| FREESTYLE | Swimming event where contestants may choose their stroke; or, improvised rap (9) |
| ELECTIONS | These are held when people choose their government |
| WILDCARDS | Such contestants may be furious with what's given by 12 Across? (4,5) |
| UNSETTLE | Put someone off their stroke with a foreign remedy (8) |
| SWIMMINGPOOL | Where people make progress with their strokes (8-4) |
| PETTINGZOO | Place where the inhabitants get their strokes |
| FIORITURE | From Italian for "blossoming" or "flowering", a florid embellishment of a melodic line, either notated by the composer or improvised at the discretion of an aria/opera singer (9) |
| SELECTION | A musical potpourri; an anthology; a horse tipped as likely to win a race; or, a range of items from which one may choose (9) |
| ELECTRODE | Conductor may choose soldier to take party back (9) |
| INANYCASE | No matter what, it's where the customs official may choose to lock (2,3,4) |
| ASHBLONDE | Light hair color that one may choose as a hair dye at the salon |
| MONOSKIER | A Winter Paralympics Super-G contestant may be a ____ |
| TRIATHLON | Running, cycling and swimming event (9) |
| DEATHBLOW | A killing stroke or event (9) |
| GUATEMALA | University team oddly entering swimming event in faraway country |
| BUTTERFLY | A stroke or a comma, maybe (9) |
| MEDLEY | Cloth woven from yarn of mixed colours; swimming event that combines four different strokes; or, a musical potpourri (6) |
| ELECTORATE | They may choose English Conservative to get in or Attlee, unexpectedly (10) |
| SKIFFLE | 1920s US music style revived in 1950s Britain, using cheap or improvised instruments (7) |
| FANTASIA | Free-form or improvised work of classical music |
