GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Across

1. Actor who became a star after winning an Oscar for writing Good Will Hunting and being nominated for Best Actor (5)

4. Largest family of instruments in a standard classical orchestra (6)

7. Cartoon-panel family who appeared in the Daily and Sunday Express newspapers between 1945-1991 (5)

11. 1953 film starring Clark Gable as a big game hunter, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly (7)

12. Spirit featured in the cocktails Cuba Libre and Daiquiri (3)

14. Either of two times of the year when day and night are of equal length (7)

15. Scotland’s third longest river, rising near Fort Augustus and flowing into the Moray Firth (4)

16. Hit song recorded by Petula Clark in 1964 (8)

18. Medium sized heron of Central and South America with colourful plumage, also known as the chestnut bellied heron (5)

19. Establishment owned by Hugh Grant’s character, Will Thacker, in the 1999 film Notting Hill (8)

21. Mountain range in South Dakota and Wyoming (5,5)

23. Second largest bay after the Bay of Bengal (6)

26. English techno-pop duo, Andy Bell and Vince Clarke, who came onto the music scene in the 1980s (7)

28. Respiratory organs of a fish (5)

30. English actress and model, born 1946, who was married to JeanMichel Jarre from 1978-1997 (8)

31. Coronation Street character, the youngest daughter of Sally and Kevin Webster (6)

33. Sportsman who played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers (4,6)

35. Art Deco style building in Manhattan which for 10 months was the world’s tallest building (8)

38. Style of Greek architecture, notable for simplicity and strength (5)

40. Footwear in the first line of David Bowie’s song Let’s Dance (3,5)

42. Sea of __, the shallowest sea in the world (4)

45. One of the nine Greek muses, who is depicted holding a flute (7)

46. Murder weapon used by Lizzie Borden (3)

47. “I feel we are all ___ in a common sea”: Anne Morrow Lindbergh (7)

48. Vegetable also known as a sweet potato (3)

49. Dam on the Nile which opened in 1970 (5)

50. Island off Tauranga with the Maori name Tuhua (5)

Down

1. Writer whose last, unfinished, novel was The Knight of SainteHermine (5)

2. Marvel Comics character who first appeared in The X-Men (1963) (7)

3. Single released by rock band Linkin Park in 2003 (4)

5. “A __ is only a bench covered in velvet”: Napoleon Bonaparte (6)

6. First name of actress Close and big band musician Miller (5)

7. Meat and vegetable stew originally eaten by Hungarian shepherds (7)

8. Wife and mother in the Belcher family in the American animated adult sitcom Bob’s Burgers (5)

9. Decade of the 20th century in which the Algerian War ended and the Nigerian Civil War began (7)

10. Group of islands in Oceania whose capital is on the island of Guadalcanal (7)

13. Chinese communist revolutionary who died in 1976 (3)

17. “Those that are the loudest in their threats are the __ in their actions”: Charles Caleb Colton (7)

19. Thirteenth largest state of India, which borders Nepal (5)

20. Capital city which is home to the world’s largest indoor theme park (5)

21. 1968 film starring Steve McQueen, known for its car chase through San Francisco (7)

22. Deciduous conifer whose wood is valued for its tough, durable qualities (5)

24. Suit issued to every man on being discharged from the British Armed Forces at the end of World War 2 (5)

25. English cricketer, born 1848, considered one of the sport’s greatest players (1,1,5)

27. Mountain range featuring Australia’s highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko (5)

29. Deborah __: Scottish actress who starred in The King and I and From Here to Eternity (4)

32. Most populous US state capital (7)

33. Organs of the body which contain around a million tiny filters called nephrons (7)

34. Coarse, stiffened cloth used in bookbinding (7)

36. Youngest actor to have played the role of James Bond (7)

37. Chimpanzee character in the Tarzan films (6)

39. One of Toad’s companions in The Wind in the Willows (5)

40. Guitarist, singer and songwriter with The Velvet Underground, who died in 2013 (4)

41. Only New Zealander to have coached the Australian rugby team (5)

43. Hinged plate fixed to a medieval helmet in order to protect the eyes and face (5)

44. Nickname used by country music singer Otis Dewey Whitman, best known for I Remember You (4)