| SUNRA | Jazz great who took his name from Egyptian |
| LISALESLIE | WNBA great who took the 2007 season off while pregnant with her daughter; she returned to play the following year |
| CAINE | Oscar winner who took his stage name from a WWII Navy film |
| MUTTIAHMURALITHARAN | Sri Lankan bowler who took his 800th wicket with his final ball in his last Test match (7,12) |
| ODB | Founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan who took his stage name from a 1980 Chinese martial-arts movie, to fans |
| AJAX | Trojan War hero who took his own life |
| ASHE | Tennis star who took his apartheid fight to the United Nations |
| GOWER | DI, England cricket captain who took his only Test wicket in 1982 against India at Kanpur (5) |
| STUARTBROAD | English cricketer who took his 400th Test wicket against New Zealand in March 2018 |
| YOUNIS | Waqar, Pakistan fast bowler who took his hundredth Test wicket in 1993 (6) |
| ERNSTDEGNER | Famous East German defector who took his expertise to the Japanese. (5,6) |
| DUKEOFYORK | Grand Old ____ , character in the children's nursery rhyme who took his men up and down a hill (4,2,4) |
| AOYAMA | The last ever 250cc World Champion, who took his title 15 years ago this November. (6) |
| RALF | Herr Waldmann, 250 specialist who took his last win in spectacular fashion at a wet Donington Park. (4) |
| CHARLESMINGUS | Jazz great who once smashed his bass onstage, reportedly becoming the first musician to destroy an i |
| FORTYCOATS | Wanderly Wagon character who got his name from a Dublin street character. (10) |
| LAERTES | Character in Hamlet who takes his name from the father of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey (7) |
| OMITS | Leaves out: - his name from the list |
| CASSIUS | Ali changed his name from ___ Clay 60 yrs ago (7) |
| BASIE | Jazz great who was the first African-American man to win a Grammy |
