GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Across

1. British royal ceremony held in 1902, 1911, 1937 and 1953 (10)

6. Skiing not done on marked tracks (3,5)

11. In cricket, a fielder positioned a short distance on the off side of the batsman (5)

12. Film which won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress at the 2021 Academy Awards (9)

14. Former name of Myanmar (5)

15. “Death is the wish of some, the ___ of many, and the end of all”: Lucius Annaeus Seneca (6)

17. Surname of the last of Henry VIII’s six wives (4)

18. A Whole ___ ___, song from the 1992 Disney film Aladdin (3,5)

19. Region in southwestern France which was an English possession from 1154 to 1453 (9)

22. White wine produced in Italy, also a town of the same name (8)

26. Daughter of French peasants who was canonised in 1920 and is one of France’s nine secondary patron saints (4,2,3)

29. __ is the cruellest month: T.S. Eliot (5)

30. Social centre of a golf course, usually overlooking the first tee and 18th green (9)

31. Inhabitants of the largest U.S. state by area (8)

34. Week-long celebration of the end of final year exams for Australian high school students (9)

35. Coarse fabric made from silk waste fibre (8)

39. Units of electric current (4)

41. Letter Y in the NATO phonetic alphabet (6)

44. English stage and film actor who won two Oscars for the 1948 Hamlet, Best Actor and Producer (7)

46. Goddess of the dawn in Greek mythology (3)

47. Supports attached to the back of car seats (9)

48. Underground vaults for burying the dead (5)

49. The titular character in

Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (7)

50. Celebrity chef with a scientific approach to cooking (10)

Down

1. Stewart ___, American drummer of English band The Police (8)

2. Meteorological phenomenon caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets (7)

3. The ____ B.I.G.: American rapper and songwriter Christopher George Latore Wallace (9)

4. Founder of New Zealand retailer The Warehouse (7)

5. Town associated with Janet Frame and Richie McCaw, also the birthplace of All Blacks player and coach Fred Allen (6)

7. Sudden outburst of radiation from the sun (5)

8. Groups of whales or dolphins (4)

9. Long sleeveless garment worn by women in ancient Rome (5)

10. “____ is the name we give our mistakes”: Oscar Wilde (10)

13. Fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (5)

16. 1994-2004 TV show whose final episode was the most watched television episode this century (7)

20. Nocturnal marsupial of Australia and New Guinea (5)

21. Deep, narrow cone of solidified magma, well known as the primary source of diamonds (4)

23. Longer grass beside the fairway on a golf course (5)

24. Fruit-filled pastry cakes associated with a town in Lancashire (7)

25. “___ is the common sense of genius”: Victor Hugo (5)

26. Chinese double-edged straight sword (4)

27. Stiff bristle growing from an ear of barley, rye or grasses (3)

28. Figures featured in many winter scenes by Dutch artist Hendrick Avercamp (3,7)

32. Area of western Asia covering part of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria (9)

33. Retaliatory action (8)

36. North American marsupial mammals (7)

37. British motorcycle maker founded in 1902 (7)

38. Flowering plant whose dried heads were once used in the textile industry to raise the nap on woollen cloth (6)

40. Baked turnover associated with Cornwall (5)

42. “___, there lies more peril in their eyes than twenty of their swords”: Romeo and Juliet (5)

43. First name of science fiction author Vonnegut (4)

45. Chinese filmmaker who won the Best Director Academy Award for 12A (4)