| CONTRACTBRIDGE | Tense wife captures king at last in card game (8,6) |
| PIQUET | Stimulate interest, at last, in card game |
| KNIGHT | Think about capturing king at last, or another chesspiece (6) |
| PARR | Cathy had the neck to defy her king at last...and got axed, alas! (4) |
| ATASTROKE | Flying aerostat captures king in one fell swoop (2,1,6) |
| STOCKADE | It offers protection to society before rebel captures king (8) |
| TWINSET | Tense, wife in group in matching clothes (7) |
| TICKET | Permit produced by tense wife leaving gate (6) |
| TWICE | Tense wife gets cool again (5) |
| ADDLE | Become confused when inane chatter alienates tense wife (5) |
| CHEERON | Urge revolutionary to capture king in time (5,2) |
| AGGRO | Violence in an attempt to capture king |
| CHESS | Game to capture king |
| DISARM | Win over maids prepared to capture king (6) |
| SNAKE | Make a zig-zag movement to capture king for rook |
| STRING | Part of racket is undercover operation to capture king |
| NORTHKOREA | One country or another managed to capture king (5,5) |
| DARKER | More sinister challenge, right, to capture King? (6) |
| YORKER | In olden days king met king at ball (6) |
| IFANS | Rhys -, actor who played King Berenger in Exit the King at the National Theatre, London, this year (5) |
