GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Across

1. Aromatic herb of the mint family, popular in Mediterranean dishes (8)

5. Books of the Bible which follow the two Books of Kings (10)

10. Art Deco style building in Manhattan which for 11 months in 1930-31 was the world’s tallest building (8)

12. Breed of solidly-built, smoothcoated dog which originated in Germany (5)

13. Sister-in-law of Homer Simpson (5)

14. Main character in The Wind in The Willows (4)

15. Member of a 10,000-strong elite infantry unit in the Persian army around 3000 years ago (8)

16. Used to indicate the maiden name of a married woman (3)

17. First name of former motor racing driver who founded the Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari (4)

19. “Only the pure in heart can make a good __”: Ludwig van Beethoven (4)

20. French forcemeat loaf similar to a pate (7)

24. Fictional island in the 1933 film King Kong (5)

26. Bony cavity in the skull containing the eyeball (5)

28. Type of Buddhist temple or monastery in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos (3)

29. ___ Cat, small sailing catamaran (5)

30. Cricket bowling action (7)

31. Item held by the left hand in Michelangelo’s sculpture of David (5)

33. Hedera, a genus of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants (3)

34. Tartan trousers, banned from 1746-1782 after the 1745 Jacobite rebellion (5)

35. Word which follows fish, rice and crab (5)

36. Princess of the Kingdom of Hyrule featured in top-selling video game developed by Nintendo (5)

38. Central Vietnamese city on the banks of the Perfume River, the Nguyen Dynasty’s capital between 1802 and 1945 (3)

39. Hard, stick-shaped confectionery sold at tourist resorts in the United Kingdom (4)

41. Nickname of Barbadian singer Rihanna (4)

44. V-shaped trough, with pole handle, used for carrying bricks (3)

46. The study of wine and winemaking (8)

47. ___ Kunis, actress who voices Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy (4)

48. “Yesterday __ last night. Today is a brand-new day”: Zig Ziglar (5)

50. Characters who appear on the 10th day of The Twelve Days of Christmas (5)

51. The ‘I’ in the US government department IRS (8)

52. “__ __ __: No new taxes”: phrase attributed to George H.W. Bush (4,2,4)

53. Type of network technology for local area networks, introduced in 1980 (8)

Down

1. Type of waterproof raincoat named after its Scottish inventor (10)

2. Medium-sized, colourful crested bird of the crow family (3)

3. Journalist and broadcaster who was TVNZ’s head of news and current affairs, 2003-2007 (7)

4. Fictional spinster who lived in the village of St. Mary Mead (6)

5. “Good words are worth much, and __ little”: George Herbert (4)

6. Real first name of 41A (5)

7. Cynthia __, actress who portrayed Miranda Hobbes in the TV series Sex and the City (5)

8. Spanish conquistador, born 1485, who brought about the fall of the Aztec Empire (6)

9. Small seaside settlement near Warkworth, situated on the Matakana River (8)

11. “His ignorance was as __ as his knowledge”: Arthur Conan Doyle (10)

18. Specialised bulk carrier, with the largest taking up to 550,000 metric tons of deadweight (3,6)

21. Beach resort on the Portuguese Riviera (7)

22. “A __ made is a debt unpaid”: Robert W. Service (7)

23. Scottish clan whose name may originate from either the Gaelic Fearsithe or Norman Forsach (7)

25. Type of salesman played by Danny DeVito in the 1996 film Matilda (4,3)

27. Capital of Barbados (10)

28. Rachel __: British actress who married Daniel Craig in 2011 (5)

32. Name given to part of a house made into self-contained accommodation (6,4)

34. Home ground of Burnley Football Club (4,4)

37. “Sure I’m for helping the __. I’m going to be old myself someday”: Lillian Carter (7)

40. American singer whose debut album, American Teen, was released in March 2017 (6)

42. Element No 53, symbol I (6)

43. One of the balls used in a game of Quidditch (6)

45. Joe __: actor who played the role of Harry Lime in the 1990 film Home Alone (5)

49. Informal term for the right to choose something first (4)