| OBSERVER | Member of the ROC trained to spot and identify enemy aircraft; or, a people-watcher or eyewitness (8) |
| OGLER | People watcher |
| BOXSET | An avid audiophile, binge-watcher or completist's fancy in the form of a collection of related books, CDs or DVDs packaged as a single unit (3,3) |
| SPOONER | Reverend who was a bird-watcher... or rather, a word-botcher |
| ORC | What is either a whale or a people-eating sea monster? (3) |
| SARA | A 1976 song by Bob Dylan - or a people from southern Sudan (4) |
| EERIE | Scary - taking off south, observer starts to identify enemy (5) |
| FICTITIOUS | Bird, externally loud and malignant, having head bitten off - such as the roc? |
| ONLOOKER | Eyewitness (8) |
| SPIN | A balletic pirouette; a play of a vinyl record; an uncontrolled spiral descent of an aircraft; or, a revolving motion imparted to a cricket ball (4) |
| HOVER | US word for a helicopter; an almost stationary flight of a kestrel or of the aforementioned aircraft; or, a brooder for keeping chicks warm (5) |
| MIRRORS | Sound ---, acoustic 'dishes' built on the South and North East English coast between about 1916 and the 1930s to warn of approaching enemy aircraft (7) |
| PILOT | Handbook for maritime navigation; a person who flies an aircraft or a kite; or, a trial television programme (5) |
| STRIKE | Cessation of work as a protest; attack by aircraft; or, a discovery of oil, gold etc by mining (6) |
| BLINDMANSBUFF | A party game in which someone tries to catch and identify the other players without being able to see them |
| JETTISON | To drop or throw something from an aircraft or a ship (8) |
| PARSE | Break down and identify the parts of speech of, as a sentence |
| OPENFIRE | 'Chestnuts roasting' spot ... and a hint to a divided word found in the answers to starred clues |
| TUCKSHOPS | Lost the head in a tight spot and informs on local selling to students from a number of schools (4,5) |
| ACE | Playing card or dice with a single spot and having the value of one (3) |
