| MACDIARMID | Hugh- ,author of 1926 poem A Drunk Man Looks a the Thistle, born Christopher Murray Grieve (10) |
| ARTICHOKES | Globe -; buds of a plant in the thistle family with edible hearts often preserved in oil (10) |
| HUGHMCDIARMID | Scottish poet whose works include A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle |
| DIPSOMANIA | Drunk man is paid to get over drinking problem |
| LOFTING | Hugh -, author of 1920 children's novel The Story of Doctor Dolittle (7) |
| MUNRO | Hector Hugh -; author "Saki" whose collection of short stories Beasts and Super-Beasts includes The Hen, The Quince Tree and The Lumber Room (5) |
| 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) |
| CLOUGH | Arthur Hugh -; author of the verse-novel Amours de Voyage who was an assistant to his wife's cousin Florence Nightingale (6) |
| STUART | Royal house or dynasty during whose reign the Marriage of the Thistle and the Rose took place in 1503 (6) |
| OCEAN | Frank -, US singer born Christopher Edwin Breaux, released the 2016 album Blonde (5) |
| 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 |
| GRIEVE | Poet Christopher Murray ----, alias Hugh MacDiarmid (6) |
| DATA | What the tax-man looks forward to collecting as official task (4) |
| DUTY | What the tax-man looks forward to collecting as official task |
| 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) |
| ITOO | Classic 1926 poem by Langston Hughes |
| SKINNER | Frank -, comedian born Christopher Michael Collins (7) |
| FRANKSKINNER | English comedian born Christopher Graham Collins in 1957 |
