9-across – What Band Aid asked if they knew in their 1984 10 : CHRISTMAS

10-across – Ernst Blofeld’s designation within Spectre in the Bond books : NUMBERONE

11-across – What Renée and Renato urged us to save in their 1982 9 10 : YOURLOVE

12-across – Dark version of ochre : UMBER

13-across – Who had a boy child, according to Harry Belafonte in his 1957 9 10 : MARY

14-across – Simon __, actor who plays Benji Dunn in the Mission: Impossible franchise : PEGG

15-across – Jawaharlal __, India’s first prime minister : NEHRU

16-across – Epic poetry – bohemian, according to Queen in their 1975 : RHAPSODY

18-across – The Beatles’ simple desire in their 1963 9 10 : IWANTTOHOLDYOURHAND

24-across – Disney character from Frozen, voiced by Josh Gad : OLAF

26-across – University in Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT

27-across – Where Bruce Springsteen was born? : USA

28-across – Oh My __, Boney M in their 1978 9 10 : LORD

29-across – What we should let no one be – Mud’s 9 10 from 1974… : LONELYTHISCHRISTMAS

32-across – … but one reason why too many people are this year : PANDEMIC

35-across – Colloquial term for a nuclear weapon : ABOMB

38-across – Japanese city on Honshu : KOBE

40-across – What one should keep, while carrying on? : CALM

42-across – French city close to the Belgian border : LILLE

43-across – London borough whose NHS choir : LEWISHAM

44-across – Form of sterling no longer issued by the Bank of England : POUNDNOTE

45-across – London borough whose NHS choir : GREENWICH

1-down – __ Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday : SHROVE

2-down – Element with atomic number 7 : NITROGEN

3-down – Church in Smith Square, London known as a concert venue : STJOHN

4-down – Choirmaster with whom Military Wives had a 9 10 in 2011 : GARETH

5-down – Here we go round the __ – nursery rhyme : MULBERRYBUSH

6-down – Peninsula in south-west Europe : IBERIA

7-down – A measure of scotch? : DRAM

8-down – __ Bergman, star of Casablanca : INGRID

12-down – Type of suspects rounded up in Casablanca? : USUAL

17-down – Semi arid southern fringe of the Sahara : SAHEL

19-down – US version of a fictional character created by Martin Handford : WALDO

20-down – __ Wynette, the First Lady of country music : TAMMY

21-down – Group whose hits include You Sexy Thing : HOTCHOCOLATE

22-down – One of the five basic tastes : UMAMI

23-down – _ Major, wife of the former prime minister : NORMA

25-down – Sigmund __, neurologist : FREUD

30-down – Band that wished everybody Merry Xmas in their 1973 9 10 : SLADE

31-down – To tango…? : TAKESTWO

33-down – Woman warrior in Greek mythology : AMAZON

34-down – See 4 : MALONE

36-down – Ice hockey team from Edmonton, Canada : OILERS

37-down – Sally __, central character in Cabaret : BOWLES

39-down – Lucentio’s 9 10 in The Taming of the Shrew? : BIANCA

41-down – You were always on mine, according to the Pet Shop Boys’ 1987 9 10 : MIND

7-across – Devonshire abbey known for its fortified wine : BUCKFAST

8-across – Industrial region of western Germany : RUHR

9-across – Wendy __ OBE, poet who imagined making cocoa for Kingsley Amis? : COPE

10-across – Light ships developed by the Portuguese in the 15th century : CARAVELS

11-across – Mollusc known in South African as perlemoen : ABALONE

13-across – The object of Carrie Bradshaw’s affections? : MRBIG

15-across – Linda __, US civil servant who befriended Monica Lewinsky : TRIPP

17-across – See 21 : STRAUSS

20-across – J D __, author of The Catcher in the Rye : SALINGER

21-across – Cricketer’s wife in whose name the Lord’s ground “goes red” once a year : RUTH

23-across – Joan __, Spanish surrealist : MIRO

24-across – City known as the Arab capital of Israel : NAZARETH

1-down – Greek anise aperitif : OUZO

2-down – Historic library in Perth, Scotland : AKBELL

3-down – Engineer who received the first transatlantic radio signal on 12 December 1901 : MARCONI

4-down – Kenneth __, independent counsel central to the Clinton impeachment : STARR

5-down – Sky presenter and former head of the Commission for Racial Equality : TREVOR

6-down – See 5 : PHILLIPS

12-down – See 18 : BOREALIS

14-down – Stage name of Michael Owuo Jr : STORMZY

16-down – Agatha Christie character who has been played by John Malkovich and David Suchet : POIROT

18-down – Astral phenomenon also known as the northern lights : AURORA

19-down – Type of aunt who might be found on the pages of a tabloid newspaper? : AGONY

22-down – The nomme de guerre of Josip Broz? : TITO

6-across – Novel by Marilyn French from 1977 : THEWOMENSROOM

8-across – Ironically named area of central London, once home to one of the largest mail sorting offices in the world : MOUNTPLEASANT

9-across – Author who had men explain things to her? : REBECCA

11-across – See 13 : BETTY

13-across – Comedy from 2000 with Renée Zellweger in the title role : NURSE

15-across – Author whose works include How to Be a Woman : CAITLIN

18-across – Rimbaud’s prose poem from 1873 : ASEASONINHELL

20-across – Friend of Jesus and witness to his crucifixion : MARYMAGDALENE

1-down – __ Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday : SHROVE

2-down – __ Hunter, shipbuilders on the Tyne : SWAN

3-down – Unit in typography equal to a specified point size : EMSPACE

4-down – Mountains separating Chile and Argentina : ANDES

5-down – See 9 Across : SOLNIT

7-down – What Otis Redding wrote – and Aretha Franklin demanded? : RESPECT

10-down – Common name for 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine : ECSTASY

12-down – __ Ardern, New Zealand prime minister : JACINDA

14-down – Dawn __, US soprano known for her recording of Symphony No 3 by Górecki : UPSHAW

16-down – __ Records, Jamaican company : ISLAND

17-down – See 15 Across : MORAN

19-down – Baroness __, former president of the UK supreme court : HALE

6-across – Name given to the killing of demonstrators in Manchester on 16 August 1819 : PETERLOO

7-across – 2001 sci-fi film starring Kevin Spacey : KPAX

8-across – City in western Ukraine : LVIV

9-across – A construction designed to impress dignitaries – while disguising a less palatable truth : POTEMKIN

10-across – Alistair Horne’s history of the Algerian war, 1954-1962 : ASAVAGE

12-across – See 10 : WAROF

14-across – See 10 : PEACE

16-across – See 9 : VILLAGE

19-across – A drink made from pureed fruit or vegetables : SMOOTHIE

20-across – See 21 : COLE

21-across – Manchester United striker during their 1999 treble-winning season : ANDY

22-across – Jacob __, leader of the House of Commons : REESMOGG

1-down – Rachel __, shadow chancellor : REEVES

2-down – Abbreviation used for diesel fuel for road vehicles : DERV

3-down – French expression meaning in the know : ÀLAPAGE

4-down – Coffeehouse chain founded in 1971 : COSTA

5-down – Scorsese film from 1995 starring Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro : CASINO

7-down – The full name of Kipling’s hero in his 1901 novel about the Great Game : KIMBALL

11-down – Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar : VICTORY

13-down – The pseudonym of the crossword setter D S Macnutt : XIMENES

15-down – __ Holmes, former presenter of GMTV and This Morning : EAMONN

17-down – Acronym for penal colonies derived from the Russian for chief camp administration : GULAGS

18-down – See 7 : OHARA

20-down – Alpine lake in northern Italy : COMO

7-across – Outsourcing company nicknamed Crapita in Private Eye : CAPITA

8-across – Roman statesman – or a kind of salad : CAESAR

9-across – Majority owner of Tottenham Hotspur : ENIC

10-across – Creator of Peter Pan : JMBARRIE

11-across – South African province which includes Johannesburg : GAUTENG

13-across – Co-founder of the Taliban and undisputed victor : ABDUL

15-across – See 13 : GHANI

16-across – See 13 : BARADAR

18-across – Area of France between Normandy and the Bay of Biscay : BRITTANY

19-across – Phileas __, protagonist in Around the World in Eighty Days : FOGG

21-across – Protagonist in Oscar Wilde’s only novel : DORIAN

22-across – __ Mole, Sue Townsend’s secret diarist : ADRIAN

1-down – Michael __, director of Heat : MANN

2-down – Landlocked country, capital Vaduz : LIECHTENSTEIN

3-down – Chinese board game played with 144 tiles : MAHJONG

4-down – Acronym for diving equipment : SCUBA

5-down – English statesman and Catholic cardinal associated with the trial of Joan of Arc : HENRYBEAUFORT

6-down – Nickname of the Roman emperor Gaius : CALIGULA

12-down – Michael __, England men’s cricket captain 1993-1998 : ATHERTON

14-down – Feast of the Annunciation – or Billie Holiday’s nickname : LADYDAY

17-down – Northeasternmost of the US states : MAINE

20-down – See 21 Across : GRAY