| SPACEJUNK | Orbiting debris, or a hint to this puzzle's theme foods |
| DRIFTWOOD | Beach debris, or a clue to the word that moves through 17-, 25-, 35- and 47- Across |
| DETRITUS | Debris or waste that is "worn away", from eroded gravel, sand and silt to decomposing organic decay (8) |
| MORAINE | Debris or gold found in state (7) |
| MIRANDA | A character in The Tempest; a moon orbiting the seventh planet from the Sun; or, a British sitcom starring a comedienne of the same name (7) |
| SATELLITE | A celestial body orbiting a planet or star (9) |
| MOONS | Scientists announced the discovery of 20 of these orbiting Saturn on Oct. 8 and asked the public to suggest names; four of the already-known 82 begin this puzzle's theme entries |
| SATELLITES | Objects, natural or man-made, orbiting a planet |
| AVENUES | A planet orbiting close to home makes approaches (7) |
| RING | Circlet for securing a rolled table napkin; or, any one of the discs of ice, dust and moonlets orbiting Saturn (4) |
| RHYTHMED | Road orbiting Cinque Port clips motorway with a recurrent pattern (8) |
| PHOBOS | Discovered by Asaph Hall, moon orbiting Mars three times a day (6) |
| HYDROGEN | Helpfully discover orbiting electron on the outside - of this? |
| COMETOAHEAD | Space traveller in the lead orbiting globe to reach zenith |
| ABSORBENT | Away orbiting the globe, able to take it all in (9) |
| MOON | The largest satellite orbiting the Earth? It's an inspiration for a werewolf (4) |
| COMET | One orbiting the sun to arrive at last |
| MIAMI | Motorways orbiting a city abroad (5) |
| VENUS | Planet very close to earth, orbiting sun (5) |
| STEAMRADIO | Disparaging term for a medium asteroid orbiting round America (5,5) |
