| POUND | Ezra _, American poet, author of Ripostes, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley and The Cantos (5) |
| OGDENNASH | American poet, author of "Candy is dandy" (5,4) |
| REPARTEE | First of ripostes with sword involving skill and wit (8) |
| ELIOT | T S ___, American poet, playwright, and literary critic whose works include The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock |
| EZRAPOUND | Modernist American poet who authored the 1920 poem Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (4,5) |
| EZRA | US poet whose works include 1920's Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (4,5) |
| FROST | Robert ___, American poet |
| TIGER | Better Than Ezra "___ By the Tail" |
| MEALS | Ripostes |
| QUIPS | Ripostes |
| EPEES | They might be used when making ripostes |
| PISAN | "___ Cantos" |
| WHITMAN | Walt ___, American poet known for the verse collection Leaves Of Grass (7) |
| LONGFELLOW | Henry Wadsworth ___, American poet best known for The Song of Hiawatha |
| ROETHKE | Theodore ___, American poet awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1954 for his book The Waking |
| DOROTHYPARKER | 20th-century American poet, writer, critic and satirist (7,6) |
| MCKUEN | Rod ___, American poet, songwriter, composer and singer whose English lyrics for a Jacques Brel song gave Terry Jacks a worldwide hit in 1974 (Seasons in the Sun) |
| POUNDNOTES | Preparatory work on 'The Cantos'? |
| SWORDPLAY | Ripostes here, at the heart of basic puns |
| COUNTERCLAIMS | Demands over the bar led to legal ripostes (7-6) |
