| FREEFALL | Part of the descent before one's parachute opens (4,4) |
| CHARLESDARWIN | Author of The Descent of Man (7,6) |
| DARWIN | Author of The Descent of Man (6) |
| SKYDIVING | Sport that requires at least one parachute |
| ANCESTOR | In the descent, he's ahead of you |
| ATLANTIS | Three-quarters of the sea before one's continent has been lost (8) |
| HARAKIRI | Cheer up, getting a drink before one's ritual departure (4-4) |
| OVERSTAY | It's before one's welcome when you don't go home (8) |
| MISPRIZE | Take ill, minutes before one's reward |
| DIAPASON | Paid back before one's performing whole octave (8) |
| RESIDUAL | Excess praise before one's Queen, all rising (8) |
| STATIONS | Lads collecting rubbish before one's train stops (8) |
| EARLYDAY | Reason to go to bed before one's usual bedtime |
| PENTECOST | Christian festival of Whitsuntide that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles (9) |
| STATIC | ____ line, one attaching a parachute pack to an aircraft so that the parachute opens after falling (6) |
| WEYDEN | Van der -; Flemish artist whose works include The Descent from the Cross, Beaune Altarpiece (The Last Judgement) and Portrait of a Lady (6) |
| EVOLUTION | Biological process described in Charles Darwin's The Descent Of Man and The Origin Of Species |
| LEIGHHUNT | English critic, essayist, poet and writer whose poems include The Story of Rimini and The Descent of Liberty |
| RUBENS | Painter of Antwerp Cathedral's The Descent from the Cross |
| WHITSUNTIDE | Festival commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit (11) |
