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 Space in the heart of Venice that has been described as ‘the drawing room of Europe’ (2,5,6)

8 Danish-Norwegian Europop music group noted for their 1997 UK No. 1 hit Barbie Girl (4)

9 Supporters of a hardline Soviet leader who ruled his country from 1922 to 1953 (10)

10 The official national currency of Hungary (6)

11 To weigh down or burden in such a way that free action or movement is difficult (8)

12 Expression meaning ‘entirely untrue’ or ‘not at all’ (3,4,2)

14 An inflamed swelling on the edge of an eyelid (4)

15 ____ Portas, English retail consultant and TV broadcaster nicknamed ‘The Queen of Shops’ (4)

16 A beggar (9)

20 A person who campaigns to bring about social or political change (8)

21 A mildly humorous term for someone who is notable or important in a particular sphere (6)

23 Energetically wilful and determined (10)

24 Large, round bread rolls with a spongy texture and floury top (4)

25 One who engages in protest by refusing to eat (6,7)

DOWN

1 A large Californian evergreen tree noted for its great height (7)

2 U.S. city whose American football team are called the Dolphins (5)

3 An Italian dish of rice cooked in stock usually with meat or seafood (7)

4 Instructions in the text of a play indicating the movement, position and tone of an actor (5,10)

5 A hard, acid pear-shaped fruit that is used in preserves or as a flavouring (6)

6 Self-evident or unquestionable (9)

7 The utmost or the highest limit or degree (7)

13 ____ fruit, something that is tempting but prohibited (9)

15 Shakespeare tragedy which contains the expression ‘milk of human kindness’ (7)

17 A widow with a title or property derived from her late husband (7)

18 A person considered useless, or from whom little is expected (2-5)

19 Stuart ____ , book by U.S. author E.B. White about a mouse-like boy, later adapted as a 1999 liveaction/animated film (6)

22 Erno, Hungarian architecture professor who invented a multicoloured puzzle cube (5)

SOLUTION TOMORROW