| MEARNS | Manuscript from Kincardineshire, formerly (6) |
| FINNANHADDOCK | Smoked fish (from Kincardineshire?) (6,7) |
| REALMS | True manuscript from the fields of activity (6) |
| DIMSUM | The Chinese made a meal of this manuscript from university found in dark (3,3) |
| PALIMPSEST | Manuscript from which old writing has been effaced to make way for new; from the Greek for 'scraped again' (10) |
| FOLIO | Manuscript from old library in Oxford initially (5) |
| AFAREWELLTOARMS | Real tale of war? Different manuscript from this fictional story (1,8,2,4) |
| PAPYRUS | Old man, unusually spry, snatching University manuscript from long ago |
| CURIOUSGEORGE | Name of a beloved kiddie-lit character and his first eponymous book, brought as a manuscript from Paris to the United States in 1941 |
| THEMEARNS | Alternative name for the historic county of Kincardineshire (3,6) |
| THOMASREID | Kincardineshire-born philosopher (1710 - 96) |
| DINE | Have a meal in Kincardineshire (4) |
| STONEHAVEN | County town of the historic county of Kincardineshire (10) |
| COWIE | Historic fishing village in Kincardineshire, now subsumed into Stonehaven, with a ruined castle |
| MINIMS | Notes from very tiny manuscript (6) |
| PLASMA | Short drama from uplifting manuscript initially adapted for television (6) |
| PSALMS | Buddy welcomes second manuscript of poems from good books (6) |
| MYSELF | Manuscript hides unknown quantity for leprechaun and me (6) |
| DISMAL | Poor quality manuscript in set rejected (6) |
| STORMS | Is furious and causes decay over manuscript (6) |
