Possible Clues:

• Less fresh challenger at first one defeated
• Constant failure as person could make you more careful
• Cresol (anag.)
• Conservative no-hoper's not so distant
• More airless; nearer
• Nearer or more intimate
• Nearer as to time or event
• Origin of citrus - lemon, to be more precise
• See, that's no winner, but it's getting nearer to being one
• Can't win in the end and never 31 across