| MACDIARMID | Hugh ___, author of 1926 poem A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, born Christopher Murray Grieve (10) |
| HUGHMCDIARMID | Scottish poet whose works include A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle |
| ARTICHOKES | Globe -; buds of a plant in the thistle family with edible hearts often preserved in oil (10) |
| CASTSANEYE | Looks at the potentials for the role? (5,2,3) |
| THESUNALSO | "___ ___ ___ Rises"; classic novel of 1926 |
| EVERYWHERE | Words from Coleridge as he looks at the Red River in spring? |
| WATERWATER | Words from Coleridge as he looks at the Red River in spring? |
| DIPSOMANIA | Drunk man is paid to get over drinking problem |
| REDCAP | A name, owing to its scarlet mask, for the thistle-tweaker or goldfinch; a malevolent goblin said to reside in ruined Scottish castles; or, a member of the Royal Military Police (6) |
| LAY | Word for a ballad or sung poem; a lyric; a melody; the ordinary people, as distinct from the clergy or experts; the appearance of land; the direction rope is twisted in; or, an oyster-bed (3) |
| STUART | Royal house or dynasty during whose reign the Marriage of the Thistle and the Rose took place in 1503 (6) |
| NEMOMEIMPUNELACESSIT | Latin motto of the Order of the Thistle (4,2,6,8) |
| ARTICHOKE | Globe --; edible section of a plant related to the thistle with outer leaves which may be served wit |
| BEFORE | The first line of the 1823 poem A Visit From St Nicholas, "Twas the night _ Christmas" (6) |
| ORDER | That of the thistle, for instance, is gold with a red back |
| PART | Some of the Thistle players had a role to play (4) |
| REINDEER | Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet ... one of the eight animals described in the poem A Visit from St Nicholas or The Night Before Christmas (8) |
| SONG | Musical composition for voices such as an aria, carol, lullaby or sea shanty; melodious vocalisation of a bird; a poem; a fuss; or, a trifle (4) |
| RHYME | From Greek meaning "to flow", word for a crambo; a couplet or other piece of assonant verse; a poem; a consonant Cockney phrase/idiom; or, any chime, jingle or tink (5) |
| LEPANTO | Described in a G. K. Chesterton poem, a 1571 battle resulting in the Holy League victory over the Ottoman fleet (7) |
