Diversions & Puzzles

Puzzle No 1459

Clues across

7. Since the late 1990s, what pasture plant has suffered severe reduction in New Zealand as a result of a root weevil? (6) 8/10. Which Italian-born automobile designer and manufacturer produced his “Type 1” in 1898? (6,7) 11. Surveys show that about half the people in Iceland believe in what? (5) 12. What Dutch cheese is traditionally sold in round cylinders with a red wax coating? (4) 13. Which lunar module landed in the Sea of Tranquility in 1969? (5) 17. What old English silver coin was worth four pence? (5) 18. How many bridges span the Amazon River? (4) 22. Egypt is the world’s largest exporter of what fruit? (5) 23. What language gave us words trampoline, bankrupt and influenza? (7) 24. From the early 1870s, who (Walter ___) published books of New Zealand birds that contained images familiar to generations of New Zealanders? (6) 25. Vanilla comes from the seedpods of what type of plant? (6)

Clues down

1. What contagious skin disease is caused by the itch mite? (7) 2. What is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man? (7) 3. Which city hosted the 1962 Commonwealth Games? (5) 4. Which Shakespeare play has “hell” within its title and a main character with “demon” in her name? (7) 5. Which car manufacturing corporation was sold to Ford Motor Company in 1999, who sold it to a Chinese conglomerate in 2010? (5) 6. What hard plaster coating is a base for gilding or painting? (5) 9/14. Whose former husbands include Nicolas Cage and Michael Jackson? (4,5,7) 15. Which West Side Story song includes “For here you are, And what was just a world is a star”? (7) 16. Who became US president almost exactly 100 years after Lincoln’s inauguration? (7) 19. What sun-dried brick is used in hot, dry climates? (5) 20. What apparatus is used for making whisky? (5) 21. In 1871, which city saw the world premiere of Verdi’s opera Aida? (5)