| CHANGEABILITY | Substitute has the talent, for instance, to play in defence or lead the attack erratically (13) |
| CANTOR | Get Ron to act or lead the singing |
| BADAT | Lacking the talent for |
| MOSSAD | Fool around in Defence or Intelligence (6) |
| STANDIN | Substitute has limited reputation (5,2) |
| LOCUM | Temporary substitute has muscle tone scorned by teens, cruelly |
| AMIABILITY | French friend has the talent to show cordiality (10) |
| CANCAN | Dance has the talent, if you 16 (6) |
| ABLE | Has the talent |
| INTERROGATIVE | How, for instance, to bury old gun in river briefly (13) |
| FRENCHWINDOWS | What Belgian king uttered, for instance, to Casement and head of State in Paris residence offering transparent views (6,7) |
| HOLDSTOGETHER | Stitches up The Nelsons, for instance, to get her (5,8) |
| READLIKEABOOK | Study Dubliners, for instance, to easily understand real motivations (4,4,1,4) |
| APOLOGIA | A written defence or justification of the opinions or conduct of someone (8) |
| SANDBAG | An item used in flood defence or shielding glass windows in war zones (7) |
| INK | Cuttlefish or squid's dark defence; or, a pigmented liquid synonymous with written publicity or tattoos (3) |
| REDWHITEANDBOO | Three words describing the horrible "Dancing Santa" act in the talent show? |
| SPEARHEAD | A red shape deployed to lead the attack (9) |
| PROSPERO | Do well getting lead in Othello, or lead in The Tempest? (8) |
| SPEAR | Spare it for defence or attack (5) |
