| ROYER | Alphonse, French author who co-wrote the libretto for Donizetti's La favorite (5) |
| NAHUM | ___ Tate, poet who wrote the libretto for Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (5) |
| FILLE | Donizetti's "La ___ du Regiment" |
| GIDE | French author who co-founded La Nouvelle Revue Francaise |
| CAMUS | French writer who co-founded the newspaper Combat |
| ELTON | Ben -; comedian and author who co-wrote Blackadder II with Richard Curtis (5) |
| LORENZODAPONTE | Italian poet who wrote the librettos for Mozart's The Marriage Of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Cosi Fan Tutte (1790) (7,2,5) |
| AREOLA | Alphonse, French goalkeeper who joined West Ham United FC in 2022 (6) |
| NAHUMTATE | Besides rewriting plays by the famous playwrights of his day. who also wrote the libretto to Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689) |
| CLARKE | Undersea-diving "skiffy" author who co-wrote a landmark SF film (6) |
| EMFORSTER | English novelist (1879-1970) who co-wrote, with Eric Crozier, the libretto for Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd (1951) (1,1,7) |
| THOMSON | Poet whose The Seasons inspired a text by Gottfried van Swieten which became the libretto for Joseph Haydn's oratorio of the same name (7) |
| VERNE | French author who wrote the Voyages Extraordinaires books including Around the World in Eighty DaysA (5) |
| DUMAS | French author who wrote a number of adventure novels including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After (5) |
| SAGAN | Francoise ___ (1935-2004), French author who wrote Bonjour Tristesse (1954) (5) |
| OTTER | The libretto's story is about a water creature returning (5) |
| EMILE | ***** Zola, French writer who came to army captain Alfred Dreyfus' defence (5) |
| JULES | French writer who pioneered the science-fiction genre, ... Verne |
| RONDO | Section of choir on Donizetti's musical piece (5) |
| BASSO | Henry VIII in Donizetti's "Anna Bolena," e.g. |
