| FLASH | Burst of lightning; or, a trick in juggling (5) |
| BOLT | Old English word for an arrow, especially one shot from a crossbow; jagged flash of lightning; or, a roll of cloth or wallpaper (4) |
| TOY | An old word for amorous sport/ play, frivolous entertainment, an antic or a trick; a trifling object or plaything, such as a doll, miniature, model, teddy bear or tin soldier; or, something diminutive |
| CLAPTRAP | Word for a humbug or a trick to gain applause originally, later baloney, bunkum, codswallop and drivel, empty verbiage, fustian or piffle (8) |
| ECLAIR | French word for "lightning"; or, a choux pastry cake described by a well-known dictionary as "long in shape but short in duration" (6) |
| BOLTS | Word for crossbow arrows; stout pins or screws; sliding bars in locks; rolls of cloth, linen or wallpaper; white flashes of lightning; or, sprints, such as those executed by runner Usain (5) |
| APRIL | Month you may be a victim of a trick in |
| STREAK | A flash of lightning or the course or line it takes; a swift dash; or, a band of contrasting colour (6) |
| DODGE | A dive, duck, sidestep, shun, veer or other evasive/hiding movement; a quibble; a ruse or cunning trick in order to avoid something unpleasant; or, an instance of two bells trading places in change-ri |
| FINESSE | Delicacy and elegant skill in style or performance; subtlety and tact in handling/manipulating situations; or, a technique to win a trick in bridge (7) |
| COUP | French "blow", perhaps "de foudre", like a thunderclap, stroke of lightning or sudden feeling of love at first sight, like a bolt from the blue (4) |
| TRUMPED | Played a stronger suit to take a trick, in bridge |
| HOAX | A trick in which someone tells people a lie |
| HURST | Geoff _; the only scorer of a hat-trick in a World Cup final (5) |
| USMAN | Identify the first name of this spinner from Pakistan who took a hat-trick in a T20I tri-series against Zimbabwe on November 23, 2025. (5) |
| GOALS | What there are three of in a hat trick, in hockey |
| STREAKS | Lines of lightning ... or lightening |
| OLDEST | A trick in the book that doesn't fool anyone |
| RUSE | Sure, there's a trick in it! (4) |
| SCONCE | Candle holder has a trick in each odd socket (6) |
