| SIEGEOFMAFEKING | Game of king - see if it's a breakthrough in long-running military standoff in Africa (5,2,8) |
| THERATSOFTOBRUK | Survivors of another long standoff in Africa - the far burst took effect! (3,4,2,6) |
| SOUNDBARRIER | It marks a breakthrough in air travel |
| TINOPENER | One making a breakthrough in Cannes, reportedly? (3,6) |
| NAAFI | Organisation running military canteens (5) |
| PLATOON | Greek philosopher running military unit (7) |
| SKATEDONTHINICE | Took risks, with the possibility of a breakthrough? |
| DISCOVERY | A breakthrough or revelation; the unravelling of a plot; something found; or, a model of Land Rover (9) |
| ASTUTELY | A small boy king, see, in a shrewd way |
| ICICLE | A spike of ice you might see if it's frosty (6) |
| CHESS | It's a game of kings, queens and knights that people can play on a checkerboard |
| NEWWAVE | Called 'novelle vague' in French, if you are surfing this then you're in the forefront of a breakthrough movement (3,4) |
| OKA | Site of a 1990 Mohawk standoff in Quebec |
| COLDWAR | Armed conflict in the snow or political standoff in the fifties? (4,3) |
| WACO | Texas city that was the site of an infamous standoff in 1993 |
| MASAAN | Critically acclaimed film in which Shweta Tripathi delivered a breakthrough performance in 2015. (6) |
| LOOK | See if it's possible to put in an appearance (4) |
| WAWRINKA | Beat Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal en route to 'major' breakthrough in 2014 Australian Open (8) |
| EDIBLE | I bleed it to see if it's fit for human consumption (6) |
| OPERATIVE | Surgeon will do this around four, to see if it's functioning |
