BIG MONDAY CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 British commissioned army officer below the rank of captain, typically a lieutenant of any grade (9)

5 Stage name of US jazz and pop singer Norma Deloris Egstrom (1920-2002) (5,3)

9 Northernmost province of South Africa, known as the Northern Province until 2002 (7)

10 Series of still-life paintings (French, Tournesols) produced by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh between 1888 and 1889 (10)

11 Pasta in the form of large pointed tubes usually stuffed and baked; Italian, ‘little sleeves’ (9)

12 Gambling game in which a 7 or 11 rolled by two dice wins, and a 2, 3 or 12 loses (5)

13 Largest freshwater lake in Japan, on west central Honshu Island north-east of Kyoto (4)

15 First name of L. Frank Baum, US author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and its sequels (5)

17 Longest and largest river of Norway, flowing 621 km (386 mi) from Røros to Fredrikstad (6)

19 South African city in KwaZulu-Natal subjected to a four-month siege by Boer forces during the Second Boer War (18991902) (9)

21 Strong espresso coffee made with finely ground beans and less water; Italian, ‘concentrated’ (9)

22 Bitter-tasting salad plant in the daisy family whose varieties include curly (or frisée) and Belgian (6)

23 Standard monetary unit of Ecuador replaced by the US dollar in 2000 (5)

27 See 5 Down

28 Hybrid offspring of a male horse and female donkey or ass, usually sterile (5)

29 Co-recipient of the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Sir Henry Dale) ‘for their discoveries relating to chemical transmission of nerve impulses’ (4,5)

33 US inventor who patented the first practical single-barrelled revolver in England in 1835 (6,4)

34 Shapeshifting dwarf of Norse myth whose cursed gold ring is seized by Loki (7)

35 Elder brother of Ephraim in the Old Testament; son of Joseph and Asenath (Genesis 41:50-2) (8)

36 Sound produced by an object travelling faster than the speed of sound; in dry air, approximately 760 mph (5,4)

DOWN

1 Female protagonist of the 1966 stage musical Cabaret by John Kander and Fred Ebb (5,6)

2 Rising current of air that imparts an upward jolt to an aircraft (4)

3 Place name, or a word derived from one (tangerine, frankfurter etc.) (7)

4 Aged king of Pylos in Greek myth who participated in the Trojan War, noted for his wise counsel (6)

5 & 27 Across Most widely planted grape variety of France’s Champagne region (5,4)

6 & 14 Down Australia’s largest non-capital city by population, whose districts include Mermaid Beach (4,5)

7 Ninth and current president of Uganda, in office since 1986 (6,8)

8 Mother of King Minos by Zeus, according to Homeric literature (6)

11 Southernmost portion of mainland Asia, known in ancient times as Chersonesus Aurea (5,9)

14 See 6

16 Plant (Urtica dioica) in whose leaves Cornish Yarg cheese is wrapped (6)

17 ’I have nothing to declare except my ___’, quotation attributed to Oscar Wilde on reaching New York Custom House (6)

18 Attribution of animal form or nature to gods, or the use of animal figures in art (11)

20 Shipping forecast area bordering Rockall, Hebrides and Irish Sea (5)

24 Capital of the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India, formerly (until 1996) called Madras (7)

25 At parties in Latin America, a hanging container of sweets broken open by blindfolded people with sticks (6)

26 The Herdsman, in which Arcturus, the brightest star of the northern hemisphere, is located (6)

30 God of the moon and of wisdom in Egyptian mythology, usually depicted with the head of an ibis (5)

31 Founder of Troy in Greek myth, from whom the city’s Latin name is derived (4)

32 2022 science-fiction action series starring Pablo Schreiber and Shabana Azmi (4)