| SNITCH | Golden -; a ball used to play the game Quidditch in the Harry Potter books (6) |
| ITCHINESS | Quidditch, in essence, involves some irritation |
| BIRDIE | Something needed to play the game depicted in this puzzle ... or a hint to the six circled answers |
| DRIVER | A golf club with a metal or wooden head used to play the ball from the tee (6) |
| POMPOM | Type of woollen ball used to decorate a straw basket or bobble hat (6) |
| TIPOFF | Jump ball used to begin play in basketball (3,3) |
| RACKET | Something needed to play the game depicted in this puzzle |
| CROSSE | Equipment used to play the oldest organized sport in North America |
| ZIRCON | From "golden", a gem and a silicate of atomic no. 40, whose colours, ranging from clear to red, brown, blue, green, yellow and smoky, can be observed in its varieties hyacinth, jacinth, jargoon and sp |
| MARBLE | Any one of a series of glass or agate balls used in a game sometimes known as taw (6) |
| HOWALL | "You should know ___ the pros play the game" (Steely Dan line) |
| TENNIS | Sin at the net then go back and play the game |
| ADIDAS | Maker of the soccer balls used in the World Cup |
| BRIDGE | I play the game but it makes me cross (6) |
| TOUCAN | Bird who may play the game, we're told (6) |
| CERSEI | Character who said, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die" |
| PELOTA | Ball used in jai alai |
| REDDYE | What Lucille Ball used on her hair (2 wds.) |
| GOLDENSNITCH | The smallest and most important ball used in Quidditch, the fictional sport in J K Rowling's Harry Potter books |
| KNUR | Ball used in a game with a trap or "spell"; or, a knot in a tree trunk (4) |
