General knowledge 873

(answers in next week’s paper)

ACROSS

1 and 5 Across. The central character in Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (5,5)

8. Eighth part of a circle (6) 9. A wild sheep of central Asia (5) 10. The heath genus of plants (5) 11. Type of Japanese combative sport (6) 13. A class of things (5) 15. Prince of Saxe-CoburgGotha, consort of Queen Victoria (6) 18. A three-masted schooner built for Nansen’s Arctic expedition (4) 19. Surname of the writer whose works include Les Miserables (4) 20. Sailor’s song, sung while heaving, pulling, etc (6) 24. A sea anemone, for example (5) 26. Paul —-, Patriot, famous for his ride from Charlestown to Lexington (6) 27. Semi-precious stone, usually having a banded appearance (5) 28. Tree of the birch family (5) 29. Occupation of George Eliot’s “Silas Marner” (6) 30. “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their —-...” (5) 31. Vegetables of the onion tribe (5)

DOWN

1. Nickname of Kentucky, USA (9,5)

2. Small terrier with short legs and shaggy coat (5) 3. Internal parts of eggs (5) 4. Large, wading bird with long legs and bill (5) 5. Ridged rod for sharpening knives (5)

6. Plant with liquorice flavoured seeds (5)

7. Calcined gypsum used to make moulds or casts (7,2,5) 12. Sign of the zodiac, the Bull (6) 14. Another name for a hedgehog (6) 16. Tall, sub-tropical and tropical grass with hollow-jointed, woody stem (6) 17. In cricket, an extra made when a ball touches anywhere but the batsman’s hand (3,3) 21. Medium-sized South American heron with iridescent plumage; also used of greywinged trumpeter (5) 22. Tartan trousers (5) 23. Cordlike bundle of fibres communicating with the brain or spinal cord (5) 24. Concretion found in shellfish, prized as a gem (5) 25. Dwelling place of a beaver (5)