| APERFECTSPY | 1986 John le Carre novel about the mental and moral dissolution of a secret agent called Magnus Pym |
| USED | "The mental and moral, like the muscular powers, are improved only by being ____" (John Stuart Mill) (4) |
| SENILE | Characteristic of people especially the mental and physical deterioration |
| MORALE | The mental and emotional condition of confidence (6) |
| FRIERNBARNET | North London suburb whose name recalls that it belonged to the Order of Knights of St John of Jerusalem until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s (6,6) |
| ROBERTASKE | The rebel leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace, a protest against the dissolution of the monasteries |
| DIVORCE | The dissolution of a marriage by judgment of a court (7) |
| LYASE | In biochemistry, an enzyme that catalyses the dissolution of a molecule by forming a double bond between its parts (5) |
| ESPY | Catch a glimpse of a secret agent from the capital of Egypt |
| PETEREGAN | Actor who played Paul Ryman in Ever Decreasing Circles and Magnus Pym in A Perfect Spy |
| TINKER | - Tailor Soldier Spy; John le Carre novel adapted into a miniseries and a film (6) |
| PRETTYINPINK | 1986 John Hughes film in which Annie Potts played the manager of a record store: 3 wds. |
| PILGRIMAGEOFGRACE | A rising in Yorkshire in 1536-37 brought about by enclosures and religious changes culminating in the dissolution of the monasteries (10,2,5) |
| ABBEY | One of the types of buildings that were disbanded during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries (5) |
| IMPLANT | Sow the seeds of a secret agent's confession? (7) |
| SMILEYSPEOPLE | Which 1982 television adaptation of a John Le Carre novel starred Alec Guinness? (7,6) |
| HEALTH | Word, from "whole", for a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing; or, a toast to said fitness (6) |
| SPYGLASSES | Monoculars of a secret agent, with vision aids |
| REALTOR | What is a real estate agent called in the US? (7) |
| DOUBLELIFE | Burden of a secret agent, perhaps |