| BOLLWEEVIL | A beetle that feeds on cotton buds and flowers (4,6) |
| BOLL | ___ weevil (insect that feeds on cotton) |
| APRIL | From a Latin word meaning "to open", thought to allude to buds and flowers opening in spring, the fourth month of the year and the one in which Cuckoo Day falls (5) |
| STEM | It is tiny, spikey, plastic, horrible to life, and holds its cotton buds together. (4) |
| QTIP | Question how to dispose of cotton bud (1-3) |
| LINEAR | Straight where cotton bud might go after end of back-crawl? (6) |
| ROSECHAFER | Beetle that has a greenish body with a metallic lustre and feeds on plants (4,6) |
| WEEVIL | Small beetle that feeds on plants (6) |
| FIGEATER | Large beetle that feeds on soft fruit (8) |
| LADYBIRD | Distinctive spotted beetle that feeds on aphids (8) |
| PEGGYBUNDY | Bud and Kelly's mom |
| BULLFINCH | Known collectively as a bellowing, a colourful garden bird fond of pear, apple and gooseberry buds and blossom (9) |
| SPRING | A fountainhead; the rise of the sea to its extreme height; or, a beginning, birth, dawn or freshest time, hence the vernal season of growth, when buds and plants bloom and burst forth (6) |
| MALEBONDING | It happens between buds, and a feature of the starred answers |
| PAPILLAE | Minute bumps on the tongue containing taste buds and temperature sensors (8) |
| TOILETRY | Such as soap to test on cotton fabric |
| CUTACAPER | Slice a savoury bud and do a little dance (3,1,5) |
| CHAFER | A large flying beetle that can destroy foliage and plant roots (6) |
| ASH | Tree related to lilac and olive with distinctive "sooty" buds and seeds resembling bunches of keys; or, the traditional name for the Old English letter or ligature AE or ae (3) |
| CLEAVERS | The goose-grass plant with "sticky" buds and stems attaching to woolly jumpers and dogs' coats (8) |
