BIG MONDAY CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Closest known star to the sun, discovered by Scottish astronomer Robert Innes in 1915 (7,8)
10 Former British coin worth half a shilling, circulated until 1980 (8)
11 Volcanic peak of the central Andes (height approx. 21,560 feet) on the Argentina-Chile border (9)
12 Midwestern state of the US whose motto is ‘Crossroads of America’ (7)
13 Alpine province of western Austria between Vorarlberg to the west and Salzburg and Carinthia to the east (5)
15 Aquatic pinniped mammal that can be eared (family Otariidae) or earless (family Phocidae) (4)
16 and 18 Character played by Eddie Murphy in the Beverly Hills Cop film franchise (1984-present) (4,5)
17 Light plain-weave cotton fabric usually used for clothing, especially babies’ wear; Hindi, ‘delight to the eye’ (8)
18 See 16 20 Port city on the Red Sea coast of SW Yemen, historically a coffee-exporting centre (5)
22 In relativity, an occurrence located at a single point in space and instant of time (5)
25 System for locating and tracking underwater objects by emitting sound waves and analysing their reflections (5)
27 Order of the amino acids in a protein or of nucleotides in DNA etc. (8)
28 ‘That I should think to love a bright particular ___/And think to wed it’ (Shakespeare All’s Well That Ends Well (1603-4) (4)
30 Mary Baker ___, US religious leader who founded the Christian Science movement in the 19th century (4)
32 Secret police force of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany), founded in 1950 to replace Kommissariat 5 (K-5) (5)
33 Omission of sounds or letters from within a word, as in the common pronunciations of Wednesday, library etc. (7)
35 Largest of the domesticated cat breeds, commonly known as the ‘gentle giant’ (5,4)
36 Hot Indian curry based on a Portuguese dish of meat cooked in a garlic and vinegar marinade (8)
37 Final novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, uncompleted and published posthumously in 1896 (4,2,9)
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2 Oscar-winning star of the 1964 musical drama film My Fair Lady (3,8)
3 and 18 Alternative name for a will-o’-the-wisp; Latin, ‘foolish fire’ (5,6)
4 Nocturnal arboreal Madagascan primate related to the lemurs; Daubentonia madagascariensis (3-3)
5 In spiritualism, a substance of varying description thought to emanate from the body of a medium during trances (9)
6 Lean cut of beef taken from the round of a cow, in the area between the leg and the rump (7)
7 and 19 Italian composer of operas including 1892’s I Pagliacci (8,11)
8 Heaviest chemical element of the halogen group, produced artificially by bombarding bismuth with alpha particles (8)
9 Capital and largest city of Guinea, a port on the island of Tombo (7)
14 Joseph ___, British surgeon who introduced the use of antiseptics in 1865 (6)
15 Small reproductive cell able to develop into a new individual without sexual fusion, produced by seedless plants, algae, fungi and some protozoans (5)
18 See 3 19 See 7 21 First decisive battle of the Hundred Years’ War (1346), in which the English forces of Edward III defeated the French under Philip VI (5)
23 Small deciduous Mediterranean tree used as a source of turpentine; genus Pistacia, in the cashew family (Anacardiaceae) (9)
24 During World War II, a young man selected by lot to work in a coal mine instead of performing normal military service (5,3)
25 Former province of SW Japan, on Kyushu island, after which a loose-skinned citrus fruit is named (7)
26 Port city of SE Spain founded by the ancient Greeks as Akra Leuke (‘white peak’) and later known by the Romans as Lucentum (8)
29 Wavering effect in a musical tone produced by rapid repetition of the same note or of two notes at least a third apart (7)
31 Program that controls the operation of an external device such as a printer or scanner (6)
34 Sixth-largest of the islands of Hawaii, separated from Maui by the Auau Channel (5)