BIG MONDAY CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 English comedian who played Professor Simon Peach in the 1969 film The Italian Job (5,4) 6 Fixed period of duty on a ship, usually lasting four hours (5)
10 City of western California in which Stanford University is located (4,4)
11 and 27 Down Czech composer whose works include the 1866 opera The Bartered Bride (7,7) 12 Athene noctua, family Strigidae; native to Europe, Asia and Africa (6,3)
13 Round cavity in a vertebrate’s skull in which an eyeball sits (5)
15 and 9 Down Dubai skyscraper formally opened in 2010; the tallest man-made structure in the world (4,7)
16 SW arm of the Pacific Ocean in which the Great Barrier Reef is located (5,3) 17 Landlocked country of south central Africa known from 1911 to 1964 as Northern Rhodesia (6)
20 Luminous discharge of electricity across a gap between two conductors, terminals etc. in a circuit (3)
22 Seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter heth (3) 25 Michael ___, Jamaican statesman; Prime Minister 1972–80 and 1989–92 (6)
26 US actor and kung fu expert (1940-73) who developed the fighting technique Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist) (5,3)
29 and 37 Director of the upcoming superhero film Black Widow (4,9)
30 Colour between brown and grey; from French via Latin, ‘mole’ (5)
31 Chief city of central Morocco, founded in 1062 as the capital of the Almoravids (9) 34 Granular starchy substance obtained from cassava root, used as a thickening agent in puddings, sauces etc. (7)
35 Most populous city of Sudan, on the Nile River opposite Khartoum (8)
36 Minute pore in the epidermis of a plant leaf or stem through which gases pass (5)
37 See 29
DOWN
2 US actress married to Irish actor Gabriel Byrne from 1988 to 1999 (5,6) 3 Crimean city on the Black Sea; site of a conference between the Allied leaders Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin in February 1945 (5)
4 Metallic element of which the earth’s core is chiefly composed (4)
5 Capital of Slovenia, founded as the Roman city of Emona in 35 BC (9)
6 John ___, English dramatist; The White Devil (1612), The Duchess of Malfi (1613) etc. (7) 7 1875 Bizet opera based on an 1845 novella of the same name by Prosper Mérimée (6) 8 Part of an aircraft’s flight in which it descends towards an airfield or runway prior to landing (8)
9 See 15 Across
14 Film with a soundtrack, as distinct from a silent film (6)
15 Musical note, now rarely used, equivalent in time value to four minims or eight crotchets (5) 18 Long-legged wading bird of the genus Recurvirostra; the emblem of the RSPB (6) 19 Prime minister of Vanuatu who succeeded Charlot Salwai on 20 April 2020 (3,8) 21 Enchantress who detained Odysseus on the island of Aeaea for a year and turned his men into swine (5)
23 Greek dramatist (c. 525–456 BC) regarded as the father of tragedy; Seven Against Thebes, Prometheus Bound etc. (9)
24 Capital city and chief port of the state of Piauí in NE Brazil, on the Parnaíba River (8) 25 Large extinct elephant of the Pleistocene epoch, typically having a brown hairy coat and long up-curved tusks (7)
27 See 11 Across
28 ‘’___ thee, witch!’ the rump-fed ronyon cries’ (Shakespeare Macbeth (1606)) (6) 32 Triangular piece of cloth inserted into a skirt, glove etc. to make it flared (5)
33 US rock band whose hits include ‘Hold the Line’ (1978) and ‘Africa’ (1982) (4)