7-across – Type of cell that can alter its shape : AMOEBA

8-across – Peninsula covered by Spain and Portugal : IBERIA

9-across – Donna __, character from The West Wing : MOSS

10-across – A bicycle brand – or an Oratory in London? : BROMPTON

11-across – Steve __, right-wing US polemicist : BANNON

13-across – Country, capital Kathmandu : NEPAL

15-across – See 2 Down : DORMA

17-across – See 5 Down : LIBERA

20-across – Poet whose works include Diving into the Wreck : ADRIENNE

21-across – See 1 Down : CARO

23-across – See 4 Down : LAMENT

24-across – Beethoven’s 3rd symphony : EROICA

1-down – Aria from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi : OMIO

2-down – Aria from Puccini’s Turandot : NESSUN

3-down – See 1 : BABBINO

4-down – Aria from Purcell’s retelling of the story of Aeneas : DIDOS

5-down – Aria from Verdi’s La Traviata : SEMPRE

6-down – Mythical creature with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man : MINOTAUR

12-down – What : AGOODMAN

14-down – Proprietary eponym for a tissue? : KLEENEX

16-down – Norman __, author of The Naked and the Dead : MAILER

18-down – Sequel to Elmore Leonard’s Get Shorty : BECOOL

19-down – Flying insects : GNATS

22-down – See 20 Across : RICH

5-across – Home of the French Open? : ROLAND

8-across – __ Kwesi Johnson, poet and performance artist : LINTON

9-across – King __, Shakespeare tragedy : LEAR

10-across – Australian outlaw known for his suit of bulletproof armour : NEDKELLY

11-across – __ 16s, home of the US Open? : FLUSHING

14-across – Jon __, former Channel 4 news presenter : SNOW

15-across – North Yorkshire town on the Tees : YARM

17-across – Japanese __, perennial plant : KNOTWEED

19-across – A six-pointed star shape : HEXAGRAM

21-across – Canal du __, linking the Mediterranean and the Atlantic : MIDI

23-across – Nut of the genus Prunus : ALMOND

24-across – Pantyhose or tights? : NYLONS

1-down – See 5 Across : GARROS

2-down – __ the Impaler, ruler of Wallachia : VLAD

3-down – Friedrich __, Marx’s benefactor and collaborator : ENGELS

4-down – See 22 : CORLEONE

6-down – Spanish expression of appreciation : OLE

7-down – French port near the Belgian border : DUNKIRK

12-down – Market town in Carmarthenshire : LLANELLI

13-down – Saul __, as in ‘Better call Saul’? : GOODMAN

16-down – Carmela and Tony Soprano’s daughter : MEADOW

18-down – Old name for a gimlet or auger : WIMBLE

20-down – Slavonic parliament – or a drama school in London? : RADA

22-down – Character played by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino? : DON

5-across – __ Micawber, Dickens character remembered for his optimism : WILKINS

6-across – Musical group of 8 voices or instruments : OCTET

9-across – Rallying cry of Trump supporters? : MAGA

10-across – Martin __, director of Raging Bull : SCORSESE

11-across – The __, Thomas Hardy novel : MAYOROF

12-across – River in Hades, whose waters create forgetfulness? : LETHE

15-across – Anita __, author whose works include The Village by the Sea : DESAI

16-across – City adjacent to Hollywood : BURBANK

18-across – Slavonic alphabet used in Russian : CYRILLIC

20-across – Texting abbreviation for a modestly held view? : IMHO

21-across – Christopher __, actor known for playing Doc Brown in Back to the Future : LLOYD

22-across – Country, capital Budapest : HUNGARY

1-down – See 17 : VICARAGE

2-down – Where Timothy McVeigh detonated a bomb in 1995 : OKLAHOMACITY

3-down – The Welsh name for Anglesey : YNYSMON

4-down – Julia Roberts’ character in Ocean’s Eleven : TESS

7-down – See 11 Across : CASTERBRIDGE

8-down – Judge __ Dredd? : JOE

13-down – Michael __, the 11/7 : HENCHARD

14-down – Amazonian native – now also a French camping equipment brand : QUECHUA

17-down – Grantchester dwelling immortalised in verse by Rupert Brooke : OLD

19-down – University in New Haven, CT : YALE

7-across – Australian city named in 1836 for the queen of Saxe-Meiningen : ADELAIDE

8-across – In astronomy, a billion years : AEON

9-across – Y-shaped body of water in northern Italy : LAKE

10-across – Feminist magazine founded in 1972 by Rosie Boycott and others : SPARERIB

11-across – Type of beverage of which Vin Santo is an example : DESSERTWINE

13-across – Square in central Munich : MARIENPLATZ

15-across – __ Tower, scene of a tragic fire in 2017 : GRENFELL

16-across – John __, avant garde US musician : CAGE

17-across – Fish, also known as dog salmon : CHUM

18-across – Vine vegetable, popular in salads : CUCUMBER

1-down – A blue tank engine? : EDWARD

2-down – Genus of succulent plants, native to Africa : ALOE

3-down – Ratio, roughly 22/7? : PI

4-down – Crimean city and Black Sea port : SEVASTOPOL

5-down – Anna __, Tolstoy novel : KARENINA

6-down – 9 __, Canadian body of water named for Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter : LOUISE

10-down – US composer, known for his minimalism : STEVEREICH

12-down – South American country, capital Paramaribo : SURINAME

13-down – __ Lane Fox, once the youngest female member of the Lords : MARTHA

14-down – The Croatian capital : ZAGREB

16-down – See 9 Across : COMO

19-down – International vehicle registration code for Switzerland : CH

6-across – Member of a British army parachute display team : REDDEVIL

8-across – Another name for the Jamaican tangelo : UGLI

9-across – Sky News presenter : KAY

10-across – What the French might shout for "stop thief!" : AUVOLEUR

11-across – Greenpeace ship sunk by French intelligence officers in Auckland in 1985 : RAINBOW

13-across – See 3 Down : MYRIE

15-across – See 19 Down : DAVIS

17-across – Dutch city, home to the Cathedral of Saint Bavo : HAARLEM

20-across – Konrad __, West German chancellor, 1949-1963 : ADENAUER

21-across – See 5 Down : GAY

23-across – __ Chapman, Russian spy deported from the US in 2010 : ANNA

24-across – Nickname given to Arthur Wellesley : IRONDUKE

1-down – Storm that brought flooding to Britain in the first week of 2024 : HENK

2-down – The __, 2004 biopic of Howard Hughes, starring Leonardo DiCaprio : AVIATOR

3-down – BBC newsreader and host of Mastermind : CLIVE

4-down – See 9 Across : BURLEY

5-down – Harvard president forced to stand down in January 2024 : CLAUDINE

7-down – Moshe __, Israeli defence minister during the 1967 six-day war : DAYAN

12-down – Chocolate cake filled with caramel and cream : AMANDINE

14-down – See 11 Across : WARRIOR

16-down – __ Sea, section of the Mediterranean between Greece and Southern Italy : IONIAN

18-down – __ transformation; in geometry this maintains the distance between every pair of points : RIGID

19-down – Writer and star of the BBC’s 2004 hit, Nighty Night : JULIA

22-down – Tartary oxen : YAKS