| LUCREZIABORGIA | The illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI, and the subject of scandalous rumour |
| COURTYARD | Make love by measure in place of 6 (and the 13 and the 14) (9) |
| LUCREZIA | Daughter of Pope Alexander VI and prominent member of an infamous Italian familymily (8,6) |
| OVAL | Shape of the office where Fitz and Olivia had a LOT of scandalous hookups |
| BORGIA | Rodrigo (Pope Alexander VI) and Cesare were two notable members of this powerful Italian family of Spanish origin (6) |
| ALLEGRA | Christian name of the illegitimate daughter of Lord Byron (7) |
| NIECE | Euphemism for the illegitimate daughter of an ecclesiastic |
| ETTAJAMES | Although never proven, this famous Blues singer claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of pool legend "Minnesota Fats": 2 wds |
| GOSSIP | Scandalous rumour |
| BACKSTAIRS | Type of scandalous intrigue |
| GOSSAMER | American pursuing scandalous rumours without much substance |
| CESAREBORGIA | Italian cardinal, politician and military leader, son of Pope Alexander VI (6,6) |
| CESARE | Borgia who was the son of Pope Alexander VI |
| ADOLFO | ___ Celi, actor who played Largo in the Bond film Thunderball and Pope Alexander VI in The Borgias ( |
| IRONS | Actor whose roles range from the voice of Scar to Pope Alexander VI (5) |
| MATADOR | Hero with a cape, and the subject of a Gretchen Peters song with the line "I knew it when I threw the rose" |
| ESPERANTO | Invention described in the 1887 book "Unua Libro" (and the subject of this puzzle's quotation) |
| CRAWFORD | Joan ___, actor and the subject of the memoir, Mommie Dearest (8) |
| INGRAM | Charles, disgraced former British major and the subject of the play Quiz, later adapted for TV (6) |
| MOTH | Insect found in the theme entries (and the subject of a famous joke told by Norm Macdonald) |
