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

5 Robert, actor who played the male lead in TV series Hart To Hart (6)

7 Photographs or film images taken from a short distance from the subject (5-3)

9 A cessation of work by employees in protest at terms set by their employers (8)

10 Michael, Conservative politician who led the party at the 2005 general election (6)

11 A rope-based rescue device to remove people from wrecked vessels at sea (8,4)

13 To make fun of or parody (4,2)

15 TV sitcom starring Ricky Gervais as Andy Millman (6)

18 The highest judicial body in the U.S., founded in 1789 (7,5)

21 London suburb

12 miles northwest of Charing Cross; birthplace in 1947 of Elton John (6)

22 A small hotel or boarding house in Italy (8)

23 Vaudeville and blues singer given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Grammys (2,6)

24 Suit in a pack of cards whose symbol is the head of a medieval weapon, the pike (6)

DOWN

1 A thistle-like flowering plant

found on grasslands (8)

2 An infringement of an agreement, code of conduct or law (6)

3 An environment that encourages rapid growth or development, often in an intense way (8)

4 ____ Park, stadium that is home of baseball team the Boston Red Sox (6)

6 A person legally appointed to act for another (8)

7 John, comedian who announced in 2023 a planned reboot of Fawlty Towers (6)

8 A minute opening in the skin of an organism (4)

12 Josie, actress and comedian who played Manda Best in EastEnders (8)

14 ____ over the cracks, expression meaning ‘hiding problems’ (8)

16 Typical of a climate that is frost-free with high temperatures for year-round plant growth (8)

17 Madly ____: The Alan Rickman Diaries, published posthumously in 2022 (6)

18 A dish of ice cream with added ingredients such as fruit, nuts and syrup (6)

19 ____ Borgnine, U.S. actor born in 1917, noted for his gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin (6)

20 ____ Las Vegas, 1964 film starring Elvis Presley (4)