Crossword and sudoku brain-teasers.
ACROSS
1 Tuscan capital ruled by the Medicis in the 15th century where Renaissance masters Botticelli and Donatello were born and Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael lived/worked (8)
5 Spice derived from the rhizome of a plant related to turmeric, used powdered in cakes and biscuits, fresh in curries and stir-fries or preserved in syrup (6)
9 Moorland plant in a family comprising the cranberry, blueberry, huckleberry, rhododendron and a similar plant considered a symbol of Scotland and of good luck (5)
13 _______ pursuits; general name for al fresco activities such as orienteering, cycling, horse riding, mountaineering, running, fishing and sailing (7)
14 Informal name for a beverage traditionally brewed as part of an English breakfast or elevenses with biscuits or afternoon tea (5)
15 Country with a blue and yellow national flag and a capital with the same name as a breaded chicken dish (7)
16 Situated north of the Tibetan Plateau, the longest inland river in China (5)
17 The _____ ____; 1990s sitcom based on a footballer who becomes a housekeeper in the Oxfordshire countryside (5,4)
18 Informal word for an electrician or a small diamond; or, the author whose final novel was
The Finishing School (5) 19 Dawn ______; the birdsong of sunrise (6) 20 Style of flat shoe for wear with shorts, jeans or chinos and no socks (6)
22 Area for training horses and riders; a group of fish or marine mammals; or, a community of artists sharing a common style (6) 25 Irish playwright noted for Man and
Superman, Pygmalion and Saint Joan (4) 27 Grassland flowers resembling the bodies of waggle-dancing insects; the county flowers of Bedfordshire (3,7)
28 Foam-like material used by florists; an area of vegetation in a desert; or, a rock band formed by two brothers in Manchester in 1991 (5) 32 Brand/style of desk or reading lamp originally invented by British designer George Carwardine in 1932 (10) 34 Swedish dramatist and novelist noted for The Red Room and A Dream Play (10) 36 Yorkshire _____; National Park in the north of England in which the Three Peaks of Peny-ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside are situated (5) 37 Earthenware used for plant pots (10) 39 ____ Grotto; natural sea cave on the coast of the island of Capri that was the sacred sanctuary of Tiberius (4) 41 Castle ______; stately home in York designed by Sir John Vanbrugh where a television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited was filmed (6) 43 General name for an elf, fairy or pixie; a brand of lemon- and lime-flavoured soft drink; or, one of the traditional Brownie Six emblems (6) 44 Skin of a potato; dust cover of a book; a record sleeve; or, an outer garment (6)
48 Any one of eight biogeographical divisions of Earth’s land surface, each with own particular flora and fauna (5) 49 India’s largest state by area (9) 51 Bird which, according to legend, delivers newborn babies to parents (5) 53 Psychologist who narrowed personality into the three types: psychoticism, neuroticism and extroverted (7) 54 The “Rule” constellation (5) 55 Brand of creamy fromage frais-like French cheese formerly advertised with the “du pain, du vin...” slogan (7) 56 Spanish snacks, canapés or small plates similar to Greek meze (5) 57 Founder of a sports almanac considered the “Bible of Cricket” (6) 58 Maiden name of Sarah, Duchess of York, mother of the princesses Beatrice and Eugenie (8)
DOWN 1 Plasterer’s trowel; vehicle for delivering milk; cola with a scoop of ice cream; or, an item used in angling (5) 2 Canada’s most populous province (7) 3 The _______ Crocodile; one of Roald Dahl’s books illustrated by Quentin Blake (8) 4 Genus of birds including crows, jackdaws, ravens and rooks (6)
6 The __________ of Being Earnest; play by Oscar Wilde that was adapted into a film by Anthony Asquith in 1952 (10) 7 Country formerly called Gold Coast (5) 8 Slices of bread/toast; quantities of sandwiches; sets of drinks bought from a bar by one person; or, games of golf (6)
9 Piano-like instruments but with strings plucked by quills (12)
10 Italian musical word meaning restless, hurried, wild... (7)
11 Biologist who coined the word “ecology” and compiled the Art Forms of Nature collection of illustrations (7)
12 Mexican city noted for cliff diving, sung about by the Four Tops (8)
19 Sauce used for trifle or served with jam rolypoly, apple pie or crumble (7)
21 Poet whose Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats inspired the musical Cats (5)
23 End-of-academic-year assessments of a pupil’s performance sent to parents (7) 24 Unisex garments for casual wear (1-6) 26 _____ of Harlem; 1988 song by U2 (5) 29 Case of a walnut, pistachio etc; type of sword hand-guard; a light racing boat; or, an item studied in conchology (5) 30 Natural division of an orange (7) 31 Calculations made by surveyors, tailors, architects and builders (12)
33 Row of three of more connected postage stamps; or, the identifying kit worn by a member of a football team (5) 35 French bakery or cake shop (10) 38 ________ projector; a now generallyoutdated device used to display transparencies in classrooms (8) 40 New Yorker who invented/patented the first modern pogo stick in 1919 (8) 41 Crop-gathering during autumn (7) 42 _____ __, doc?, catchphrase of Looney Tunes character Bugs Bunny (5,2) 45 The capital of Minoan Crete (7) 46 The Polish spelling of the second-largest city in Poland (6) 47 ______ to Stay, Unwilling to Leave; a song on the soundtrack of the film Titanic (6) 50 Actress who stars in The Secret of Crickley Hall and Doctor Foster (5) 52 Word linking with “cyto” for a plant hormone used to preserve cut flowers (5) A sudoku grid has a 9x9 grid that is further subdivided into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve the puzzle, each of the rows, columns and 3x3 boxes should contain all the digits from 1 to 9. The solution to this puzzle will be published in next week’s issue.