| INANE | Foolish way the game and league will end? |
| NOVELTHEORY | Guess on how a book will end? |
| CONFEDERATE | One in the league will need force at large (11) |
| OFCOURSE | Sports venue not opening? League will withdraw, naturally (2,6) |
| SIDNEY | Best-selling author of novels such as Master of the Game and The Other Side of Midnight who also created the TV series I Dream of Jeannie and Hart to Hart (6,7) |
| SHELDON | Best-selling author of novels such as Master of the Game and The Other Side of Midnight who also created the TV series I Dream of Jeannie and Hart to Hart (6,7) |
| ORATE | Ring right after, at the end of the game, and talk to (5) |
| BATTLESHIP | Part of the game, and the game itself |
| AMERICAN | Major League Baseball's National League and ... League (8) |
| SELENA | Gomez who was at the game (and watched Messi in a closed-to-the-public warm-up, repeatedly shouting "I'm single!" to the team) |
| SPOILSPORT | He ruins the game and the drink |
| POACHER | He may play the game and break the law (7) |
| ORPINGTON | Playwright eats half the game and all the fowl |
| ENIGMA | Get in to the game and solve the puzzle (6) |
| GANG | Pack the start of the game and finish bowling |
| BLOTTO | Open the brandy with the game and get drunk |
| UNWISE | Foolish way to win, if in the habit (6) |
| NEPIA | '20s and '30s Maori union and league international fullback, George ... (5) |
| BOTICA | '80s and '90s NZ union and league fullback, Frano ... (6) |
| TOPICAL | Foremost women's institute and league in the news (7) |
