| MOORISH | Characterising Muslim civilisation in North Africa and Spain 711-1492 AD (7) |
| EGYPT | Tadesse Mesfin's work fuses colours connected to his native Ethiopia and inspiration from this ancient civilization in North Africa. |
| CORDOBA | City in S. Spain which was centre of Moorish Spain from 711-1236 (7) |
| SENUSSI | Member of a Muslim sect of North Africa and Arabia, founded in 1837 (7) |
| NEEDHAM | Scientist, historian and sinologist who wrote Science and Civilisation in China (7) |
| UPSTATE | Optimistic attitude further from civilisation in US? (7) |
| ADMIRAL | Red -; butterfly travelling at high altitudes to cross expanses of sea during its migration from North Africa and continental Europe to the UK (7) |
| AMERICA | "The only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between," per Oscar Wilde |
| DJELLABA | Cloak with a hood and wide sleeves worn in North Africa and the Middle East (8) |
| GIBRALTAR | A limestone promontory at the tip of S Spain, settled by Moors in 711, taken by Spain in 1462 and ceded to Britain in 1713 |
| ARABIC | Semitic language spoken in North Africa and the Middle East (6) |
| DESERTRATS | Nickname of military units that have served in North Africa and the Gulf |
| EIGHTHARMY | WWII military force that campaigned in North Africa and Italy (6,4) |
| TENABLE | Figure left in Lincoln characterising a sound principle (7) |
| LATHERY | Ray and Ethel first off confused characterising soap mixed with water? (7) |
| WADI | Gully or streambed in North Africa and the Middle East that remains dry except during rainy season. |
| OCEANIC | Characterising Indian, say, in the main (7) |
| WEATHER | 1930s song characterising the war effort initially (6,7) |
| UTOPIAN | Characterising an imaginary state believed to be ideal or perfect (7) |
| CARSICK | Characterising one in an estate having related complaint? (3,4) |
