GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD

WIN A LUXURY CROSS PEN

ACROSS

1 A small plain-coloured European songbird (6,7) 8 English singer/songwriter whose albums include No Angel and Life For Rent (4) 9 An institution of higher learning with the power to grant degrees (10) 10 Within easy reach (2,4) 11 The ____ , 2019 epic crime film starring Robert De Niro as truck driver and hitman Frank Sheeran (8) 12 William, British economist and Liberal politician, author of a 1942 government report on social poverty (9) 14 An aromatic spice ground from the covering of the seed of the nutmeg tree (4) 15 A collapse or failure (4) 16 A means of luring or tricking a foolish person into difficulty or error (5,4) 20 A dismissal in cricket in which the wicketkeeper breaks the wicket with the batting player out of the crease (8) 21 To put in ciphered form (6) 23 Welsh snooker player who won six World Championships (3,7) 24 A mass or stone or woodwork projecting into the sea (4) 25 Members of the reformed Protestant church governed by elders (13)

DOWN

1 ____ in the wind, to make a futile attempt to achieve the impossible (7) 2 ___ Lewis, 2006 winner of The X Factor whose first UK No 1 hit was A Moment Like This (5) 3 Strict Roman Catholic organisation founded by Spanish priest Josemaría Escrivá in 1928 (4,3) 4 Play by Irish dramatist Samuel Beckett featuring the characters Vladimir and Estragon (7,3,5) 5 To prepare again for publication (2-4) 6 Become discouraged or demoralised (4,5) 7 A continual round of hectic and futile activity as a feature of urban working life (3,4) 13 Online buying and selling of goods and services (1-8) 15 A residential course with an emphasis on weight reduction (3,4) 17 ____ Pass, Alpine mountain pass which forms the border between Austria and Italy (7) 18 Julie, English actress who voiced Queen Lillian in the Shrek film series (7) 19 A short term for baking powder or an antacid digestive remedy (6) 22 Frank, Italian-born U.S. film director whose work includes the 1934 film It Happened One Night (5)