The title and the flavour text both hint at the moves a knight can make in chess.
The clues resolve to the words shown on the left. Each of these words can be found in the grid by following the knight’s moves as shown on the right.
| To make smaller in quantity (8) | DECREASE |
| Three-sided polygon (8) | TRIANGLE |
| Bomb game acronym (5) | KTANE |
| Without blame (9) | GUILTLESS |
| Large, like some woolly beasts (7) | MAMMOTH |
| One with too many spirits? (9) | ALCOHOLIC |
| Home of Rivaldo (6) | BRAZIL |
| A | A | M | E | R | R | E | S |
| M | D | I | B | I | S | Z | A |
| L | N | C | T | A | N | E | S |
| S | A | I | S | R | O | T | I |
| G | C | E | N | S | C | T | L |
| M | G | E | A | A | K | L | I |
| O | L | I | O | O | R | T | H |
| U | M | H | E | L | T | L | T |
The remaining unused letters spell out the solution in reading order.
MISSION START