PUZZLES

Crossword and Sudoku brain-teasers.

ACROSS 1 Artist nicknamed “Nino” noted for his paintings inspired by literature, mythology and Arthurian legend such as The Lady of Shalott, Ophelia, The

Soul of the Rose and Windflowers (10) 6 Common name of a family of bee- and butterfly-enticing plants/herbs including lemon balm, hyssop, lavender, rosemary, marjoram and self-heal (4)

9 Author whose memoir A Year in Provence was adapted into a television mini-series starring John Thaw and Lindsay Duncan, and novel A

Good Year into a film with Russell Crowe and Albert Finney (5)

13 Pickling ingredient used as a condiment to flavour fish and chips or, in balsamic form from Modena, to ripen strawberries (7)

14 Spine of a hedgehog/porcupine; or, a pen made from a bird’s tail feather (5)

15 Constituting approximately 40 per cent of mammal species, mammals characterised by a pair of continuously- growing incisors, such as mice, squirrels, guinea pigs and chipmunks (7)

16 Any of several rivers in England, such as the one flowing through Wiltshire, the Blackmore Vale and Dorset or the one rising in Cambridgeshire and coursing through Dedham Vale (5)

17 Mid-morning break for tea, coffee, biscuits or other light refreshments; or, a hobbit’s third meal in the Middle-earth tales by J. R. R. Tolkien (9)

18 Babes __ ___ Wood; a traditional children’s tale; or, a 1990s sitcom with Karl Howman and Denise van Outen (2,3)

19 Latin or genus name of the fragrant flowering plant mignonette; or, a pale-green Pantone colour (6)

20 The ______; name by which Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 is commonly known (6)

22 Armour used to deflect projectiles and weapons; the shell of a tortoise/turtle; or, a type of escutcheon used in heraldry (6)

25 Victoria ____; English cultivar of a damsonlike fruit; or, a character created by Angela Rippon (4)

27 The main island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean; or, without the hyphen, the capital of St Kitts and Nevis (5-5)

28 Second World War RAF flying ace portrayed in Paul Brickhill’s book Reach for the Sky and in a film of the same name (5) 32 Wife of Hector depicted in a painting by Jacques-Louis David (10)

34 Form of sustainable travel to natural or conservation areas/countries where visitors are encouraged to “take only pictures and leave only footprints” (10) 36 Key _____; isle on the coast of Florida (5) 37 County flower of Cheshire blooming around the time the cuckoo starts to call in April, hence its alternative name (5-5) 39 Solar disc in Egyptian mythology (4) 41 Site in Brittany with more than 3,000 menhirs extending over four miles (6)

43 Another name for a basement; or, a container for salt (6)

44 From the French meaning “bell”, a type of miniature greenhouse for protecting young vegetable plants from the elements or to germinate seedlings (6) 48 My _____ Silas; book of short stories by H. E. Bates that was adapted into a mini-series with Albert Finney (5) 49 Participants/competitors in events such as London 2012 or Rio 2016 (9) 51 Rock supergroup formed by Eric Clapton and others in 1966 (5) 53 _______ in the Underworld; Jacques Offenbach’s opéra bouffe featuring his Galop Infernal, or cancan (7) 54 The capital of Nigeria since 1991 (5) 55 The _______ Show; series originally hosted by Selina Scott and Jeff Banks (7) 56 Herb used for pesto, caprese salad, spaghetti Bolognese or panzanella (5) 57 Abbreviated name of the agency that implemented the Apollo missions that landed men on the Moon (1,1,1,1) 58 Another name for investigators, such as those depicted in books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Dame Agatha Christie (10) DOWN 1 The Merry _____ of Windsor; one of the plays by Shakespeare with Sir John Falstaff (5) 2 Fibrous “bands” in the body such as the ones named after Achilles (7) 3 The fashion industry (informal) (3,5) 4 Author of The Country Girls (1,5) 5 Another name for sets or runs of playing cards used to form melds (9) 7 _____ of Scilly; archipelago owned by the Duchy of Cornwall (5) 8 Mistle ______; bird known as a stormcock because of its habit of singing in the tops of trees during wind and rain (6) 9 Colour or shade similar to navy (8,4) 10 Longest river in China and Asia (7) 11 Area of London in which a long-running British soap opera is set (4,3) 12 Vessels deployed by the RNLI during emergency situations at sea (9) 19 Name by which the artist who painted the Sistine Madonna is known (7) 21 Member of Les Six who wrote the scores for the 1950s films The Lavender Hill Mob and Moulin Rouge (5) 23 Opera singer who collaborated with Freddie Mercury on the song Barcelona (7) 24 Salad plant eaten by some as an oldfashioned remedy for insomnia (7) 26 _____arm; how not to bowl in cricket (5) 29 Term for a large blanket of flowers/plants such as daffodils or alchemilla; or, a heap of snow or leaves (5) 30 Genre published by Mills & Boon; or, linked with True, a Tarantino film (7) 31 Active volcano in Puebla which is the secondhighest peak in Mexico (12) 33 Originally planted to divide land, a word linked with “row” for a bushy type of habitat forming the British countryside (5) 35 A god of healing, son of Apollo (9) 38 Traditional breakfast conserve made from Seville oranges (originally quinces) (9) 40 Enforced darkness during an air raid (8) 41 SI derived unit of electric charge (7) 42 Sets of instructions such as those written by Mrs Isabella Beeton (7) 45 Dramatist who wrote The Seagull (7) 46 Poet who wrote Decorations in Verse and Prose (1899) (6) 47 Greek word literally meaning “soul” used to describe the totality of the human mind, consciousness and spirit (6) 50 Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet who wrote The Tower and The Winding Stair (5) 52 Facial disguises sometimes worn at costume balls; or, cosmetic face packs (5)