| BACKWARDS | A porcupine cannot shoot out its quills, when threatened it will ram the attacker, running into it ___ |
| YUH | "Get Into It (___)" (Doja Cat hit) |
| PORCUPINE | If one of these thinks you're a threat, its quills will stand on end to frighten you away |
| POLO | Explorer Marco ___, who wrote of the legendary roc: "Its quills were twelve paces long" |
| PEN | Writing implement, once a feather with its quill sharpened (3) |
| SPINE | Part of a book visible when shelved; a prickle of a hedgehog/quill of a porcupine; or, a series of vertebrae (5) |
| BODY | A corporal frame or trunk, be it mine, or of a porcupine or swine; or, the fullness of flavour in a fine wine (4) |
| SPIT | Camels can ___ as a way to distract a threat when angry. They can also kick when threatened. |
| ARIES | Symbolised by the Ram, the first sign of the zodiac (5) |
| SKUNKS | American animals with black and white striped fur and a bushy tail that emit a smelly liquid when threatened (6) |
| OPOSSUM | A small, nocturnal animal famous for its ability to play dead when threatened by predators (7) |
| RUNDOWN | Lethargic, so ram the car into him (3-4) |
| PAINSTAKINGLY | How a thief will steal a porcupine? (13) |
| NETTING | Achieving his goal, the attacker might shake it (7) |
| POP | What a porcupine would probably do to a balloon (or what some kids call their 7A) |
| ARMADILLO | Creature that rolls into a ball when threatened |
| UMBRELLAS | They get held up when threatened by that shower of mares, bull running wild (9) |
| WEDGE | Ram, the first thing you see on Welsh border (5) |
| HAMSTER | Pet the rams the wrong way (7) |
| SPINALCOLUMN | The backbone of a porcupine? (6,6) |
