| DUMBDOWN | Make it less of a challenge for male taken in by woman from the capital in Northern Ireland (4,4) |
| INHALER | Hernial problem is to make it less of a wheeze (7) |
| DAREI | "Is it too big of a challenge for me?" |
| ASSET | Advantage shown by woman from the East (5) |
| VANITY | Narcissism of one from the capital in navy dress (6) |
| EVIDENT | I'd been taken in by woman, not heartless, as may be seen (7) |
| MASKS | Sue taken in by woman's disguises (5) |
| DIVISION | Sight seen by woman from group of teams (8) |
| GAUNTLET | Long ago, it represented a challenge for one, easier to throw down than to run! (8) |
| DECREASE | Can iron out a fold, or, at least, make it less marked (8) |
| UTAHAGEN | "A Challenge for the Actor" writer/actress |
| UNLOOSEN | Len soon turned bend first to make it less intense (8) |
| EATMYHAT | End of a challenge |
| SWEETENS | Makes it less bitter, as tenses up around you and I (8) |
| AVIATRIX | American travelling through square heard Rick's flighty woman from the past (8) |
| COMMAND | Bid from male after male taken in by fake |
| GAGE | An old word for a pledge, such as a glove, flung down as a symbol of a challenge to combat; or, the Baronet of Hengrave credited with introducing a damson-, mirabelleor plum-like green fruit to Englan |
| TRAMP | Male taken in by deception is one of no fixed abode |
| STORMY | Boisterous male taken in by lie |
| HERMES | Herald could be male, taken in by endless heterodoxy (6) |
