| GUYBURGESS | British diplomat who defected to the USSR in 1951 and died in 1963 (3,7) |
| CASEMENT | Sir Roger, the British diplomat who exposed atrocities in the Belgian Congo and elsewhere (8) |
| COCTEAU | Jean, French writer and artist who died in 1963 (7) |
| OZU | Yasujiro, Tokyo-born film director who died in 1963 (3) |
| ALCIBIADES | Athenian statesman and general in the Peloponnesian War who defected to the Spartans in 415, but returned and led the victories at Abydos and Cyzicus |
| ARNOLD | Benedict, U.S. military officer who defected to the British in 1780 in the Revolutionary War (6) |
| THOMASKERR | Glasgow councillor who defected to Reform UK (6,4) |
| KIM | India-born English double agent who defected to the Soviet Union in 1963 (3,6) |
| NUREYEV | Russian ballet dancer and choreographer who defected to the West in 1961 |
| BURGESS | Guy, double agent who defected to the Soviet Union in 1951 (7) |
| RUDOLF | Russian ballet dancer and choreographer who defected to the West in 1961 |
| BARYSHNIKOV | Mikhail ---, Soviet-born ballet dancer who defected to the West while on tour with the Kirov Ballet in 1974 (11) |
| LISACAMERON | SNP MP who defected to the Scottish Conservatives earlier this month (4,7) |
| AMBASSADOR | Pile up on bad road involving British diplomat (10) |
| BBKING | Influential blues singer and guitarist who toured in the USSR in 1979 |
| MYSTERY | The Chester ____ Plays are a medieval drama series revived in 1951, and will next be performed in June and July 2023 |
| TIBET | Historic region annexed by China in 1951 and nicknamed The Roof Of The World (5) |
| THEOLDMANANDTHESEA | Novella by Ernest Hemingway written in Cuba in 1951 and published in 1952 |
| LEEANDERSON | Ex-Conservative deputy chairman who defected to Reform UK in 2024 |
| MIKHAILBARYSHNIKOV | Russian ballet dancer who defected to Canada in 1974 |
