| HOPELESSCASE | Flailing about, loses speech - a non-starter |
| WORRY | ___ about; lose sleep over |
| FINALLY | At last about to nail, flailing about, the fly |
| SANMARINO | Oarsman flailing about in landlocked country (3,6) |
| ROACH | Orca, flailing about, hit motel guest? (5) |
| THRASHING | Flailing (about) |
| PAROLE | From "saying, speech", a term for a word of honour, especially by a POW; the conditional release of such a prisoner; or, a guard's password (6) |
| BUNK | One of a pair of single berths or shelflike beds, one above the other; or, from the name of a North Carolinian county alluded to in an inane speech, a word for claptrap, humbug or tedious nonsense (4) |
| CACOLOGY | From Greek for "bad speech", a term for a poor choice of words or faulty pronunciation, aka a blunder (8) |
| RAP | Word for rhythmic speech; a legal charge; or, a sharp blow, knock or strike, such as by a boxer's reach (3) |
| VERBAL | Part of speech a novice uses in speech (6) |
| UNPRONOUNCEABLE | A French part of speech a celeb mangled? It's hard to say (15) |
| ELISION | Omitting pieces in speech a TV drops one initially, and a couple more later (7) |
| NIGHTCLUB | One dubbed in speech a rookie around Latin spot (9) |
| RENUNCIATION | Queen's speech a religious commitment? |
| ADLIB | Addition to speech a Liberal Democrat inserted |
| HORATIO | Nelson's ending to speech, a short one |
| DIATRIBE | Long pompous speech - a bride's unhappy with it |
| VERBATIM | Part of speech a man makes without changes |
| VERB | Part of speech, a 'doing word' (4) |
