GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD

WIN A LUXURY CROSS PEN

PLAY our accumulator game! Every day this week, solve the crossword to find the letter in the pink circle. On Friday, we’ll provide instructions to submit your five-letter word for your chance to win a luxury Cross pen. UK residents aged 18+, excl NI. Terms apply. Entries cost 50p.

ACROSS

8 Debut solo studio album by The Killers’ lead singer Brandon Flowers, released in 2010 (8)

9 An article or service brought

in from abroad for sale (6)

10 Muscular or well-built (6)

11 Unable to distinguish differences in pitch in musical sounds (4-4)

12 A vehicle with a single wheel that is typically used by acrobats (8)

13 Country whose national

dish is falafel (6)

14 Norse god to whom the wolf and raven were dedicated (4)

16 Atticus, fictional lawyer in Harper Lee’s 1960 novel To Kill A Mockingbird (5)

17 The ____, area at the side of a racing track where drivers stop for fuel or repairs (4)

18 One who shoots from a hiding place with extreme accuracy and usually at long range (6) 20 Conversation that is characterised by quick, witty comments or replies (8)

23 Pen name of French author Marie-Henri Beyle noted for his 1839 novel The Charterhouse Of Parma (8) 24 Wooden frames for holding artists’ works when they are being painted or drawn (6) 25 A flag, especially a military or naval one indicating nationality (6)

26 The practice among those in power of favouring relatives or friends for appointments (8)

DOWN

1 Enid, children’s author who created The Secret Seven series of books (6)

2 Nationality of painter and sculptor Jasper Johns, born in 1930 (8)

3 Phrase meaning ‘working

well together’ (2,4)

4 Constituent nation of the UK whose rivers include the Bann and the Lagan (8,7)

5 Extremely awkward or complex when characterising a problem (8) 6 ____ plant, indoor one called Chlorophytum that is noted for its air purifying properties (6)

7 The ____, a nickname of U.S. heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali (8)

15 ____ College, independent school in Staffordshire that opened in 1873 (8)

16 Jack, English star of TV’s Poldark, who also played Prince Charles in the

2021 film Spencer (8)

17 2020 black comedy film by South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (8)

19 The official romanisation system for Mandarin Chinese (6)

21 Michael, the U.S. former swimmer born in 1985, who won 23 Olympic gold medals (6)

22 Billie, the U.S. singersongwriter who became the youngest solo headliner at Glastonbury in 2022 (6)

SOLUTION TOMORROW