning here just hit me. It’s definitely タバスコ. I know in Japan タバスコ and parmesan cheese are often given together at family restaurants or with pasta but the trademark hint was confusing me. It just hit me that the trademark is talking about the name タバスコ not that the cheese and hot sauce together are trademarked. duh.
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As in, “served with” = “served at the same time as” rather than “served on” 
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I would have never thought to mix two kanji together to form another to find the answer. I was looking for a delicious fish that kind of looks happy. I don’t know much about types of fish so I just gave up. How did you even think to go that way??
Because a previous puzzle had the clue 弱い魚 and the answer was 鰯. 
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