| OKRI | Nigerian writer in distress on returning |
| TASMANIA | It's a man in distress on a South Pacific island (8) |
| CHINUAACHEBE | Nigerian writer whose first novel was Things Fall Apart (1958) |
| BENOKRI | Nigerian writer who won the 1991 Booker Prize with The Famished Road (3,4) |
| SOYINKA | Wole, Nigerian writer who won the 1986 Nobel prize for literature (7) |
| OWNUP | Admit cry of distress on picking up wordplay (3,2) |
| INTEARS | Showing distress on the point of breaking up? (2,5) |
| TRESS | Distress on seeing the lock finally (5) |
| RACKED | Sign of distress on getting a reprimand (6) |
| ISICHEI | Nigerian author Elizabeth |
| THINGSFALLAPART | 1958 novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe (6,4,5) |
| BEN | Nigerian author of the Booker-winning novel, The Famished Road; ... Okri |
| ACHEBE | Chinua ___, Nigerian author best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart |
| PLAIN | Flat found in high-rise on returning home (5) |
| ARIZONA | A little weight Gershwin put on returning in state |
| CAMARGUE | Disagree on returning fast food in French region (8) |
| NORWICH | On returning, well off, embracing wife in city (7) |
| LEICESTER | Sheep does in time enter wind on returning |
| BILINGUAL | Like interpreter to invoice hosts in August, on returning |
| BAGEL | Roll made by first two in bakery on returning |
