| BETTERS | Backers, it seems, are our superiors |
| FOOTMEN | Servants, it seems, are very short! (7) |
| CHATGPT | Artificial-intelligence bot in the news; its last three letters are our theme entries' initials |
| NUMBER | A good few, it seems, are relatively unfeeling (6) |
| YOUNG | Children, it seems, are no good to you (5) |
| CHASM | Charles and Mike, it seems, are in a big hole |
| NINE | A cat's lives, it seems, are like a dog's tail |
| PRIMATES | Archbishops, it seems, are able to make a priest out of many (8) |
| SUBSONIC | Underwater craft on one sea, it seems, are too low to be perceived (8) |
| HEARTOFOAK | "___ are our ships/Jolly tars are our men..." |
| PATHS | "Our feelings are our most genuine ___ to knowledge" (Audre Lorde) |
| HEART | "___ of oak are our ships..." |
| OUTERWEAR | Are our wet shifts waterproof? |
| RELATIVES | Chimpanzees are our closest non-human ___ |
| HEADSOFINDUSTRY | Dishonesty, fraud, corruption . . . they are our business leaders! (5,2,8) |
| WISDOM | These teeth are our last (6) |
| IBELIEVE | "___ the children are our future ..." |
| SAWS | These are our SA weather scientists, watchers and warners. Accronym. (4) |
| RURAL | Are our large estates all in the middle of the countryside? |
| FEATHERED | Birds are our ---- friends (9) |
