| LETWELLALONE | Don't interfere for fear of making things worse |
| CHILLFACTOR | Slight indisposition putting agent under - wind making things worse |
| JOBSCOMFORTER | One offering solace only making things worse (4,9) |
| RETROGRADE | Order great changes, making things worse (10) |
| LEAST | (and 21 across, 17 down, 19 down) Proverb suggesting that it's best not to talk for fear of making a situation worse (5) |
| PHASM | Quaint word for phantom used in the term for "fear of ghosts" |
| DARENT | "We ___ go a-hunting for fear of little men" (William Allingham) |
| HORAS | Jocular term for fear of palindromes |
| HEALTHSCARE | Cure the internal lesion for fear of infection spreading (6,5) |
| INCREASE | Covering again, for fear of escalation (8) |
| LEST | For fear of being in a humble state |
| INCASE | For fear of old Peruvian quarter (2,4) |
| AIBOHP | Jocular term for fear of palindromes |
| CLAUSTROPHOBIA | Santa developed poor habit for fear of being shut up (14) |
| SIMPLIFIEDEXPRESSION | FOMO, for "Fear of Missing Out," e.g.? |
| WHISTLESTOP | Be quiet for fear of work becoming very fast, with only brief pauses |
| STUCKINTHEPAST | Some travelers won't visit the La Brea Tar Pits for fear of being ... |
| CLARITY | Oxfam, for instance, orders second change with the purpose of making things clear (7) |
| OBEDIENCE | "I know the power _ has of making things easy which seem impossible": Saint Teresa of Avila (9) |
| MEMORYHOLE | Means of making things disappear, in "1984" |
