| THUMBWAR | Contest that the San Francisco Chronicle once called "the miniature golf of martial sports" |
| HEARST | San Francisco Chronicle's owner |
| IPPON | Winning point scored in martial sports such as judo, karate and kendo; Japanese, 'one point' (5) |
| SAN | ___ Francisco Chronicle |
| BARKLEM | Pen name of the children's author and illustrator Gillian Gaze, who wrote the seasonal autumn, spring, summer and winter stories based on the miniature world of the mice of Brambly Hedge (7) |
| STYMIE | Former scenario in golf of a ball blocking the path of another ball to the hole (6) |
| NATIONS | Motocross of ___, massive team contest that usually comes at the end of the GP season. (7) |
| FOUGASSE | Provencal bread in the form of a rustic leaf; or, pen name of former Punch editor Cyril Kenneth Bird who contributed to the miniature library in Queen Mary's Doll's House (8) |
| HAW | From Old English for "hedge", word for any one of the miniature red apple-like pomes of the purportedly sacred "bread-and-cheese"-bearing fairy tee, mayflower or quickthorn; or, an utterance marking h |
| SPROUTS | Short word for the miniature cabbage-like vegetables that are depicted in paintings by Eliot Hodgkin, named after Brussels, seasonal in the winter and cooked as part of Christmas Day fare (7) |
| GEM | From "bud, jewel", a precious stone, such as the tanzanite or turquoise symbolic of December; a highly-valued person, regarded as treasure; or, one of the miniature reference books by HarperCollins (3 |
| DINGDONG | The sort of contest that goes on in the ring (4-4) |
| GROUND | A selection of drinks after golf, of course (6) |
| BACON | Breakfast staple that Katy Perry once called "the meat candy of the world" |
| MINX | Alluring, cunning, or boldly flirtatious young woman, as in the Dianthus 'Mendlesham ___' and the miniature Pelargonium '___' (4) |
| TOMATO | Vine fruit ranging in size from the miniature cherry varieties to the large beefsteak types (6) |
| GRAPPLE | From "ripe olives", the miniature fleshy subdivisions of blackberries, raspberries and other etaerios (7) |
| DACCA | Former name of a capital city in Asia (pop 9 million), once called "The Venice of the East" (5) |
| BOGEY | Score in golf of one shot over par (5) |
| GLOW | Shine in golf of inferior standard (4) |
