| ELOBEID | City in central Sudan; scene of the defeat of a British and Egyptian army by the Mahdi in 1883 (2,5) |
| PLATAEA | A defeat of the Persian army by the Greeks in 479 BC. |
| EVESHAM | Battle in Worcestershire of 1265 that marked the defeat of Simon de Montfort and his barons (7) |
| SUNDIAL | Ancient device used by the Romans and Egyptians, consisting of a flat plate and a pointer, or gnomon (7) |
| SEDGEMOOR | A low-lying plain in Central Somerset, scene of the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth in 1685 (9) |
| SEDATES | The Sudan and Egyptian leaders have fruit that makes them drowsy (7) |
| POLTAVA | Ukrainian town, the scene of Peter the Great's defeat of Sweden in 1709 (7) |
| OMDURMAN | City in the central Sudan, scene of an 1898 battle (8) |
| KHARTOUM | Sudanese city where General Gordon met a sticky end in the 1880s at the hand of the Mahdi and his fo |
| ELIZABETHI | Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's daughter whose reign as the last Tudor monarch saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (9,1) |
| BRIAN | King of Ireland killed during the defeat of the Danes at the battle of Clontarf in 1014 (5,4) |
| BORU | King of Ireland killed during the defeat of the Danes at the battle of Clontarf in 1014 (5,4) |
| HIDINGS | Create a shindig over the defeats (7) |
| SUDAN | African state that, led by the religious leader known as The Mahdi, fought Egyptian/British control in the late 19th century (5) |
| EARLDOM | Rank and title of a British nobleman ranking below a marquess and above a viscount (7) |
| CHARLES | The name of a British king who ended up on the wrong side of a civil war |
| FROBISHER | Sir Martin, the maritime explorer who played a major role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada (9) |
| MESSIAH | Mahdi, e.g. |
| BRIGADE | See 26D. Christian youth organisation founded in Glasgow in 1883 by William Smith (4,7) |
| ORIENT | - Express; known as "the king of trains and the train of kings" and depicted in a novel by Agatha Christie, a vehicle created by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits in 1883 (6) |
