| PRITCHETT | Author born above a toyshop who wrote the story collection You Make Your Own Life and the memoirs A Cab at the Door and Midnight Oil (9) |
| MUIR | Denis Norden's comedy partner who wrote the What-a-Mess books for children and the memoir A Kentish Lad (4) |
| LYNN | "In the long run, you make your own luck-good, bad, or indifferent." She is an American country music singer who was known as the "Queen of Country." |
| PANDAS | Animals found in a toyshop and a supermarket |
| SWEET | Collection you and I have entered for the dessert course (5) |
| NESTING | Born above gyp's lodging |
| DAVEPELZER | Author of memoirs A Child Called It and The Lost Boy (4,6) |
| COLINJOST | "SNL" regular who wrote the memoir "A Very Punchable Face" |
| OBAMA | President who wrote the memoir "A Promised Land" |
| NESBIT | Novelist who wrote The Story of the Treasure Seekers, The Phoenix and the Carpet and The Railway Children (6) |
| STRONG | Former director of the V&A and also the National Portrait Gallery, author of books including The Artist and the Garden, A Country Life and The Elizabethan Image (6) |
| AGATHA | Forename of the "Queen of Crime" who wrote the story The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and the novel Hercule Poirot's Christmas (6) |
| HUDSON | Author and ornithologist who wrote The Naturalist in la Plata, Afoot in England, A Shepherd's Life and the novel Green Mansions (6) |
| ELTON | Ben, comedian who wrote the story for the Queen jukebox musical We Will Rock You (5) |
| ONDAATJE | Sri Lankan-born novelist who wrote The English Patient and the memoir Running in the Family (8) |
| NGUYEN | Author who wrote the 2024 memoir "A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, a History, a Memorial" |
| TWOHY | David, US director who wrote the story for the film The Fugitive (1993) (5) |
| CARTER | Pen name of a novelist and short story writer whose works include The Magic Toyshop, Nights at the Circus and Shadow Dance (6) |
| KEMPE | The Ghost of Thomas -; book by Penelope Lively, author of Moon Tiger and the memoir Life in the Garden (5) |
| MAYLE | Author whose memoir A Year in Provence was adapted into a television mini-series starring John Thaw and Lindsay Duncan, and novel A Good Year into a film with Russell Crowe and Albert Finney (5) |
