| LOATHED | 17Long word a man hated (7) |
| CHARLIE | A code word; a name for a fox; or, a Vandyke-like beard (7) |
| RADICAL | The base form of a word, a political extremist, a reactive chemical species, sign or zero of a function, all linked by the concept of "root" (7) |
| LITERAL | Was following word for word a mistake in print? (7) |
| INFLECT | Change (a word) - vary (a pitch) (7) |
| IRONMAN | Character in a novel by Ted Hughes; a superhero with the alter ego Tony Stark; or, as one word, a trademark of long-distance triathlons (4,3) |
| RAGDOLL | A toy, also called a moppet, that is typically homemade from remnants or scraps of cloth; or, as one word, a luxuriantly coated blue-eyed cat (3,4) |
| REPUTED | Extremely rude word a journo said (7) |
| SUBATOM | Particle of French word: "a vehicle reversing" (7) |
| AMENDED | Last word a key editor corrected (7) |
| ACRONYM | Initial word a friend mentioned firstly (7) |
| TACITLY | Without words, a metal number divides a large town (7) |
| APOSTLE | Someone to spread the word, a job left to me in the end (7) |
| PHRASED | Put into words a bit at a time in writing perhaps? On the contrary (7) |
| NOTICED | Observed (or if treated as two words, a description of a lukewarm drink?) (7) |
| SILVERY | Word meaning argent, gleaming like moonlight or sounding bright; or, as two words, a noctuid moth with distinctive grey forked wing markings, as seen in flight (7) |
| PUNJABI | Play on words, a dig, one in a foreign tongue |
| SOAPAND | Word a peasant used for requirements for washing (4,3,5) |
| READING | Action of interpreting printed or written words; a narration; knowledge of literature; or, the study of books (7) |
| PICTURE | Said to be worth 1,000 words, a drawing, painting or other image (7) |
