Daily Answers

7-across – Amanda __,poet who performed at the inauguration of Joe Biden : GORMAN

8-across – A dagger – and a 2024 Netflix comedy set in Ireland : BODKIN

9-across – Edward __,composer of nonsense verse : LEAR

10-across – Upper canines? : EYETEETH

11-across – Jewish revolutionary against the Roman occupation of Judea : ZEALOT

12-across – Jean __,star of Hacks : SMART

14-across – Verb Boris Johnson used to suggest a public inquiry would be a waste of money : SPAFF

16-across – Members of Japanese organised crime groups : YAKUZA

19-across – See 5 Down : DEFERRED

20-across – Country bordering the UAE,Saudi Arabia and Yemen : OMAN

22-across – The twelfth sign of the Zodiac : PISCES

23-across – “Useful __,” how Lenin is said to have described Western visitors to the Soviet Union : IDIOTS

1-down – Brighton & __,city in East Sussex : HOVE

2-down – Italian province,home to Perugia : UMBRIA

3-down – Maya __,poet who performed at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton : ANGELOU

4-down – Henrik __,author of A Doll’s House : IBSEN

5-down – “What happens to __?” from Harlem by Langston Hughes : ADREAM

6-down – __ Falls,at the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia : VICTORIA

11-down – Ferdinand von __,German airship designer : ZEPPELIN

13-down – Musical supergroup formed in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure : BANDAID

15-down – Dawn __ comedian known for her work with Jennifer Saunders : FRENCH

17-down – 1516 book by Thomas More : UTOPIA

18-down – Robert __,poet who performed at the inauguration of John F Kennedy : FROST

21-down – The fifth book of the New Testament : ACTS

6-across – The Albanian capital : TIRANA

7-across – One who flew too close to the sun? : ICARUS

9-across – Winner of the 2025 Oscar for best director for 8 : SEAN

10-across – Stock exchange index of 30 of the US’s leading companies : DOWJONES

11-across – Henry __,protagonist of The Red Badge of Courage : FLEMING

13-across – See 9 : BAKER

15-across – Adrien __,winner of the 2025 Oscar for best actor : BRODY

17-across – See 19 Down : MADISON

20-across – Grammy-winning song from 2007 by Kanye West : GOODLIFE

21-across – Unit used to estimate cloud cover,equal to one eighth of the sky : OKTA

23-across – Robinson __,much filmed adventure story by Daniel Defoe : CRUSOE

24-across – Wild cat native to Central America and the Caribbean : OCELOT

1-down – County on the northern shore of the Forth : FIFE

2-down – Wine bottle holding 1.5 litres : MAGNUM

3-down – Zoe __,2025 Oscar winner for best actress in a supporting role : SALDANA

4-down – Zambian city at the heart of the Copperbelt : KITWE

5-down – Freudian concept known in German as Über-Ich : SUPEREGO

8-down – Winner of the 2025 Oscar for best picture : ANORA

12-down – Another nautical term for the port side : LARBOARD

14-down – Peninsula extending in an arc from south-east Massachusetts : CAPECOD

16-down – Anneliese __,cabinet minister who resigned over cuts to the aid budget : DODDS

18-down – In Shakespeare’s play,the daughter of Cymbeline : IMOGEN

19-down – Winner of the 2025 Oscar for best actress : MIKEY

22-down – Ancient city in what is now Turkey : TROY

7-across – In Greek myth,one of the Pleiades and the wife of Sisyphus : MEROPE

8-across – Tanzanian city,host of the International Criminal Tribunal following the 1994 Rwandan genocide : ARUSHA

9-across – Walt Whitman poetry collection,first published in 1855 : LEAVESOFGRASS

10-across – Rupert __,actor who plays the Iron Duke in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon : EVERETT

11-across – Organisation for people who have high IQs : MENSA

13-across – The Belarusian capital : MINSK

15-across – Scott __,US treasury secretary : BESSENT

18-across – Nickname of the ski jumper Michael David Edwards : EDDIETHEEAGLE

19-across – __ Gregson,Bertie Wooster’s fearsome aunt : AGATHA

20-across – __ Dion,singer : CELINE

1-down – Quentin Tarantino’s breakthrough film : RESERVOIRDOGS

2-down – Almodovar film starring Penélope Cruz as Raimunda : VOLVER

3-down – Pete __,US secretary of defence : HEGSETH

4-down – A perfect delivery in cricket – or an orange? : JAFFA

5-down – Village that lies on the south-western edge of Edinburgh : CURRIE

6-down – 2006 film by Shane Meadows about 1980s skinhead culture : THISISENGLAND

12-down – __ Front,comedian : REBECCA

14-down – Polytheistic religion originating in Japan : SHINTO

16-down – Ronald __,artist known for his Molesworth cartoons : SEARLE

17-down – Mountain range in north Africa : ATLAS

7-across – Maximilien __, Jacobin insurrectionist executed in July 1794 : ROBESPIERRE

8-across – A town in Piedmont – and the sparkling wine produced there : ASTI

9-across – __ Hughes, jazz poet and leader of the Harlem Renaissance : LANGSTON

10-across – A town in Somerset but a national park in Queensland? : TAUNTON

11-across – Carrie’s love interest in Sex and the City : MRBIG

14-across – Apocryphal saying of Louis XIV, asserting his political primacy : LETAT

16-across – See 14 : CESTMOI

19-across – Swiss founder of analytical psychology : CARLJUNG

21-across – The __ of law, legal principle of democratic government : RULE

22-across – Erskine Caldwell novel about Georgia sharecroppers in the Great Depression : TOBACCOROAD

1-down – The capital of Queensland : BRISBANE

2-down – Winston’s torturer in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four : OBRIEN

3-down – Author of The Waste Land : TSELIOT

4-down – Princess __, character voiced by Cameron Diaz in the original Shrek film : FIONA

5-down – River reaching the sea at Vancouver : FRASER

6-down – Net __, much contested target for limiting greenhouse gas emissions : ZERO

12-down – Nickname given to Margaret Thatcher : IRONLADY

13-down – Name given to the period of repressive violence following the French Revolution : REIGNOF

15-down – Unscripted comments by actors or orators : ADLIBS

17-down – See 13 : TERROR

18-down – Perennial shrub known for its sword-shaped leaves : YUCCA

20-down – 1998 animated comedy about an anxious worker called Z : ANTZ

7-across – City state once ruled by the 4? : VENICE

8-across – Collected name for the works of a single artist or writer : OEUVRE

9-across – See 21 : GAGA

10-across – Leonid __, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1964 -1982 : BREZHNEV

11-across – Famously hazardous fence at the Grand National : BECHERS

13-across – See 11 : BROOK

15-across – Officials responsible for discipline in a parliamentary party : WHIPS

17-across – The furthest planet from the sun : NEPTUNE

19-across – Robert Saviano’s book and film about the Camorra crime organisation : GOMORRAH

21-across – Artist otherwise known as Germanotta : LADY

23-across – Stephen King novel from 1987 – and the movie starring Kathy Bates : MISERY

24-across – The Philadelphia __, Super Bowl winners 2025 : EAGLES

1-down – The company controlling Facebook and Instagram : META

2-down – The Saudi capital : RIYADH

3-down – Berkshire town, home to Greenham Common : NEWBURY

4-down – US government department currently run by Elon Musk : DOGE

5-down – John __, television detective played by Idris Elba : LUTHER

6-down – The capital of Sierra Leone : FREETOWN

12-down – Country once known as Abyssinia : ETHIOPIA

14-down – English publishing house, founded 1889 : METHUEN

16-down – Charles __, the ‘nobody’ in the Grossmiths’ comic diary? : POOTER

18-down – Classical Indian language spoken especially in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana : TELUGU

20-down – Welsh town at the mouth of the River Clwyd : RHYL

22-down – A weight loss programme – or the Japanese parliament : DIET