Growing Words

(Letter seen on many clothing tags) → (Toledo "the") → (Will Ferrell movie) = #1 - S

(You's subjective opposite?) = #2 - N

(First in line for pie?) → (A box or an order) → (Caitlin Clark, e.g.) → (Advantages) = #3 - E

(Great grade) = #4 - T

(Helipad symbol) → (Pirate's cry) → (Garden tool) = #5 - M

(X's partner) → (Nay) = #6 - T

(Common texting abbreviation) → (Utah, in an address) → #7 - O

(Towards the arctic, on a compass) → (Fashionable) → ("The end" alternative) → (Word with "out") → (Purchases at a thrift store) → (Mephistopheles's squad) = #8 - R

(Testosterone, for short) → (The thing in question) → (It's conducive to comebacks) = #9 - H

(Octaves' base, in Western music) → (A kind of scan) → (Trig function, for short) → (It might plug a cut) = #10 - U

(Missing grade?) → (Common pronoun) → (Common greeting) = #11 - T

(Where you'd shift an automatic car to go forwards) → (TV feature, for short) → (Department head, for short) = #12 - L

(A thousand, to Caesar) → (Lily Collins character's nickname) → (Some dashes) = #13 - H

(#1 #2 #3) → (#4 #5, #6 #7) → (#8 #9 #10) → (#11 #12 #2 #13) = ANS - A