GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Across 9.

Strong chest for holding valuables (6)

10. “I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes the ___ worthwhile”: George Bernard Shaw (7)

11. In music, a short, repeated phrase played repeatedly, often as background to a solo improvisation (4)

13. Harper Valley __: 1968 hit for country singer Jeannie C Riley (1,1,1)

14. World War I term for a high velocity shell, later used as a generic term for a firework (4-4)

15. Friendly Hawaiian hand gesture (5)

16. “You can kill a man, but you can’t kill an ___”: US civil rights activist Medgar Evers (4)

17. Pale-skinned (4)

18. Third-largest city on Cyprus, a Phoenician port 3000 years ago (7)

20. Flat stone for writing on (6)

21. Paradise ___: John Milton poem published in 1671 (8)

23. Warning of danger (5)

24. Type of fast internet connection on an analogue phone line, moving traffic quickly to the subscriber but with slower upload speed (1,1,1,1)

26. Round, rich cake which originated in Austria (5)

27. “I have been a stranger in a ___ land”: Moses (7)

29. Any entry on the left side of a ledger (5)

32. Sharp claw on the back of the foot or lower leg of a bird or animal, especially as a weapon (4)

34. Life-force in Hindu philosophy (5)

36. Dangerous ___, 1988 period drama film starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich (8)

38. English lyricist known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John (6)

39. Organisation founded in Spain in 1928 by Catholic priest and saint Josemaria Escriva (4,3)

40. One of the earliest cultivated crops, widely used in ancient medicines, also in food and textiles (4)

41. A stretch of high moorland in Britain (4)

42. Leader of the boys in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies (5)

44. Car doors that are hinged at the roof rather than the side (8)

45. French for yes (3)

46. Plug used to close a barrel (4)

47. Small and often hastily formed dugout used by a soldier (7)

48. Poet and author, badly wounded in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, who went on to write I, Claudius in 1934 (6)

Down

1. Town in northern England which became one of the world’s biggest cotton-spinning centres during the Industrial Revolution (8)

2. Pharmaceutical company founded by two cousins in New York in 1849 (6)

3. US term for a queue of people waiting to receive food (9)

4. Wind instrument associated with indigenous Australian music (10)

5. Charitable help given to the poor, especially as a religious duty (4)

6. Large vein which returns blood to the heart from the head, neck and upper limbs (4,4)

7. Artificial sweetener commonly used as a sugar substitute in food and beverages (9)

8. Leaders in a particular field (12)

12. Christchurch band whose hits include Venus (1998), Stand Up (2005) and One World (2006) (7)

19. Goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology (9)

21. Annual tax paid by land and property owners (5)

22. The study of humanity (12)

25. Egyptian or Indian water lily of various species of Nymphaea and Nelumbium with white or pink flowers (5)

28. A person, usually assumed to be female, who sees a relationship as a means of making money (4,6)

30. Spray blown up from the surface of the sea (9)

31. Branch of literature concerned with the lives and legends of saints (9)

33. Geographical term for a high area of flat ground, also popularly used as meaning ‘to cease making progress’ (7)

35. Unconsciousness resulting from a cerebral haemorrhage (8)

37. Candidates put forward for an award (8)

40. Seat, with canopy, used for riding on the back of an elephant (6)

43. British battleship which exploded and sank during the Battle of the Denmark Strait in 1941, with only three of 1418 crew surviving (4)