GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD

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

1 English county cricket

side that was captained by W.G. Grace (15) 8 George, the former Conservative MP for Tatton, who was editor of the Evening Standard from 2017-20 (7)

9 Philosopher Confucius

had this nationality (7)

10 The criminal act of

deliberately setting fire to property (5)

11 Gaetano, Italian composer born in 1797, noted for his opera Lucia Di Lammermoor (9)

12 A large golden-brown bat with slender wings, rounded ears and a short muzzle (7) 14 Dragon of Middle-earth in

Tolkien’s The Hobbit (5)

15 A body of people who are summoned by a U.S. sheriff to enforce the law (5)

17 A channel for conveying

water or other fluid (7)

19 An instrument used by meteorologists to measure the amount of precipitation (4,5)

22 A greenish-bronze deepbodied freshwater fish native to Europe (5)

23 To charge the holder

of a public office with misconduct (7)

24 Lead singer of The Wombles,

noted for being lazy and greedy (7)

25 Song originally recorded by Robert Knight in 1967, covered several times in the UK charts (11,4)

DOWN

1 Italian professional dancer whose first partner on Strictly was actress Georgia May Foote (8,7)

2 Roy, U.S. singer-songwriter born in 1936, who was nicknamed The Big O (7)

3 A factual account of important or historical events in order of their occurrence (9)

4 John, fictional spy in

The Avengers, played by Patrick Macnee (5)

5 Mark, U.S. ex-swimmer who won nine Olympic gold medals (5)

6 ‘State of rest’ described in Newton’s first law of motion (7)

7 A tall plant with pale yellow flowers that open in the later part of the day (7,8)

9 A restaurant provided by a company or college for its staff or students (7)

13 Lacking good manners

or grace (7)

14 ____ block, an obstacle or

cause of perplexity (9)

16 In drawing and painting, to mark a surface with many small dots (7)

18 Giovanni Battista, artist born in 1696, who painted in the Rococo style (7)

20 Holy ____, the cup that Jesus and his disciples drank from at the Last Supper (5)

21 Red heart and grinning face are two examples of this small digital image (5)