General knowledge 814

(answers in next week’s paper)

ACROSS

1. See 18

4. City in Saudi Arabia, the second holy city of Muslims (6) 7. The University of Paris (8) 8. A fairy of Persian mythology (4) 9. Scandinavian god of thunder, war and agriculture (4) 11. Knowledge or skill based on study, experience and practice (7) 12. A Hitlerite (4) 14. Spirit distilled from fermented sugar-cane juice or from molasses (3) 15. Russian leader whose real surname was Ulyanov (5) 16. British wildflower of the family compositae (5) 19. A high priest and judge of Israel (3) 21. State of the USA, capital Salt Lake City (4) 22. See 5 23. See 20 25. The third title in order of rank in the British peerage (4) 26 and 1 Down. In the Pilgrim’s Progress, the deep, miry place from where Christian is rescued (6,2,7) 27. “His youthful hose well sav’d, a world too wide for his —- shank” (As You Like It) (6) 28. An artefact of the later or more advanced Stone Age (7)

DOWN

1. See 26

2. Town of Umbria, central Italy, birthplace of St Francis (6) 3. Insect formerly thought to penetrate into the head through the ear (6)

4. A single eyeglass (7) 5 and 22. Conference at which Luther was condemned as a heretic, in 1521 (4,2,5) 6. North-eastern county of Northern Ireland, famous for the Giant’s Causeway (6) 10. Large insect of the wasp family (6) 13. An imaginary belt in the heavens, divided into 12 equal parts (6) 17. An East Anglian county (7) 18 and 1 Across. Playwright famous for A Taste of Honey, etc. (7,7) 19. Birds whose long, white plumes were formerly much used for hat ornaments, etc. (6) 20 and 23. The cheap, sordid music-hall performer in John Osborne’s The Entertainer (6,4) 21. Advantageous or serviceable (6) 24. Son of Isaac and Rebecca, whose name means “hairy” (4)