| JEREMYCORBYN | 13Ac irons, perhaps, before thick skin gets to grips with heartless bureaucracy (6,6) |
| INVERESK | Knives out, getting to grips with heartless employer in East Lothian village (8) |
| WHITEELEPHANT | Chess player, one with thick skin, gets unwanted gift (5,8) |
| COUNTRYCLUBS | Perhaps Chad irons (perhaps) in leisure centres (7,5) |
| BANCHORY | Means of getting stuck fast in heartless bureaucracy on 24Dn 11Dn (8) |
| GOLFCLUBS | Irons perhaps, and where they're used (4,5) |
| AMELIORATION | Improvement to meal, perhaps, before one makes a speech (12) |
| VALLETTA | Capital where servant gets to grips with Latin way to express gratitude |
| DRINKDRIVING | Lawbreaking shot, perhaps before teeing off |
| PIGEONHOLING | Labelling passenger, perhaps, before sinking (12) |
| PANCETTA | Personal assistant gets to grips with knife starting off to take bone out of meat from Italy (8) |
| SOFTOPTION | In a short time gets to grips with paper getting to choose one easy way out (4,6) |
| WRESTLER | Athlete who gets to grips with an opponent? (8) |
| PERKINWARBECK | Pretender by stream gets to grips with family feud |
| TECHNO | Maybe Pavarotti right away gets to grips with church music |
| MIMOSA | Graduate gets to grips with institute and the majority briefly from plant (6) |
| TACKLES | Gets to grips with; defensive actions in sport (7) |
| ATTEMPT | Attorney gets to grips with casual worker's trial (7) |
| CHITCHAT | Tom gets to grips with problem conversation |
| TAILEND | Back trouble nurse gets to grips with |
