GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD
ACROSS
8 English architect who designed Marble Arch in London (4,4) 9 A golf club normally used when playing from the tee (6) 10 Spice that traditionally tops a custard tart (6) 11 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Brothers, English filmmaking twins noted for their satirical comedies in the 1950s and 60s (8) 12 Clothing for wet weather (8) 13 A large flatfish found on European coasts much valued as food (6) 14 Shabby _ _ _ _ , style of decoration in which the property and furniture look slightly faded or worn (4) 16 Jane _ _ _ _ _ , English actress and entrepreneur noted for her baking and kitchenware business (5) 17 T-shaped cross with a loop above the horizontal bar, symbolising eternal life (4) 18 _ _ _ _ _ _ Dixon, English singer/ songwriter who has been a judge on Britain’s Got Talent since 2012 (6) 20 Punctuation mark to end a sentence (4,4) 23 Jean-Claude _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , Belgian actor who played Jean Vilain in the 2012 film The Expendables 2 (3,5) 24 Ricky _ _ _ _ _ _ , byname of Puerto Rican singer/ songwriter known as the King of Latin Pop (6) 25 Nimbus and cumulus are types of these meteorological phenomena (6) 26 Adverb meaning ‘without knowledge’ or unexpectedly’ (8)
DOWN
1 Language of West Africa, especially in south-western Nigeria (6) 2 A device to aid recollection, such as a pattern of letters (8) 3 To wash the mouth with a liquid suspended in the throat (6) 4 Painting by Sandro Botticelli depicting the Roman goddess of love on a scallop shell (3,5,2,5) 5 A muscle that draws part of the body towards the midline (8) 6 _ _ _ _ _ _ Gardens, entertainment venue in Blackpool that opened in 1878 (6) 7 English stand-up comedian and team captain on 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown (4,4) 15 Portable cases for holding clothes and other articles (4-4) 16 One who causes needless worry and panic (8) 17 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Oak, nickname of Arnold Schwarzenegger in his bodybuilding days (8) 19 A bluish-white alkaline metallic element discovered by Sir Humphry Davy in 1807 (6) 21 _ _ _ _ _ _ puncture, process of inserting a needle into the lower part of the spinal cord (6) 22 John _ _ _ _ _ _ , English comedian who voiced Vanity Smurf in the 2011 film The Smurfs (6)