| ADVENT | The Christian season preceding the Nativity (6) |
| SHROVE | Pancake Day in the Christian season of Lent, ... Tuesday |
| AUTUMN | Season preceding winter (6) |
| ULTIMO | In or of the month preceding the present one (6) |
| STABLE | Rigid setting for the Nativity (6) |
| ATHENA | In Judea, the nativity reveals deity (6) |
| VIZIER | Old court official, specifically one preceding the queen (6) |
| PRELIM | The pages preceding the main text of a book |
| EPOGUE | Belle -; meaning "beautiful age", a period of French history preceding the First World War (6) |
| CRECHE | Tableau of the Nativity |
| LENT | Christian season that ends with the Easter Triduum |
| DURER | German engraver and painter whose works include the Adoration of the Magi, Feast of the Rosary, The Four Apostles and The Nativity, from The Small Passion (5) |
| SARTO | Italian word for "tailor", which is the epithet of the Florentine painter Andrea d'Agnolo di Francesco di Luca, whose frescos include The Journey of the Magi and The Nativity of the Virgin (5) |
| AUTUMNAL | Relating to the season preceding winter (8) |
| GOODWILL | As two words, a phrase from the Biblical annunciation to the shepherds in the Nativity for amity, kindness or well-wishing; or, as one word in the US, a thrift shop (4,4) |
| BLOSSOM | A flower or mass of flowers preceding the fruit of a rosaceous tree, such as the almond, apple, cherry, peach or plum; or, the state or season of such efflorescence (7) |
| MAGI | Traditional part of the Nativity, The Adoration Of The _ (4) |
| YEARN | Long four seasons preceding end of autumn (5) |
| TOPOF | Words preceding the line, the heap or the morning |
| CHRISTMASORATORIO | Title of a composition by Johann Sebastian Bach based on the episodes of the story of the nativity ( |
