Quiz Crossword
1 Speedometer, in short (6) 2 Acquire (4) 3 African country (7) 4 Lid (5) 5 Tavern (3) 6 Nuisances (5) 7 Wringer (6) 10 Curving outwards (6) 12 Narrow fissure or crack (7) 14 High-kicking dance (6) 15 Male duck (5) 16 Rot (5) 17 Delivery vehicles (4) 19 Foot part (3) Down: - 1 Minutely. 2 Rapidity. 3 Unwell. 4 Edible. 5 Seesaw. 6 Gong. 11 Disguise. 12 Tendency. 15 Sold on. 16 Cognac. 17 Urgent. 20 Over.
- 1 Tropical. 6 Sole. 10 Ammeter. 11 Trudges. 12 Sing. 13 Quesadilla. 15 Diagonal. 16 Grasps. 19 Assert. 20 Obscured. 23 Extricated. 25 Spam. 27 Captain. 28 Atheist. 29 Adze. 30 Prestige. Down: - 2 Romanians. 3 Pate. 4 Carousal. 5 Latest. 6 Soundtrack. 7 Legal. 8 Lapsed. 9 Essays. 14 Coordinate. 17 Strapping. 18 Abnegate. 19 Apercu. 21 Demote. 22 Catnap. 24 Tepid. 26 Shot. 1 See 21 3 Karl, 19th Century German publisher of a series of guidebooks (8) 8 The … Mountains are a range in Germany between the Elbe and the Leine Rivers (4) 9 The … membrane is colloquially known as the eardum (8) 11 Sandra Goldbacher film featuring Anna Friel and Michelle Williams (2,7,3) 13 Capital of Turkey (6) 14 and 19 Down Author of the plays Saved and The Sea (6,4) 17 Steven Soderbergh film featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones as Isabel Lahiri (6,6) 20 Dark glassy volcanic rock also called Iceland agate (8) 21 and 1 Across British artist whose works include the 1929 oil Northern Adventure (4,4) 22 US Secretary of State 1961-69 (4,4) 23 Mary Baker, founder of the Christian Science movement (4) 1 Book of the Bible named after a cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes (8) 2 State of Malaysia in Borneo on the South China Sea (7) 4 Ancient town of Asia Minor famed for the story of Hero and Leander (6) 5 1960s television cartoon series whose characters included Ty Coon and Vincent Van Gopher (6,4) 6 Japanese art of fencing with bamboo staves (5) 7 See 18 10 Family central to the novel Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (10) 12 Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar winner for Sweet Bird of Youth (2,6) 15 Gladys, missionary portrayed by Ingrid Bergman in the film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (7) 16 Jeremy, Director General of the Royal Opera House in London from 1988-96 (6) 18 and 7 Republic in Central America whose capital is San José (5,4) 19 See 14 Across Across: - 1 Spitsbergen. 9 Ostrava. 10 Dogma. 11 Conga. 12 Morceli. 13 Labuan. 15 Strong. 18 Andorra. 20 Egret. 22 Horae. 23 Scallop. 24 Skeleton Key.
THE SWASHBUCKLING TV series, The Musketeers, is back for a new season – and it comes with a new villain, too. Marc Warren, renowned for playing badass characters – fans will remember him well as Kalinda Sharma’s estranged husband in The Good Wife – has been cast as Comte De Rochefort.
The 48-year-old British actor has enjoyed an illustrious career in both TV and film.
Funnily enough, Warren had been eyeing a role in the TV series, which he has been watching closely; more so with good friend Tom Burke, who plays Athos, in it. And it seemed fate was on his side.
He recalls: “I took seven months off last year and I was in Prague, anyway. So I met up with Tom Burke a couple of times because he’s a friend of mine. I knew that he was doing The Musketeers and he said that there was probably going to be a baddie part coming up; the main villain for series two. So I expressed an interest in doing that, and I had seen the show and liked the look of it. It was more a direction I wanted to go in career-wise, plus I really love Prague so it was a no-brainer, really.”
Set in 1630 Paris, the story centres on Athos, Aramis (Santiago Cabrera) and Porthos (Howard Charles) – along with sidekick D’Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino), who fight to protect king and country. And the enemies are often closer to home.
Shedding light on his character and the mayhem he looks to unleash, Warren says: “I play the villain of the piece. He got put in a Spanish prison and the king of France didn’t pay his ransom, so he got tortured. This obviously affected him and he’s dangerous. Rochefort comes over to France and tries to worm his way into court, and works his way into being King Louis’s right-hand man. Also, alongside that, he is trying to get close to the queen, whom he used to know when they were younger. Basically, he’s just horrible; he has no redeeming features at all apart from his love of the queen!”
Of course, inhabiting such dastardly characters is second nature to an actor as seasoned as Warren.
He adds: “It’s always good playing a baddie. They’re easy to play and, also, if you get a bit annoyed at other things during the day, you can just use it during your performance. In other words, if you’re tired and angry you can channel it into the character.”
Aside from enjoying the shoot in Prague, he loved bonding with his co-stars.
Warren reveals: “I think this is one of the quickest jobs I’ve ever done. It’s very beautiful in Prague and I’ve been coming here for 19 years and worked here about five times. So it’s like a home away from home, really. I think the boys are fantastic.
“I’m a big fan of them and I’ve certainly bonded with them on set. They’re great boys and I’ve had a lovely time with them, they made me laugh a lot. And they are such incredible looking lads as well – you don’t want to sit next to them in makeup or when you put them in their leathers and on their horses.”
As for the scenes that took a lot more out of him than he expected, he says: “There is one, much later in the series, where Rochefort puts the queen under threat. It was one of the hardest scenes to film physically and was quite challenging. It was a tough day, that.”
The veteran actor continues: “I think audiences are certainly in for a visual treat. It looks fantastic and there’s plenty of love interests in this series as well as more of the same great fighting and horse-riding.” 1 Ordinary sailor (8) 2 Pointer (5) 3 Game played with rackets and a shuttlecock (9) 4 Tree resin used in liniment (7) 6 Table for religious sacrifices (5) 7 Pirate (9) 8 Followed orders (6) 9 Starting point (6) 15 Strangely distorted or bizarre (9) 17 Unfairness (9) 18 Shortest (8) 20 Skilful; dexterous (6) 21 Creche (7) 23 Once again, in a new way (6) 25 Former Democratic Republic of Congo (5) 27 Theatrical entertainment (5) Down: - 2 Uniformly. 3 Lake. 4 Ceremony. 5 Niggle. 6 Horizontal. 7 Salon. 8 Static. 9 Caddie. 14 Monogamous. 17 Quotidian. 18 Paroxysm. 19 Apathy. 21 Dinghy. 22 Stench. 24 Throw. 26 Idol. Down: - 2 Putin. 3 Tuatara. 4 Brahms. 5 Radar. 6 El Greco. 7 Joe Calzaghe. 8 Taking Steps. 14 Bo Derek. 16 Tremain. 17 Basset. 19 Ruehl. 21 Rilke.
The Musketeers 2 airs on BBC First (DStv channel 119) on Saturday at 6pm.