BIG X-WORD

ACROSS

1 Murdered Thane of Lochaber in Shakespeare’s

Macbeth (1606) (6)

4 Character played by Blake Lively in the 2011 superhero film Green Lantern (5,6)

9 Short lyrical composition, typically for piano, inspired by or evoking the night (8)

10 One’s university, school or college: from Latin, ‘bountiful mother’ (4,5)

11 & 12 Prime Minister of Spain who succeeded Mariano Rajoy on 2 June 2018 (5,7)

14 Energy generated by the random motion of the atoms, molecules or ions in a substance or body (4)

17 1997 science fiction horror film starring Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam (5)

18 Jack ___, leader of the Kentish rebellion against Henry VI in 1450 (4)

19 Alternative name for the spiny lobster, especially when prepared as food (9)

21 Muse of lyric poetry and music in Greek mythology, usually depicted holding a flute (7)

22 Carlos ___, Mexican author of novels including Terra Nostra (1975) and Cristóbal Nonato (1987) (7)

25 British citizen army founded as the Local Defence Volunteers in 1940 (4,5)

27 Two-dimensional extent of a surface or plane figure as expressed in square units (4) 28 Jordan ___, writer and director of the 2017 horror film Get Out (5)

29 Capital city of Norway, known as Christiania from 1624 to 1924 (4)

31 Large spotted carnivorous cat of Africa and SW Asia; Acinonyx jubatus (7)

33 Rabbit leader in the 1972 Richard Adams novel Watership Down; the older brother of Fiver (5)

36 Cocktail made with whisky and Drambuie, usually served over ice (5,4)

37 2018 family comedy film starring Will Arnett and Natasha Lyonne (4,4)

38 English actor who plays Alfred Pennyworth in the US crime drama series Gotham (4,7)

39 Ancient city of southern Turkey in which St Paul was born c. 5 AD (6)

DOWN

1 Curling match or tournament, typically held on a weekend (8)

2 Sheikhdom occupying a peninsula on the west coast of the Persian Gulf, capital, Doha (5)

3 Plant of the mallow family cultivated for its edible seed pods, Abelmoschus esculentus (4)

4 Soviet secret police of 1917–22, succeeded by the GPU (5)

5 ‘Sooner State’ of the south central US; from Choctaw, ‘red people’ (8)

6 Austrian composer (1797– 1828) credited as the father of the modern German lied (5,8)

7 Silvery freshwater fish of the carp family with reddish ventral and tail fins; Rutilus rutilus (5)

8 Transparent variety of calcite with strong double refraction, used in making polarizing microscopes (7,4)

13 Region in Argolis in which Heracles slew a monstrous lion (5)

15 Populist prime minister of Italy who took office on 1 June 2018 (8,5)

16 Landlocked country of East Africa ruled by the dictator Idi Amin from 1971 to

1979 (6)

18 Small faint southern constellation near Columba and Eridanus; the Chisel (6)

20 Alternative medicine technique also known as G-JO and shiatsu (11)

23 City of NW Belgium at the confluence of the Lys and Scheldt rivers; capital of East Flanders province (5)

24 St ___ Italian monk who founded a monastery at Monte Cassino c. 540 AD; known as the father of Western monasticism (8)

26 Filtering of impurities from the blood by passing it through a semi-permeable

membrane (8)

30 Joe ___, English dramatist; Entertaining Mr

Sloane (1964), Loot (1965) etc. (5)

32 Department of NE France in the Hauts-de-france region; capital, Laon (5) 34 Small venomous Eurasian snake typically dark grey with a black zigzag pattern along the back; Vipera berus (5) 35 2004-10 US fantasy drama series starring Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly (4)