| NOTUPTOMUCH | Capable of doing only little and that of a poor standard (3,2,2,4) |
| SEMICOLON | Punctuation mark used to indicate a pause intermediate between that of a comma and that of a full stop (9) |
| ABYSMAL | Of a very poor standard or quality (7) |
| INABADLIGHT | Seen unfavourably when making up a part of a poor crossword answer (2,1,3,5) |
| UPTOTHETASK | Capable of doing a job |
| GRANDFINALE | The opposite of a poor opening (5,6) |
| DAKAR | Capital of Denmark, alias that of Russia and that of Senegal (5) |
| TITLEPAGE | Part of a book usually giving its name and that of its author (5,4) |
| HELEN | Female capturing heart of Menelaus - and that of 2 (5) |
| TESS | Daughter of a poor villager of Blackmoor Vale in a Hardy novel (4) |
| WELLQUALIFIED | It's a measure of someone getting the third degree perhaps, as Spring was capable of doing the job (4,9) |
| ELLIS | Philologist who was an inspiration for Pygmalion's professor and identified several English dialects, including Cumbrian, Pitmatic and that of the Smoggies; or, an author who explored yuppie nihilism |
| POETLAUREATES | Top linesmen are capable of doing a lot for Limerick? (4,9) |
| KINGSHIP | As a rule, no woman's capable of doing it (8) |
| UPTO | Becoming capable of doing a job, so is in the running (2,2) |
| ALARMCLUCK | Sort of a poor man's cock-a-doodle-doo? |
| PARODIC | Like a lampoon of a poor picador (7) |
| AMONGST | In the midst of great worry about only little time (7) |
| HAMMERED | Beaten by Noah's son and only little daughter (8) |
| UPTODATE | Contemporary capable of doing a romantic meeting? |
