| INACTIVE | Not doing much in first part of play by Victor Earl (8) |
| LIVEALIE | Pass one's life acting with Victor, Earl and the greatest boxer consumed by mischievous gossip (4,1,3) |
| ERNANI | 1844 opera by Giuseppe Verdi, based on a play by Victor Hugo |
| RIGOLETTO | 1851 opera by Giuseppe Verdi, based on a play by Victor Hugo (9) |
| INACTION | Not doing anything in first part of play being shown |
| CHILLING | Not doing much of anything can be very scary (8) |
| PRINTRUN | Advertising in first part of this series showing copies of a book? (5,3) |
| SIDESTEP | Avoid fancy diets in first part of autumn (8) |
| TEARINTO | Boatman, at heart European, in first part of Tory attack (4,4) |
| TRUNCATE | Cut short Lawrence over length of play by Tom (8) |
| LISTLESS | Not feeling like doing much without catalogue (8) |
| STOPPARD | Leading performer accepting work on earliest of plays by Dutch dramatist (8) |
| ORESTEIA | The ?, trilogy of plays by Aeschylus (8) |
| ANTIGONE | Subject of plays by Sophocles, Euripides and Cocteau |
| CACTUS | Succulent key part of play by American (6) |
| OBSCENE | Part of play by old boy is indecent (7) |
| HOLYGRAIL | Vessel found in first part of 'Hope and Glory' translated by first rate lecturer |
| PEARLY | First sign of pebble in first part of day like a gem (6) |
| SLACK | Not doing much business in cheap fuel (5) |
| IDLE | I had left, by the end, not doing much (4) |
