| CHESHIRECAT | Character whose incorporeal grin prompted the quote in the shaded spaces (reading upper and then lower arcs, left to right) |
| OUTOFBODYEXPERIENCE | Viewing oneself from above, say, or a hint to what the shaded spaces represent |
| DATABASE | Where figures might be rising a little, then low (8) |
| ONEEYED | Erasmus quote, "In the land of the blind, the - man is king" (3-4) |
| RUR | Source of the quote: "In fact, he rejected man and made the robot" |
| ENTICED | Tempted to adjust quote in the end (7) |
| YODA | Someone who speaks like the quote in 25-Across |
| PSALMS | Source of the quote in 6-Across |
| CHET | Shameless acting son of Rearrange the letters in the shaded squares to spell out the name of the celebrity in the centre of the grid Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson (4) |
| KIMBER | The first Great British Rearrange the letters in the shaded squares to spell out the name of the celebrity in the centre of the grid Bake-Off winner, Edd _ (6) |
| WESSEX | She has been on Rearrange the letters in the shaded squares to spell out the name of the celebrity in the centre of the grid a Caribbean tour with her husband Prince Edward (6,6) |
| CENTERPIECE | Pivotal element, and what each word in quotes in the starred clues literally is to its answer? |
| FITZGERALD | Vocalist known for the 1944 song whose title (and first line) appears in the shaded squares |
| TENTOONEODDS | Big payout potential ... or a hint to the words in the shaded squares (and the clue numbers on which they begin!) |
| EYE | Take in, or what can follow the words in the shaded squares |
| DUBCEK | Alexander ___, statesman whose reforms as first secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party prompted the Russian occupation |
| MUDSLINGING | Dirty tactics, and a cryptic hint to what's happening in the shaded squares |
| WINTERARC | Season-long alternative to a New Year's resolution, or what the letters in the shaded squares represent? |
| ROSES | "Jean, Jean, ... are red; All of the leaves have gone green; And the clouds are so low; You can touch them and so; Come out to the meadow, Jean" |
| DHLAWRENCE | Author whose book prompted the 1960 court case R. v Penguin Books Ltd. |
