| REATA | Rope a sailor's climbing, end of rope being gripped |
| SKIP | Flisk from foot to foot; a jump of a twirling rope; a dodge of class; a team captain; a college servant; a bounce of a stone on water; or, a dumpster (4) |
| HORSE | Equid whose name transferred to a chess knight, a clothes airer, an easel, a foot-rope, a sawbuck, a traveller for a sail's sheet and a vault (5) |
| SALLY | Girls' name meaning "princess" that is linked by association with a bell-rope, a dummy, a fairground/pub game, a figure of fun, a quip, a sortie and Worzel Gummidge's mischievous and somewhat vain cou |
| OPERA | Staged with a rope being used (5) |
| AMICABLE | A male, one with thick rope, being friendly (8) |
| GARLAND | An old word for a crown; a nautical coil or grommet of rope; a festoon or wreath of flowers and foliage; or, an anthology or florilegium of poems (7) |
| GROMMET | A loop of rope; a metal ring lining an eyelet of the same name; or, a slang word for a young or novice skateboarder or surfer (7) |
| KNOT | A tie in a cord, lace, ribbon or rope; a clump or cluster; a lump; a tangle; an intricate flower-bed; or, a rosette (4) |
| TITFORTAT | Trait of criminal, being gripped by heartless thirst for revenge (3,3,3) |
| PEG | Part of a riverbank allotted to an angler in a competition; stake for securing a tent rope; a clip for hanging laundry out to dry; or, an object for scoring in cribbage (3) |
| ESPARTO | From the Greek for "rope", a species of grass, also called halfa, from which a type of light canvas rope-soled shoe takes its name (7) |
| TOGGLE | A nautical pin passed through a loop of rope; a duffel coat button used in a similar fashion; or, any fastener (6) |
| CHAOTIC | Smart being gripped by a good book? On the contrary, losing the plot (7) |
| DAYBED | Sofa back ready to drop through being gripped (3,3) |
| DIORAMA | I love being gripped by play or picture that has depth |
| VOICE | Ring being gripped tightly, say |
| ADHERED | Showed sticking power before being gripped by hyperactive disorder |
| BASICS | What are essential pens like being gripped? (6) |
| INDISTINCT | Confused author had recalled being gripped by gut feeling |
