GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
Across
1. Rodgers and Hammerstein musical which includes the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (8)
5. Business whose symbol is three spheres suspended from a bar (10)
10. Acer rubrum, one of the most common and widespread trees of eastern and central USA (3,5)
12. Helmet worn by Roman soldiers from 4th century BC to 4th century AD (5)
13. In the US, a narrow, steep gorge with stream running through it (5)
14. Item given on New Year’s Day in Scotland in First Footing (4)
15. Thunnus alalunga, fish also known as longfin tuna (8)
16. Wealthy Jew who is Shylock’s friend in The Merchant of Venice (5)
17. Large block of stone or wood (4)
20. Compass direction the Three Wise Men came from (4)
21. Term for one exceptionally skilled, also used derisively for one whose confidence exceeds ability (7)
24. Fourth largest African country, bordered by Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Chad and Niger (5)
27. In the US, a large truck attached to a trailer (3)
28. Bay of Plenty coastal town, a popular holiday destination (5)
30. Stew or noodle soup of Laos, usually made with beef or chicken, vegetables and herbs (3)
31. Japanese art form involving papercutting and positive and negative shapes (5)
32. Person used unwittingly to serve the purposes of another (7)
33. Maori name for Great Barrier Island; (5)
35. American band, 2008-14, lead singer Nate Reuss, whose 2011 song We Are Young reached No.1 in more than 20 countries (3)
36. Chinese martial art developed after 1949 (5)
37. “It is the fortunate who should __ fortune”: Torquato Tasso (5)
38. Oldest daughter of Barak and Michelle Obama, whose birthday is July 4 (5)
40. Gas which has a very low reactivity with other substances (5)
41. “A mother’s __ are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them”: Victor Hugo (4)
43. Maori name for New Zealand’s native owl (4)
46. ___ ale: term for water, made popular by the temperance movement in the 1830s (5)
48. Soviet gymnast who won gold at 1976 and 1980 Olympics (5,3)
49. One of the five Normandy beaches used in the D Day landings in 1944 (4)
50. Actress who played Mona Lisa Vito in 1992 film My Cousin Vinny (5)
52. A Russian country house or second home (5)
53. Instrument which measures angles of up to ninety degrees (8)
55. Aureole and Dunfermline, animals once owned by Queen Elizabeth II (10)
56. Avenue in the title of a 1983 song by Eddy Grant (8)
Down
1. Mountain range across Central and Eastern Europe (10)
2. Electrical unit named after a German physicist and mathematician (3)
3. Japanese city which held the 1972 Winter Olympics (7)
4. Feudal lords entitled to allegiance and service (6)
5. Apostle who is believed to have not been at The Last Supper (4)
6. The only English county which is also an island (5)
7. Person employed in a hotel to run errands and move luggage (7)
8. Multinational computer technology corporation cofounded by Larry Ellison in 1977 (6)
9. Type of Swiss cheese commonly used for melting (8)
11. Young women who were presented at court until the Queen abolished the ceremony in 1958 (10)
18. The distance that light travels in a vacuum in 365 days, approximately 9.46 trillion km (5,4)
19. World’s longest-running children’s television show, which debuted on the BBC in 1958 (4,5)
22. Chemical element, atomic number 72, used in filaments (7)
23. ___ States: sheikhdom group in the Persian Gulf under British protection 1820-1971, when six of them formed the UAE (7)
25. Insect whose larvae is often used as fishing bait (7)
26. Mountain range which runs north from Cape Palliser, much of it part of a forest park (7)
29. 1995 medical film about the outbreak of a deadly virus, first in Africa and then the US, starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman (8)
34. “The hardest __ to master is that which enables us to count our blessings”: Eric Hoffer (10)
36. Four-wheel drive vehicle by Jeep since 1986 (8)
39. Capital of Corsica (7)
42. Cut of meat consisting of part of the backbone and both loins (6)
44. “Just remember that you are absolutely __. Just like everyone else”: anthropologist Margaret Mead (6)
45. “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as you __”: Mark Twain (6)
47. Financial speculators who buy and sell stocks to make quick profits (5)
51. Roman god of death, equivalent to the Greek Thanatos (4)
54. First sign of the Chinese zodiac (3)