| REDFOX | An animal with a brush for a tail, depicted in the Reynard cycle, several of Aesop's fables, a tale by Beatrix Potter and a story by Roald Dahl (3,3) |
| DEER | One of the animals depicted in the Reynard the Fox fables (4) |
| ASS | Animal in several of Aesop's fables |
| MOUSE | Small mammal in several of Aesop's Fables |
| FOX | Animal with a brush (3) |
| ALCOTT | Author of the Little Women series of novels as well as Flower Fables, A Garland for Girls, Rose in Bloom and Under the Lilacs |
| SWEEP | Use a brush for a pump-handle (5) |
| REYNARD | From a medieval cycle of fables, a traditional name for a fox (7) |
| OTTERS | Resting underground in a holt or above ground in a couch/hover, an animal with a waterproof chocolate brown coat, a footprint known as a seal and a tail known as a rudder (6) |
| ISENGRIM | Name of the dull-witted anthropomorphic wolf in the Reynard the Fox literary cycle of medieval allegorical fables (8) |
| PALLET | From "spade, shovel", something flat, such as a wooden blade for shaping clay/plaster; a straw mattress; a platform moved with a fork-lift truck; or, a brush for spreading gold leaf (6) |
| SWEEPER | A flueologist; a libero; a mine detector; or, a device with a revolving brush for cleaning carpets (7) |
| CHANTICLEER | Name for a cockerel, derived from one featured in the Reynard the Fox fables |
| BRUIN | Brown bear appearing in the Reynard the Fox stories of the European Middle Ages (5) |
| STROKE | A touch of the brush for the man in the boat (6) |
| CAMEL | An animal with a hump that can go for a long time without a drink of water (5) |
| TORTOISE | Known collectively as a creep, a chelonian such as the fictional example that wins a race against a hare in one of Aesop's fables (8) |
| MOLE | Mexican sauce of chocolate and chilli or one for flavouring the classic avocado-based dip "guac"; or, an animal with a taupe coat of velvety fur whose collective noun "labour" refers to its hard effor |
| WAND | Small elongated brush for applying mascara; or, an item used in conjunction with a spell such as "Expelliarmus!" (4) |
| CURRYCOMB | A grooming brush for the company doctor chasing a dog on the railway (5-4) |
