| JACARANDA | Man stopping short north of a river and beginning to axe tree (9) |
| LIGHTYEAR | Land you found north of a river in the distance |
| AROOMOFONESOWN | 1929 essay with the line "When you asked me to speak about women and fiction I sat down on the banks of a river and began to wonder what the words meant" |
| NIAGARA | Name of a river and gigantic waterfall in North America |
| DAVYJONES | First 24 hours (around 1st of Jan) - imbibing a sip of vodka and beginning to savour the spirit of the sea (4,5) |
| CAMPANILE | Group of tents next to a river and a tower (9) |
| PENOBSCOT | Name of a nation, a river, and a bay |
| SMARTALEC | Chewing caramels and beginning to think he's so clever (5,4) |
| MARCOPOLO | Explorer taking stuff back and beginning to observe game |
| NEWCASTLE | Settle, having secured small room north of a city |
| UNDERFIRE | Fail to axe enough men when subject to attack (5,4) |
| INVENTION | Nine voting to axe final design (9) |
| AUNATUREL | Dad's sister tours a river and lake with nothing on |
| ASEAN | A body of water north of a body of nations to our north (5) |
| IDLES | Has nothing to do and beginning to languish in middle of month (5) |
| MAGICIAN | Chap holding a fag back to front and beginning to imitate Tommy Cooper? (8) |
| WYE | Immortalised in paintings by J. M. W. Turner and a poem by William Wordsworth, a river and a valley of the same name in an AONB containing Tintern Abbey and Symonds Yat (3) |
| KITE | Bird of prey taking young mammal and beginning to eat |
| ERMINE | Predator of rat, say, biting its head off and beginning to eat (6) |
| MAUNDERS | Graduate, falling short and beginning to stagnate, grumbles (8) |
