| FACEDOWN | How test papers start out? Few can do the sorting (4,4) |
| IAGO | Did one of the agitators start out? |
| WETFISH | Churning out few hits, they're put on ice (3,4) |
| AIRCORRIDOR | Irish company amid arrival with papers starts to observe rarely fixed route for planes (3,8) |
| PEN | Put ___ to paper (start writing) |
| FOREPAWS | Walk-on parts for boxer? Few as pro, oddly (8) |
| UTERUS | Where every person starts out? |
| INRED | How test errors are marked |
| INVITRO | How "test-tube babies" are fertilized |
| FALSEWITNESS | Perjurer stainless? Few could be so crooked! (5,7) |
| FUNNELWEBSPIDER | Penis blunder? Few worries for deadly Australian! (6-3,6) |
| ANYTHING | "If there's ... that you want / If there's ... I can do" (The Beatles) |
| PHILLIPS | Leslie, late English actor who voiced the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films (8) |
| PLAYTHAT | Singles at tennis, I can do the same unpleasant thing to you! (3,3,4,4,4) |
| LONESOME | Only a few can be so isolated (8) |
| POSTCODE | Letters and numbers assisting the sorting and delivery of mail (8) |
| HOGWARTS | Fictional wizard training school in which the Sorting Hat allotted pupils to houses (8) |
| GAZETTES | Look long and hard at tricky test papers |
| TRIREMES | Galleys mentioned in test papers (8) |
| ERASURES | Smudges on test papers, perhaps |
