| KASAULI | Yet another hill station and the birth place of Ruskin Bond |
| DISS | Market town in Norfolk (pop 8,000), supposed to be the birth-place of the poet John Skelton (4) |
| THEDREAMOFGERONTIUS | At the end of this choral work's autograph score, Elgar quoted words of Ruskin, starting "This is the best of me" |
| ZION | Is on another hill in Jerusalem (4) |
| SION | Is on another hill in Jerusalem (4) |
| DARJEELING | Hill station and town at an altitude of around 6,700ft in West Bengal noted for its view of Kangchenjunga (the world's third-highest mountain) and tea (10) |
| SIMLA | Hill station and city where Bond studied at the Bishop Cotton school |
| MUSSOORIE | Hill station in Uttarakhand state where Ruskin Bond resides (as of 2021) |
| DEOLI | "The Night Train at _____": a short story by Ruskin Bond |
| SHAMLI | "Time Stops at ______": a short story by Ruskin Bond |
| TURIN | First capital of Italy, birth place of solid chocolate and host of the 2006 Winter Olympics (it would have six letters in the Italian version of the name) (5) |
| OSAGE | "Killers of the Flower Moon: The ___ Murders and the Birth of the F.B.I." (nonfiction book adapted into a 2023 film) |
| ACHIEVEMENT | "The death of endeavor and the birth of disgust" according to The Devil's Dictionary |
| PEORIA | Port on the Illinois River, birth place of comedian Richard Pryor (6) |
| DUNANT | Sarah ?, author of novels Mapping the Edge and The Birth of Venus (6) |
| AKIHIRO | The primary antagonist of Digimon Data Squad, and the birth name of supervillain Daken (7) |
| GREENAWAY | Illustrator of "toy books", including Marigold Garden, Mother Goose and Under the Window, who was the daughter of an engraver and a milliner, and a friend of John Ruskin (9) |
| WOMBAT | Birth place of a truly original australian animal (6) |
| TINTAGEL | Legendary birth-place of King Arthur (8) |
| ASSISI | Birth-place of St Francis (6) |
