| NGRAM | A string of letters or words that appear in longer sequences |
| XOXOXOXO | String of letters that might close a love letter |
| STORMDRAIN | A channel intended to cope with the large amounts of water that appear in times of heavy rain or flooding (5,5) |
| HRH | Letters that appear in front of some royal family members |
| ELLIPSIS | Omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues |
| PICKMEUP | Morale booster ... or words that might suggest the arrival of one of the circled words |
| HAILSTONES | Acclaims tints that appear in cold fall |
| MAYBUGS | Nickname for cockchafers that appear in spring (7) |
| INTERALIA | Among other things that appear in Latin (5,4) |
| ANTRA | Cavities that appear in the human trachea (5) |
| SHARKS | Animals that appear in the fossil record before trees |
| MAIL | Single collection or delivery of letters or parcels; or, flexible armour made of interlinked metal rings (4) |
| DIGRAPH | A couple of letters or papers around chart (7) |
| CODES | Systems of letters or symbols, used for communicating in secret (5) |
| RAIL | *A bar of wood or iron (one of nine starred clues/answers that appear here exactly as they did in th |
| ADORED | Europe's most westerly land has extremes of letters or directions (6) |
| BODYANDSOUL | Wholeheartedly, or words that can precede the first and second parts, respectively, of 17-, 31- and |
| NEOLOGISMS | Phrases or words that have recently been coined (10) |
| SPIRITUAL | Song of hope and freedom, such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (or word that means relating to matters of the soul) |
| PROOF | Evidence, or word that can follow the starts of answers to starred clues |
