6-across – Celebration dinner, usually held on 25 January : BURNSSUPPER

8-across – Jordan __, president of the French Rassemblement National : BARDELLA

9-across – The Sun __ Rises, novel by Ernest Hemingway : ALSO

10-across – US aircraft company : BOEING

11-across – The only way! : ESSEX

13-across – Form of film animation originally from Japan : ANIME

15-across – Alexander __, prime minister of Belgium : DECROO

18-across – Ray __, the man who made McDonald’s famous : KROC

19-across – Region of the Yukon known for its 1896 gold rush : KLONDIKE

21-across – Mette __, prime minister of Denmark : FREDERIKSEN

1-down – Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid? : ABBA

2-down – Jean __, Muriel Spark’s hero, whom we meet in her prime? : BRODIE

3-down – George __, creator of Star Wars : LUCAS

4-down – Britney __, singer and anagram of Presbyterians? : SPEARS

5-down – The former duke of Milan in Shakespeare’s The Tempest : PROSPERO

7-down – Evika __, prime minister of Latvia : SILINA

10-down – Anne __, the on-screen Mrs Robinson? : BANCROFT

12-down – Giorgia __, prime minister of Italy : MELONI

14-down – Charles __, president of the European Council : MICHEL

16-down – Root vegetable : RADISH

17-down – One of three clay-shooting disciplines : SKEET

20-down – Harry __, England’s men’s football captain : KANE

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