| OVERAGE | Old and mean, but not initially too old |
| NORTH | . ... and not initially too hard to get bearing (5) |
| AVERAGE | Say, grow old and mean (7) |
| POEM | "A ___ should not mean / But be": MacLeish |
| APOEM | MacLiesh said it "should not mean / But be" |
| MISER | He's not only mean, but endlessly remiss, maybe (5) |
| AVERAGEOUT | Mean, but the calculation is wrong (7,3) |
| DEMEAN | Ed turns mean but we must bear with it (6) |
| LIELOW | To deceive is mean, but you need to keep out of trouble |
| BASEBALL | Mean but enjoyable time at the game (8) |
| OVERTHETOP | Public dance squeezing in extra time initially, too much (4,3,3) |
| TWEAK | Initially too feeble to jerk sharply |
| TWEEDY | Initially too puny to be like country gentry |
| ADMIRALS | Officers finding song about drum majors initially too short |
| TWEE | Initially too small: cute! |
| LOVERSTIFF | Disagreement when liaisons initially too hard? (6,4) |
| OBO | Letters that mean "But if you want to undercut my price, that's fine," in ads |
| EXTREMISTS | New term is about those concerned not with means but with ends? (10) |
| PHOTO | Start to place leading horse? With this, initially too tricky to reach conclusion (5,6) |
| PHOTOFINISH | Start to place leading horse? With this, initially too tricky to reach conclusion |
