GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD

WIN A LUXURY CROSS PEN

SEE BELOW

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 Informal term for brains or a person’s ability to think (6,4,5)

8 2016 sci-fi film starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner (7)

9 A card game that resembles rummy, using two packs (7)

10 ____ Pauling, scientist who won Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Peace (5)

11 Album by The Beatles whose cover features the group on a zebra crossing (5,4)

12 Enduring pain and hardship without complaint (7)

14 A ship’s officer in charge of equipment and the crew (5)

15 Former term for a waitress in a Lyons teashop (5)

17 Chelsea, actress who played Gina Linetti in U.S. sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine (7)

19 A type of dietary fat that is typically solid at room temperature (9)

22 Steve, country, rock and folk singer-songwriter born in 1955 (5)

23 ____ illusion, an image that deceives the eye through visual trickery (7)

24 Spanish luxury ham made from the meat of a black pig (7)

25 The fastest form of shipping items (7,8)

DOWN

1 Lancashire righthanded batter who made his England Test debut in 2022 (4,11)

2 Cruel and oppressive rulers (7)

3 1970 romantic drama film starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal (4,5)

4 Roman emperor who succeeded Nero in AD 68 (5)

5 Walled town in North Wales noted for its castle (5)

6 ____ In Love, song by Level 42 that was released in 1986 (7)

7 Expression meaning ‘to insist on the observance of formalities’ (5,2,8)

9 A person whose job is mending shoes (7)

13 A building in the U.S. in which a state legislature meets (7)

14 Mangosuthu, South African politician and Zulu prince, who died in September (9)

16 Penelope ____, Wacky Races character (7)

18 The mother of King Arthur (7)

20 Daniel, actor who played Ben Brockman in Outnumbered (5)

21 2011 film starring Ryan Gosling as a getaway driver (5)

SOLUTION TOMORROW