| LADYBIRD | Loser to "The Shape of Water" for Best Picture |
| GETOUT | It lost Best Picture to "The Shape of Water" |
| DATE | Palm fruit whose name, meaning "finger", refers to the shape of the plant's leaves; or, any one of the specified days of the month represented on a calendar (4) |
| CURLS | Chocolate "blossoms", eddies of water, twists of lemon zest, wreaths of smoke or other things likened to the shape of ringlets of hair (5) |
| SPINET | Little harpsichord whose name, which may derive from the Latin for "thorns", refers to the shape of the tiny quills that pluck its strings (6) |
| ALEXANDRE | ___ Desplat French composer who won the 2018 Oscar for Best Original Score for the film The Shape of Water |
| DELTAS | Triangular tracts of fluvial sediment, named for their resemblance to the shape of a Greek letter (6) |
| MESSINA | Sicilian port called Zankle, meaning 'scythe', by the Greeks who founded it, owing to the shape of its harbour (7) |
| SALLY | ___ Hawkins, British star of The Shape Of Water, up for Best Actress at this year's Oscars (pictured bottom) (5) |
| TRANSFER | Move across to the shape of a star fern (8) |
| GUILLERMODELTORO | Best director for The Shape of Water |
| HAWKINS | Sally _, star of the films The Shape of Water and Paddington (7) |
| PLASTERCASTS | Bandages stiffened with a hard covering moulded to the shape of a broken limb (7,5) |
| OCTAVIA | ____ Spencer, actress who played the cleaner in the 2018 fantasy film The Shape Of Water (7) |
| OSCAR | Award for "The Shape of Water" |
| TORO | Guillermo del ___ director of Pacific Rim and The Shape of Water |
| MICHAELSHANNON | The Shape of Water actor who plays Zipco in The Bikeriders: 2 wds. |
| BABEL | Loser to "The Departed" for Best Picture |
| SPENCER | Octavia, U.S. actress who played Zelda Fuller in the 2017 romantic fantasy film The Shape of Water (7) |
| DELTORO | Guillermo who directed "The Shape of Water" |
