GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Italian artist, engineer and scientist noted for his portrait Mona Lisa (8,2,5) 9 A ring of rope or metal (7) 10 Left empty or unoccupied (7) 11 Name of landmass that once joined the Scilly Isles (5) 12 A plot often in espionage to ensnare someone using seduction with the later threat of exposure (5-4) 13 Racehorse on which Lester Piggott won the 1967 St Leger Stakes (7) 15 _____ Firth, Mr Darcy actor in the 1995 TV adaptation of Pride And Prejudice (5) 16 The nest of a bird of prey, especially an eagle (5) 18 East Anglian saint, from whose name Boston is derived (7) 20 Latin term meaning amongst other things (5,4) 23 _____ the Hedgehog, Sega video game character (5) 24 Scottish Loch in the Trossachs area, setting for Walter Scott’s poem The Lady Of The Lake (7) 25 Pierced or bored a hole (7) 26 Former name of Britain’s military reserve force first adopted in 1921 (11,4)

DOWN

1 Type of dismissal in cricket in which the ball hits the batter’s pads before the bat (3,6,6) 2 Sinead, Irish singer-songwriter noted for the 1990 album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (7) 3 The _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Crichton, comic play by JM Barrie (9) 4 Nationality of painter Vincent van Gogh (5) 5 Lindsay, U.S. ex-tennis player who won three Grand Slam women’s singles titles (9) 6 Name and headquarters of the collaborationist French government of 1940 to 1944 (5) 7 Term for a person with inborn gifts or talent (7) 8 Annual U.S. public holiday celebrated on July 4 (12,3) 14 Willy, Argentinian goalkeeper for Chelsea (9) 15 Relating to the sky or heavens (9) 17 Muscle that turns a part of the body on its axis (7) 19 Someone who manages the activities of intelligence agents in the field (7) 21 Japanese natural therapy developed by Mikao Usui (5) 22 A Vietnamese woman’s high-necked tunic dress (2,3) SOLUTION TOMORROW