Puzzle 1

Big square knives used by butchers.

Where you trade valuables for money when desperate.

How different surfaces feel to the touch.

Spring __, annual super-spruce-up of a house.

Ameliorates, gets better at.

Spring bulb with many pastel bracts.

Unpaved driving surface that may kick up dust.

Legal inhabitants of a country.

Complete loss of lights.

What pirates are after.