7-across – Malcolm __, Peter Capaldi’s character in The Thick of It : TUCKER

8-across – 2001 movie starring Audrey Tautou : AMELIE

9-across – See 19 Down : LANE

10-across – Australian outlaw and folk legend : NEDKELLY

11-across – Country bordered by Botswana and Angola : NAMIBIA

13-across – See 6 Down : PIPER

15-across – Citizen of Muscat : OMANI

17-across – Country bordered by Sudan and Djibouti : ERITREA

20-across – __ Cuts; 1960s reductions to Britain’s railway networks : BEECHING

21-across – 21 in 1978 : PAUL

22-across – Landmark near Staithes on the Yorkshire coast : OLDNAB

23-across – Fay __, actor who plays Jenny Gifford in Cold Feet : RIPLEY

1-down – The capital of Zambia : LUSAKA

2-down – Hebridean island : SKYE

3-down – The current 21 : FRANCIS

4-down – Character played by Olivia Newton-John in Grease : SANDY

5-down – 21 from 2005-2013 : BENEDICT

6-down – Actor known for her Olivier award winning performance in Yerma : BILLIE

12-down – 21 from 1721-1724 : INNOCENT

14-down – 21 from 1831-1846 : GREGORY

16-down – Breakfast food developed by Maximilian Bircher-Benner : MUESLI

18-down – Short musical studies for which Chopin, for example, is known : ETUDES

19-down – The first woman to be a bishop in the Church of England : LIBBY

21-down – Alexander _, poet who presumed not God to scan? : POPE

7-across – Unofficial anthem sung especially at Murrayfield : FLOWER

8-across – One hundredth of a rouble : KOPECK

9-across – Roman poet whose works include Ars Amatoria : OVID

10-across – Characteristic shared by Minneapolis and St Paul, and Dallas and Fort Worth? : TWINCITY

11-across – The Welsh national anthem : HENWLADFY

13-across – News agency – or an indicator of Welsh lineage? : AP

14-across – See 7 : OF

15-across – Cleaning product, chosen by Private Eye to make fun of Andrew Neil : BRILLOPAD

17-across – Anthem sung especially at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin : IRELANDS

19-across – See 17 : CALL

21-across – See 11 : NHADAU

22-across – Turkish mountain where the Ark is said to have come to rest : ARARAT

1-down – Member of a linguistic and ethnic people originating in south-eastern and eastern Europe : SLAV

2-down – Scandinavian kingdom : SWEDEN

3-down – __ d’Italia; opening line of the Italian national anthem : FRATELLI

4-down – Ben __ OBE, author whose works include The Famished Road : OKRI

5-down – Marieanne __ MBE, English footballer, capped 91 times : SPACEY

6-down – See 7 Across : SCOTLAND

11-down – UN campaign for gender equality, launched in 2014 : HEFORSHE

12-down – The __, Yorkshire’s favourite magazine? : DALESMAN

15-down – An exceptionally bright meteor : BOLIDE

16-down – Very early computer game : PACMAN

18-down – The capital of Greenland : NUUK

20-down – A brand of luxury jet – or a king made mad? : LEAR

7-across – Term once commonly used for upwardly mobile people : YUPPIE

8-across – Dance that is also an alternative to hell or purgatory? : LIMBO

9-across – Author of Cannery Row : STEINBECK

10-across – Abbreviation for a type of animation : CGI

12-across – Sally __ OBE, Olympic hurdler : GUNNELL

14-across – Freya __, author who sketched Baghdad on her 17? : STARK

16-across – Jonathan __, author whose 17 took him down Old Glory in a skiff? : RABAN

17-across – What 9 enjoyed with Charley? : TRAVELS

19-across – Pawlikowski film from 2013 : IDA

20-across – Branch of Protestantism : CALVINISM

23-across – Swedish scientist and philanthropist : NOBEL

24-across – Public spaces in Ancient Greece : AGORAS

1-down – __ Reynolds, star of Deliverance : BURT

2-down – Ancient road from Rome to Brindisi : APPIANWAY

3-down – Sir Henry __, poet who wrote Vitaï Lampada : NEWBOLT

4-down – Marc __, French historian and resistance fighter murdered in 1944 : BLOCH

5-down – Flightless bird native to Australia : EMU

6-down – Comic verse, typically unrhymed : DOGGEREL

11-down – Robert Louis __, writer and self-confessed amateur in his 17 : STEVENSON

13-down – Citizens of Kampala : UGANDANS

15-down – Nordic dish made of cured salmon served with dill : GRAVLAX

18-down – Peter __, author whose 17 included a year in Provence : MAYLE

21-down – Former name for Thailand : SIAM

22-down – Agency established by J. Edgar Hoover : FBI

6-across – Television channel created in 1964 : BBCONE

8-across – Follower of a strict version of Islam : WAHABI

9-across – The __, 1 song from 1977 : NAME

10-across – 1 song and album from 1974 : WATERLOO

11-across – 1 song from 1976 : DANCING

13-across – See 9 : OFTHE

15-across – See 11 : QUEEN

17-across – See 16 Down : LEONARD

20-across – 1 song from 1975 : MAMMAMIA

21-across – See 9 : GAME

23-across – Divided island in the eastern Mediterranean : CYPRUS

24-across – How, according to Monty Python, Descartes proved he lived? : IDRINK

1-down – Palindromic Swedish pop group : ABBA

2-down – Name shared by three rivers in Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Cumbria : DERWENT

3-down – The __, children’s book by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake : TWITS

4-down – Omar __, movie and contract bridge star : SHARIF

5-down – __, Where Art Thou?, Coen brothers movie starring George Clooney : OBROTHER

7-down – Fatty acid found in animal and vegetable oils : OLEIC

12-down – Modern name for the Oxus River : AMUDARYA

14-down – The third Mrs Trump? : MELANIA

16-down – Prolific author whose works include Get Shorty : ELMORE

18-down – Country and major river in west Africa : NIGER

19-down – Convenience food created by Cadbury’s : SMASH

22-down – RAF station on Anglesey : MONA

6-across – John Cooper __, poet : CLARKE

7-across – See 9 : HUNGRY

9-across – How Eric Carle diagnosed his caterpillar? : VERY

11-across – A type of sabre : CUTLASS

12-across – The lover of Aphrodite : ADONIS

14-across – Peaceful king of England, AD 959-975 : EDGAR

16-across – The 23 of Stephen King’s mile? : GREEN

17-across – Piper Kerman’s new black? : ORANGE

20-across – Nathaniel Hawthorne’s letter; Baroness Orczy’s pimpernel? : SCARLET

21-across – __ Munchetty, BBC presenter : NAGA

23-across – The __, Rose Tremain’s 2003 novel : COLOUR

24-across – Old name for a tunic or outer petticoat : KIRTLE

1-down – The 23 of Anne Tyler’s thread? : BLUE

2-down – Anne Brontë’s Agnes? : GREY

3-down – Ponte __, Florentine landmark : VECCHIO

4-down – The 23 of Jack London’s wolf-dog? : WHITE

5-down – Australian city, the capital of Queensland : BRISBANE

8-down – __ FC, football club that is familiar to readers of Private Eye : NEASDEN

10-down – Orhan Pamuk’s name; John Steinbeck’s pony? : RED

12-down – When Louis XV is said to have anticipated le déluge : APRÈSMOI

13-down – Herb sometimes known as wild marjoram : OREGANO

15-down – Lev Bronstein’s prison guard – and nom de guerre? : TROTSKY

18-down – State on the southwestern coast of India : GOA

19-down – Irish county; Cambridge college : CLARE

21-down – Roman emperor, AD 54 – 68 : NERO

22-down – Tartt’s _finch, Fleming’s _finger? : GOLD