GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD WIN A LUXURY CROSS PEN

PLAY our accumulator game! Every day this week, solve the crossword to find the letter in the pink circle. On Friday, we’ll provide instructions to submit your five-letter word for your chance to win a luxury Cross pen. UK residents aged 18+, excl NI. Terms apply. Entries cost 50p.

ACROSS

1 Song written by U.S. composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim for his 1973 musical A Little Night Music (4,2,3,6)

8 Ornamental hanging tufts of threads (7)

9 Monica, Samoan-born chef who is a judge on TV show MasterChef: The Professionals (7)

10 A person who acts mechanically or without emotion (5)

11 A device to frighten birds from crops, usually a figure of a man dressed in ragged clothes (9)

12 Simon, English actor who plays Steve McDonald in Coronation Street (7)

14 Order of ____ , prestigious British honour founded by King Edward VII in 1902 (5)

15 Lawrence, British army officer who died with Robert Falcon Scott on his 1912 Antarctic expedition (5)

17 A lack of sound reasoning (7)

19 The outer edge or ring around an area (9)

22 A song of mourning or lamentation (5)

23 Nationality of Tottenham Hotspur FC manager Antonio Conte (7)

24 A Japanese dish of thin slices of raw fish served with grated radish or ginger and soy sauce (7)

25 2015 spy film starring Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo (3,3,4,5)

DOWN

1 The stage at which no more people, things or ideas can be absorbed or accommodated (10,5)

2 A sack containing fodder, hung from a horse’s head to allow it to feed (7)

3 Lack of aptitude or skill (9)

4 Long, curved pointed teeth of elephants and walruses (5)

5 French city that is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region (5)

6 A device from which livestock or poultry may drink (7)

7 Expression meaning ‘to conform to prevailing opinion’ (4,4,3,4)

9 A small anchor with several claws or arms (7)

13 Tilda, British actress who played the White Witch in The Chronicles Of Narnia film series (7)

14 The capital of the African country of Somalia (9)

16 Steak ____ , minced beef steak served raw mixed with onions, raw egg and seasonings (7)

18 ____ surgeon, one who specialises in operating on the heart and its structures (7)

20 ____ Stuart, British former TV newsreader who is a presenter on radio station Classic FM (5)

21 Rene, U.S. actress who played Frigga in the 2019 superhero film Avengers: Endgame (5)