GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Across

1. Official currency of China (8)

5. Fourth largest island in the world (10)

10. Birds once taken down mines to detect the presence of dangerous gases (8)

12. ___ Dread, 1974 album released by Bob Marley & The Wailers (5)

13. French city where Vincent Van Gogh was living when he cut off part of his left ear (5)

14. Longest of the Christian gospels (4)

15. Major Margaret ___, head nurse in M.A.S.H. (8)

16. Word which precedes ban, name and plates (5)

17. ___ & The Bunnymen, rock band formed in Liverpool, 1978 (4)

20. New Zealand actress and comdedian, co-director of the film The Breaker Upperers (4)

21. Scottish border clan whose main family branches are Cessford and Ferniehurst (4)

23. Cake baked in a tin of the same name (5)

27. Prime Minister of Australia 1983-1991 (5)

29. Insect represented by the god Ah-Muzen-Cab in Maya civilisation (3)

30. “Fear is a __ that binds until it strangles”: Jean Toomer (5)

31. Stimulant once used in CocaCola (7)

32. Secretion of some trees and shrubs which hardens on drying (3)

34. With between 20-48 parts, one of the most complicated articles of clothing to make (3)

35. Museum in Western Springs, Auckland (5)

36. British actor who played Barry in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (5)

38. Slang term for 31 Across (4)

39. Largest city in the South Pacific (4)

41. American author of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (4)

43. “___ better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”:

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (3)

45. Elderly gardener in three Beatrix Potter stories (8)

46. Pinocchio wanted to be this kind of boy (4)

47. Italian motorcyclist who has been world champion in 125cc, 250cc, 500cc and MotoGP (5)

49. Joint made up of the tibia, fibula and talus (5)

50. Coastal village in Northland, gateway to the Poor Knights Islands (8)

52. Balkan country whose name means Black Mountain (10)

53. 1960s children’s television series starring Captain Troy Tempest (8)

Down 1.

American actor who appeared in the mystery series McMillan & Wife (4,6)

2. Bird of the order Dinornithiformes whose only predator before the arrival of humans was the Haast eagle (3)

3. “___ a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend ... ( Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3) (7)

4. “In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are __”: Oscar Wilde (6)

5. The girlfriend of a gangster (4)

6. Actress who starred in the films Jumanji and Melancholia (5)

7. Head coach of the British & Irish Lions rugby team in 2013 and 2017 (7)

8. Youngest member of UK band One Direction (6)

9. Alcoholic beverage originating in China, with types including Ang Jiu, Brem and Giamju (4,4)

11. Capital city of Mauritania (10)

18. Politician who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 (9)

19. In music, a piece which must be performed without alteration or omission (9)

22. Actress who starred alongside 6 Down in the 2003 film Mona Lisa Smile (7)

24. Decisive battle of the English Civil War in 1645 (6)

25. Studio album released by Pink Floyd in November 1979 (3,4)

26. Wife of King Priam and mother of Hector and Paris (6)

28. Largest inland city of New South Wales (5,5)

33. Musical featuring the songs With a Little Bit of Luck and Get Me to the Church on Time (2,4,4)

35. Edible agaric with the varieties maitake, shaggy mane and black trumpet (8)

37. Russian poet who wrote The Bronze Horseman in 1883 (7)

38. French car manufacturer founded in 1909, now owned by Volkswagen (7)

40. “Thank God Almighty we are free _ __”: Martin Luther King Jr (2,4)

42. The ___, English rock band whose vocalist was Morrissey (6)

44. Norwegian composer who wrote the incidental music to Henrik Ibsen’s 1876 play Peer Gynt (5)

48. Participants in this sport throw salt in the air before competing (4)

51. Small barrel traditionally used to transport nails, gunpowder and various liquids (3)