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

7-across – City west of Los Angeles devastated in the January wildfires : MALIBU

8-across – The first book in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle : ERAGON

9-across – A __. 2024 biopic of Bob Dylan : COMPLETE

10-across – Actor who played Roz Doyle in Frasier : PERI

11-across – Order of insects which includes dragonflies : ODONATA

13-across – French dessert made with caramelised butter and sugar sauce : CREPE

15-across – Keeley __, star of the BBC’s Miss Austen : HAWES

17-across – See 12 Down : ANDRUST

20-across – Desert found mostly in southern Mongolia : GOBI

21-across – 2024 thriller starring Ralph Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini : CONCLAVE

23-across – __ Mole, Sue Townsend’s fictional diarist : ADRIAN

24-across – Sir Everton __, Barbadian cricketer : WEEKES

1-down – Othello’s main antagonist : IAGO

2-down – See 10 Across : GILPIN

3-down – See 13 Across : SUZETTE

4-down – See 16 : PEREZ

5-down – Indian city known for its oranges : NAGPUR

6-down – What, according to Lord Acton, absolute power does absolutely? : CORRUPTS

12-down – Joan Baez song said to be about Bob Dylan : DIAMONDS

14-down – See 9 Across : UNKNOWN

16-down – 2024 musical starring Karla Sofía Gascón : EMILIA

18-down – A fancy car – and a domesticated breed of pigeon? : ROLLER

19-down – The Stone of __, ceremonial seat : SCONE

22-down – Comedy series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus : VEEP

7-across – Actor who played Jo March in the 1994 film version of Little Women : WINONA

8-across – The late court jester in Hamlet : YORICK

9-across – Greek anise-flavoured aperitif : OUZO

10-across – West London tower block which caught fire in 2017 : GRENFELL

11-across – Somerset’s county town : TAUNTON

12-across – Proofreader’s instruction to ignore a marked change in a text : STET

15-across – Jane Austen novel set partly in the village of Highbury : EMMA

17-across – The Walkers’ boat in Arthur Ransome’s novels – and the rival to Amazon : SWALLOW

20-across – Gnaeus Julius __, Roman governor of Britannia : AGRICOLA

22-across – Andy __, Reg Smythe’s long-running cartoon in the Mirror : CAPP

23-across – Lady Mary __, pentathlete and 1972 Olympic gold medallist : PETERS

24-across – London train terminus close to King’s Cross : EUSTON

1-down – 15 __, Welsh track cyclist and 2024 Olympic gold medallist : FINUCANE

2-down – Nickname for the Detroit music industry : MOTOWN

3-down – The Thai capital : BANGKOK

4-down – See 7 Across : RYDER

5-down – Yasser __, former leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation : ARAFAT

6-down – Bridge club and bidding system named after a London street : ACOL

13-down – See 21 : THOMPSON

14-down – Iga __, Polish tennis star : SWIATEK

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

18-down – What made up the 8th of the plagues in Exodus : LOCUST

19-down – Inspector __, detective created by Colin Dexter : MORSE

21-down – Tanni __, wheelchair racer and multiple gold medal-winning Olympian : GREY