| THEMAYOR | (and 8 down) Thomas Hardy novel (3,5) |
| THERETURNOFTHE | (and 20 down) Thomas Hardy novel (3,6,2,3) |
| OPIUM | (and 4 Down) Thomas De Quincey possibly cooking our meat pie (5-5) |
| WYATT | 27 Down Thomas ___, English poet (5) |
| DERRIMAN | Festus, character in the Thomas Hardy novel The Trumpet Major (8) |
| HENCHARD | Michael -, hay-trusser; title character in 1886 Thomas Hardy novel The Mayor of Casterbridge (8) |
| RETURNOF | Thomas Hardy novel, The ... The Native (6,2) |
| EVERDENE | Bathsheba ?, character in 1874 Thomas Hardy novel Far From the Madding Crowd |
| UNDERTHE | Thomas Hardy novel featuring the character Dick Dewy (5,3,9,4) |
| MAVERICK | And 8 Down US golfer; 2024 RSM Classic winner (8,7) |
| POLAROPPOSITES | Completely different entities ... or the pairs of indicated words in 3-, 5- and 8- Down, in terms of meaning and location? |
| THERULES | Things to obey, like 36-Across and 8-Down |
| CANONIND | Classic work by 11-, 9- and 8-Down, so to speak? |
| THEMERRY | And 8 Down Operetta by Franz Lehar premiered in Vienna in 1905 (3,5,5) |
| SUE | And 11 Cousin and lover of Jude Fawley in the Thomas Hardy novel Jude The Obscure (3,9) |
| ALAODICEAN | Thomas Hardy novel featuring the characters Paula Power and George Somerset |
| EUSTACIAVYE | Wife of Clym Yeobright in the Thomas Hardy novel The Return of the Native (8,3) |
| BRIDEHEAD | Cousin and lover of Jude Fawley in the Thomas Hardy novel Jude The Obscure (3,9) |
| LAODICEAN | Lukewarm and indifferent in religious matters -as in a title of a Thomas Hardy novel (9) |
| JUDE | 1996 period drama film based on a Thomas Hardy novel starring Kate Winslet and Christopher Eccleston |
