| ETRIER | Small rope ladder of 1 to 4 rungs attached to a karabiner or fifi hook; French, 'stirrup' (6) |
| NEONATE | A newborn child of 1 to four weeks of life (7) |
| SUBMARINEH | *Captain with a periscope [four rungs] |
| TELEPHONEH | *Worker for AT&T or Verizon [four rungs] |
| CORDON | Small rope number held up as line of control (6) |
| ELEVEN | On a scale of 1 to 10, what one amp in "This Is Spinal Tap" goes to |
| PROPEL | Cause to move in ship, up rope-ladder (6) |
| RECORD | Document about small rope (6) |
| LARIAT | Rope ladder aids reaching ideally all tree tops (6) |
| APTEST | Exam scored on a scale of 1 to 5, informally |
| RATLINE | A series of small ropes fastened across a sailing ship's shrouds like the rungs of a ladder, used fo |
| HELIX | A spiral shape or form, as observed in a trail of ivy or in the "twisted ladder of life" called DNA (5) |
| CORD | Ribbed velvety cloth for trousers; a small rope; or, a nutrient- and oxygen-conveying navel-string (4) |
| POURFORTH | *Stream outward (French: letters 1 to 4, English: 5 to 7) |
| RATTLINS | A small rope used as a step in a ship's rigging (8) |
| BRAIL | Small rope to draw a sail in or up (5) |
| RADIO | Device used to listen to Alan Jones or Fifi Box, e.g. (5) |
| PEAGREEN | Color similar to avocado (1 to 4) |
| SOLONGEVERYBODY | Alex Trebek's closing line on "Jeopardy!" (In this clue's answer, see letters 1 to 4) |
| WRONGBYWRONG | One way to climb the ladder of success, to Mae West |
