Crossword

12.

13. ACROSS 11. British novelist, journalist and a team captain on the BBC Radio 4 quiz The Write Stuff whose books include Birdsong and On Green Dolphin Street (6) Once the fourth-largest lake in the world, a body of water with a surface area and volume that has shrunk by over two-thirds since disastrous irrigation projects in the 1960s (4,3) Astrological sign in the zodiac named after the constellation symbolised by the Twins (6) 14. A ____ in Provence; a 1989 autobiographical novel by Peter Mayle that was adapted into a television series starring John Thaw and Lindsay Duncan (4) The largest city of the US state of New Mexico, annual host of an international hot air balloon fiesta (11) 16. Design on either side of a coin or a medal; also a metal or wooden block with a raised character used in letterpress printing (4) Fastener with a helical thread; modern-day versions of which were devised and standardised by engineer Sir Joseph Whitworth in 1841 (5) 19. Town in Essex north of Chelmsford, birthplace of textile industrialist Samuel Courtauld (9) Poet and adviser to Henry VIII who introduced the sonnet into English (5) 25. First name of Matt Groening’s The Simpsons character voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright (4) 27. I Heard It Through the _________; 1966 Motown Records song that was popularised by Marvin Gaye (9) 29. Science-fiction novelist whose notable works include the Foundation series and I, Robot (6) ______ system; biological processes of the human body providing resistance to infection, toxins and disease (6) 32. Stage name of the entertainer born Priscilla Maria Veronica White whose popular TV series include Surprise, Surprise and Blind Date (5)

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31.