PUZZLES

Time to steal a quiet moment and flex your brain with Friday’s puzzle pages

Crossword and sudoku brain-teasers.

ACROSS

11 Born near the foot of the Dolomites circa 1490, the Renaissance master of the Venetian school whose works include his seven-metre-high Assunta, Bacchus and Ariadne and the Danaë series (6) 12 Pome with varieties including beauty of Bath, Blenheim orange, Cox’s orange pippin and Cornish gilliflower (5) 13 Short name for the resort on the north side of Mont Blanc that hosted the first Winter Olympics and is the starting point of the Haute Route ski touring trail ending in Zermatt (8) 14 Description of a beef steak or piece of lamb cooked to a far greater degree than one served rare, blue or ‘bleu’ (4,4) 15 Competitive sport and pursuit performed in a race such as the Volvo Ocean Race or Vendée Globe (7) 16 The den of an animal known collectively as bevy, romp and raft, scientific name Lutra lutra (4) 17 With a genus name that derives from the Latin meaning ‘muddy’, a wading bird with four existent species including the blacktailed and bar-tailed (6) 18 One of the names for a scenic 83-milelong gorge on the Danube forming part of the boundary between Romania and Serbia (4,4) 20 Roman name for the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana (5) 22 Capital of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Germany’s smallest state capital with around 102,000 residents (8) 24 _______ Tales; collection of 10 animal fables in verse by A Suitable Boy, An Equal Music and forthcoming novel A Suitable Girl author Vikram Seth (7) 26 Protagonist in Mary Wesley’s novel Harnessing Peacocks; or, a plant named after the Greek goddess of youth (4) 28 Form of fossilised tree resin used for jewellery; or, the traffic light and colour acting as a cautionary signal between red and green (5) 30 Horse’s gait that, with a rider, may be collected, working or extended (4) 32 With edible flowers, a climbing plant often used as a companion for cabbage, kale and cauliflower, depicted in a painting by E Phillips Fox (10) 34 Weaver from Lancashire who invented the spinning jenny; or, the author and illustrator who created the Mr. Men and Little Miss book series (10) 36 Water-filled ditch surrounding a castle as a form of fortification (4) 37 Colour of flag used as an emblem of truce, surrender or ceasefire (5) 39 Etonian and MI6 agent involved with the Vienna Circle who wrote Language, Truth and Logic (4) 40 Instrument with a gnomon (7) 41 Glyphs also called printers’ flowers; architectural element forming some Corinthian abaci; or, puff-pastry crescents used to garnish soups and starters (8) 43 Less-commonly used term for a lowbudget movie such as Bride of the Monster or Swamp Thing (1-4)

46 Chestnut and white breed of Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named after the Duke of Marlborough’s residence in Oxfordshire (8) 48 A founding member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture noted for his paintings on the ceiling of the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles (2,4) 51 One ____ in the Grave; sitcom with a character whose name has become synonymous with being grumpy (4) 52 __ _ _ _ _ _ Chapel; site of Michelangelo’s fresco The Last Judgment (7) 54 Body of water in the Scottish Highlands that is one of the largest lakes in the British Isles (4,4) 55 Jaques of London name for the game/ sport known as whiff-whaff (4-4) 56 Flat surface of a cut gemstone (5) 57 Geological belt in Earth’s crust involved with the formation of mountains (6)

DOWN

1 Dramatist-actor who wrote the problem play The Second Mrs Tanqueray (6) 2 A violent katabatic squall descending from a mountainous coast (8) 3 Former name for the Venezuelan city Ciudad Bolívar (9) 4 Plant known as all-heal traditionally believed to have sedative effects (8) 5 Primates such as chimpanzees, gibbons, gorillas, humans and orang-utans (4) 6 Essential oil similar to neroli, extracted from the bitter orange tree (10) 7 Another name for a screenplay (6) 8 Novelist who wrote The Foxglove Saga, and A Bed of Flowers (5) 9 Village in Nottinghamshire associated with the folk tale of a group of ‘wise men’; or, the city where Batman lives (6) 10 Musical instrument sometimes played by Sherlock Holmes (6) 19 Gravitational path; or, an eye socket (5) 21 Achaemenid Empire founder (5) 23 Group of Girl Guides collectively (7) 25 AC induction motor developer (5) 26 2005 romcom starring Will Smith (5) 27 Business partner of James Watt who founded the Soho Mint in 1788 (7) 29 Mountain of the Bernese Alps with a famously challenging north face (5) 31 Horticulturist and cook from East Sussex who wrote The Cutting Garden and a tome on wild flowers (5) 33 The ‘Table’ constellation; or, a society for people with a high IQ (5) 35 Catch-all words for biologists, chemists, geologists, physicists etc. (10) 36 Author who wrote a series of books for his son Christopher Robin (5) 38 Cheese from Haute-Savoie served in the Alpine potato dish tartiflette (9) 41 Happy ________; traditional card game with characters including Mr Bun the Baker and Mrs Soot the Sweep’s Wife (8) 42 Presenter and journalist who hosted the UK Weakest Link and the recent three-part series Britain’s Secrets (8) 44 Linguist and lexicographer remembered for his dictionary published in 1598 entitled A World of Words (6) 45 ____ __ Crazy; Prince and The Revolution song on the album Purple Rain (4,2) 47 Author of the comedy Turcaret and the picaresque novel Gil Blas (6) 49 One of the four provinces of Ireland (6) 50 Physicist who discovered isotopes by means of his mass spectrograph (5) 53 Place of Napoleon’s first exile (4)