General knowledge crossword

ACROSS

1. Infectious change in the body caused by bacteria or their toxins (6)

4. Iraq’s chief port, on the Shatt-alarab (5)

6. See 2

7. See 18

8. Sharp-pointed sword used in fencing (4)

11. Hiding place of a fox or badger (5)

13. Member of an Indian religion that has the Guru Granth Sahib as its chief religious document (4)

15. The mangel-wurzel (7)

16. 1979 Peter Shaffer play about Mozart and Salieri (7)

17. Norse god of thunder (4)

19. Surname of the 2nd and 6th US presidents (5)

21. Shallow rectangular wooden basket used especially for carrying garden produce (4)

24. Keyboard instrument, a form of spinet (8)

25 and 19 Down. Jack Absolute’s rival in Sheridan’s The Rivals (3,5)

26. French capital (5)

27. Viscount -, nephew of Queen Elizabeth II, born in 1961 (6)

DOWN

1. Professor Severus -, Potions teacher in J K Rowling’s Harry Potter stories (5)

2 and 6 Across. Novel by Warwick Deeping, about an ex-officer (7,3,3)

3. Region of Babylonia whose cities included Ur (5)

4. European forest tree with nuts used as pig food (5)

5. Highly seasoned Italian sausage (6)

6. Flatfish with mouth and teeth on the underside (4)

9. Velvety-skinned stone fruit (5)

10. Knighted composer famous for the Pomp and Circumstance marches, etc. (5)

12. German author whose works include Death In Venice (6,4)

13. Anwar -, Egyptian president assassinated in 1981 (5)

14. Egyptian king called Cheops by the Greeks (5)

18 and 7. Soldier and statesman born at Huntingdon in 1599 (6,8)

19. See 25

20. A sprite in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (5)

22. Warwickshire market town noted for its public school (5)

23. Soft, thick worm-like larva of an insect (4)