GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD

ACROSS

8 Tomaso, Baroque composer born in 1671 now noted for his instrumental music (8) 9 Phil, darts player born in 1960 nicknamed ‘The Power’ (6) 10 A mainly brown and grey finch with a reddish breast and forehead (6) 11 ____ court, one that is improperly constituted with no official standing (8) 12 To sully or tarnish (8) 13 John, Victorian art critic who wrote The Seven Lamps Of Architecture (6) 14 To train for boxing (4) 16 A landing stage or small pier at which boats can dock (5) 17 An aquatic bird of the rail family with black plumage and a short tail (4) 18 Nile, former gymnast who won Dancing On Ice in 2023 (6) 20 Lazy or slothful (8) 23 A technique for extracting gas and oil from shale rock (8) 24 The practice of attacking and robbing ships at sea (6) 25 ____ quartet, a musical ensemble of two violins, a viola and a cello (6) 26 To exceed (a limit

or standard) (8)

DOWN

1 Modesty ____, spy comic strip launched in 1963 and later made into a film starring Monica Vitti (6) 2 A wrong or inaccurate

designation (8) 3 Stephen, writer born in 1900 noted for his parodies of self-help books (6) 4 Pantomime in which the arch villain King Rat appears (4,11) 5 A bottom-dwelling marine creature with a flattened diamond-shaped body (8) 6 A road skirting a town or village as an alternative route for through traffic (6) 7 Battle of 1812 fought during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia (8) 15 The right to proceed

before other traffic (8) 16 Pat, Northern Irish goalkeeper who won 119 caps for his country (8) 17 Royal Navy airbase on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall (8) 19 ____ Tendulkar, Indian batter and cricket captain who retired in 2013 (6) 21 Big ____, group of stars in Ursa Major also known as the Plough (6) 22 A US coin that is

worth five cents (6) SOLUTION TOMORROW