BIG MONDAY CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Commonest form of volcanic rock, chiefly composed of plagioclase feldspar (6) 4 Actor who plays Gus the Theatre Cat in the 2019 musical film Cats (3,8)
9 Any fish of the carp family, including the bream, minnow, tench etc. (8) 10 Second-largest city of Venezuela; capital of the state of Zulia (9)
11 English singer who won an Oscar for Best Original Song with 2013’s Skyfall (5) 12 British writer and lay theologian known for his seven Chronicles of Narnia novels (1950-6) (1,1,5)
14 Oldest of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, written by a shepherd of Tekoa c. 760-755 BC (4)
17 See 34 Down
18 Greek hero of the Trojan War; son of Telamon, king of Salamis (4)
19 White substance used in the manufacture of paint, paper etc, especially powdered gypsum (5,4)
21 See 3 Down
22 Chart-topping 1979 hit by the Bee Gees, from the album Spirits Having Flown (7) 25 Stiffened or hooped petticoat, originally of horsehair and linen, worn to expand a long skirt (9)
27 Villainous lion voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the 2019 film The Lion King (4) 28 Possession or body part of a deceased saint kept as an object of veneration (5)
29 King of Mercia who constructed a 150-mile earthen barrier between Wales and Mercia in the late 8th century (4)
31 Che ___, Argentine revolutionary leader who served as second-in-command to Fidel Castro during the Cuban revolution (1956–9) (7) 33 Capital city of Jordan, known in ancient times as Philadelphia (5)
36 Person appointed to manage the finances of a corporate or governing body (9)
37 Mixture of beaten egg whites and sugar baked until crisp, often used as a topping for pies, cakes etc. (8)
38 2019 period drama film starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson and Florence Pugh (6,5) 39 Complex network of nerves, blood vessels or lymphatic vessels anywhere in the body (6)
DOWN
1 Casino card game of which chemin de fer is a variant (8)
2 ‘The uncertain glory of an ___ day’ (Shakespeare The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1592-3) act 1, sc. 3, l.65) (5)
3 and 21 across English golfer who captained Europe’s Ryder Cup team from 1983 to 1989 (4,7)
4 Faint southern constellation between Telescopium and Tucano; ‘the Indian’ (5) 5 Edible larva of the beetle Tenebrio molitor, commonly found in grain and flour stores (8) 6 President of Romania elected for a second consecutive term on November 24, 2019 (5,8) 7 Domesticated pack animal of the family Camelidae found in the Andes (5)
8 Liquid rubbed onto the body to relieve muscle or joint pain; from Greek, ‘lotion’ (11)
13 Of a computer or similar device, accessible without the use of a network (5)
15 Of a railway track, having a distance of 4ft 8.5 in (1.435 m) between the lines (8,5)
16 Paul ___, Boer statesman; President of the South African Republic (or Transvaal) from 1883 to 1900 (6)
18 Water-soluble chemical compound that turns red litmus paper blue, e.g. potash, lye etc. (6) 20 Italian-born US physicist who directed the first controlled nuclear reaction in 1942; Nobel Prize for Physics (1938) (6,5)
23 Capital of Ghana, a southern port on the Gulf of Guinea (5)
24 Second or alternative personality; Latin, literally ‘other self’ (5,3)
26 Dessert of crushed 37 Across mixed with whipped cream and fruit, typically strawberries (4,4)
30 Nautical exclamation meaning ‘stop’ or ‘cease’; derived from Dutch, ‘hold fast’ (5) 32 Japanese dish of thin white noodles served in a clear broth with meat and vegetables (5)
34 and 17 across Resort city of central Monaco on the lower slopes of the Maritime Alps along the French Riviera (5,5)
35 Pouch in the oesophagus of a bird in which food is stored or partially digested before passing on to the gizzard (4)