| PAJAMA | Every year top performance pulls in crowd for musical (6,4) (see 6A) |
| GAME | Every year top performance pulls in crowd for musical (6,4) (see 24A) |
| BOYS | Top marks in audition for musical (6,4) |
| JERSEY | Top marks in audition for musical (6,4) |
| WINSTON | *This year's top NFL pick |
| OUTSET | Hardly the in-crowd, for a start (6) |
| MANSION | See 6A. Two residences for the Lord Mayor? (7,5) |
| STARTURN | Begin with vessel for ashes in top performance (4,4) |
| LIONELBART | Writer of the theme song for the 1963 Bond film From Russia with Love, but best known for a 1960 musical (6,4) |
| COLOUR | See 6A. Flag-carrying soldier resolved to clear surgeon (6,8) |
| OPERETTA | Musical in a tree-top performance (8) |
| STAGECRAFT | Get fast car to develop capacity for top performance? |
| VIRTUOSO | Visor out, out for a top performance (8) |
| DRAG | Over-the-top performance, like Anita kale in Hollyoaks, or Walford's Tara Misu (4) |
| CAROLE | Song stretching out for US singer-songwriter (6,4) (see 24A) |
| KING | Song stretching out for US singer-songwriter (6,4) (see 12A) |
| MEAL | See 6A |
| JERSEYBOYS | Franki Valli and The Four Seasons musical (6,4) |
| AGAME | Colloquialism, drawing on the established association of the first letter of the alphabet with excellence, for one's top performance (1,4) |
| SUN | Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor gave top performances in the 1951 film A Place In The ... |
