| BORER | Drill or awl |
| BIT | From Old English for "mouthful", a crumb, morsel or scrap; a bridle's snaffle or other metal mouthpiece; any small coin or piece; an awl for a brace or a drill; or, a brief space of time (3) |
| TOOL | Axe or awl, for example |
| TRIGGER | A word or phrase to help players do a skill, drill or activity more accurately (7) |
| FIRE | Word before drill or engine |
| BURR | (Sound made by) drill or dialect (4) |
| HANDTOOL | Such as a drill or sander |
| RPM | Measurement for a drill or windmill (abbr.) |
| TAP | Word before drill or shoes |
| SEED | Bank, drill or potato (4) |
| EXERCISE | A military drill or training manoeuvre (8) |
| REHEARSAL | Drill or try bit of sledgehammer to break up concrete? |
| CHUCKS | Chickens, hens or their calls; throws, hence dismissals; clamps holding bits in drills; or, cuts of beef (6) |
| BITS | Snaffles; small coins; copper ends of soldering irons; pieces fitted into the chucks of drills; or, binary digits (4) |
| STOB | A stake or stump, or an awl (4) |
| PICK | A plectrum; a mattock; the best or most choice; or, an awl-like tool for chipping/splitting blocks of ice (4) |
| SCRIBE | French dramatist; a person who hand writes documents; or, a type of awl (6) |
| AVOCET | "Cobbler's-awl" or "scooper" known collectively as an orchestra, adopted as the RSPB's symbol of protection (6) |
| STILETTO | A word for a dagger, hence a spike heel or a very sharp type of awl (8) |
| SCRIBER | A type of scratch awl for marking precise lines on wood or metal (7) |
