| SETTS | Underground homesteads of badgers; distinctive patterns of repeated squares and lines that define tartans; or, cobble-like paving blocks but with six sides (5) |
| CYCLE | Spleen briefly damaged by a pattern of repeated occurrences after dropping off (5,5) |
| SLEEP | Spleen briefly damaged by a pattern of repeated occurrences after dropping off (5,5) |
| TARTAN | Distinctive pattern of a Scottish clan (6) |
| MARKINGS | Distinctive patterns |
| CASTLE | Meaning "little fort", a stronghold such as a motte and bailey Norman keep or the later fortified stone homestead of a medieval lord (6) |
| GRID | An array of black squares and "lights" forming a crossword; or, a set of regular horizontal and vertical lines marked by numbers and letters to identify locations on a map (4) |
| POIROT | Detective who likes order, method and a petit dejeuner of toast cut into neat little squares and eggs of identical size - he has an egg-shaped head, a brilliantly waxed moustache and is the brainchild |
| TIGRIS | Eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates |
| THIRTY | Sum of first four squares and product of first three primes (6) |
| TWO | Approximate shape of this puzzle's white squares ... and a synonym of the circled letters |
| BOBMONKHOUSE | Comedian and host of Celebrity Squares and Family Fortunes (3,9) |
| NOTICEBOARD | Co-ordinate scheme that defines breadth and display of information (6,5) |
| INFERNO | Poem with nine circles of hell spelled clockwise in the gray circled squares and counterclockwise in the white circled squares |
| DIE | One of six objects hidden in this puzzle's 5×5 sections of white squares (and where you need to find the letters matching the value shown there) |
| TOWNS | Typically smaller than cities and larger than villages, urban areas traditionally with central market squares and crosses (5) |
| EVENPAR | What golfers with equal numbers of squares and circles on their scorecards shoot |
| GENEROUS | Lavish things that define us, including our evolving |
| FOCI | Points that define an ellipse |
| REAUMUR | Which scientist gives his name to a thermometer that defines the freezing point of water as zero and the boiling point as 80? (7) |
