GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 A drudge or one who is given menial tasks (8) 5 Greg, British stand-up comedian who has the title role in the TV show Taskmaster (6) 10 Leon, British figurative painter born in 1926 noted for his portraits and cityscapes of London (7) 11 Latin term meaning ‘in glass’, used of process of fertilisation outside the body (2,5) 12 1979 sci-fi horror film directed by Ridley Scott (5) 13 To forbid or prohibit (9) 14 Opera by US composer George Gershwin that premiered in 1935 (5,3,4) 18 Debut album by English composer and songwriter Mike Oldfield released in 1973 (7,5) 21 Artificially intricate (9) 23 Autonomous region on the south coast of China that was a Portuguese territory until 1999 (5) 24 One skilled in examining data and information (7) 25 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ pregnancy, the development of a foetus outside the uterus (7) 26 _ _ _ _ _ _ Rantzen, journalist and TV presenter who founded the counselling service ChildLine in 1986 (6) 27 An instrument for visual inspection of the ear (8)

DOWN

1 A severe imposition usually by a victorious nation over a defeated one (6) 2 Idle chat or tittle-tattle (6) 3 Another name for lignite (5,4) 4 Signature song from the 2003 stage musical Wicked, originally recorded by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth (7,7) 6 _ _ _ _ _ Lidell, British broadcaster noted as a BBC radio newsreader during World War II (5) 7 Knew by instinct (8) 8 Golfer Sam Torrance competed under this nationality (8) 9 Feature in the US Constitution, ratified in 1791, that allows a person not to testify against himself or herself in a criminal case (5,9) 15 Mountain group in the eastern section of the Italian Alps (9) 16 A defensive barrier of upright stakes (8) 17 Overflowing and plentiful (8) 19 _ _ _ _ _ _ Africanus, Roman general noted for his victory over Hannibal at Zama in 202BC (6) 20 Term in fencing used as an acknowledgement of a hit (6) 22 The _ _ _ _ _ Family, TV sitcom starring Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston (5)

SOLUTION TOMORROW