GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

crossword no. 854

ACROSS

1 (23ac) Flight of steps leading to Mccaigs Tower in Oban (6,6) 4 Meaningless nonsense, rubbish, baloney etc. (8)

9 Brilliant colourless or pale variety of zircon (6)

10 Brown warbler that builds a domed nest on the ground (8)

12 Young person who behaves in a wild or reckless manner (8)

13 Short open jacket not reaching the

waist (6)

15 An official language of Pakistan

also spoken in India (4)

16 (Hist.) Person who sold quack

medicines in public (10)

19 Where in Scotland to help rent

review (10)

20 (Scottish) Froth on top of ale (4)

23 See 1ac (6)

25 (26dn) A guelder rose with sterile globular white flowers (8,4)

27 Coal mine and associated buildings (8)

28 Someone offering something for sale (6)

29 Verse line consisting of three metrical feet (8)

30 Member of a S American Indian people of Bolivia and Peru (6)

DOWN

1 Japanese samurai system of fighting without weapons (2-5) 2 Aromatic plant of the parsley family used as a herb (9)

3 Site in India in 1984 of the world’s worst industrial accident (6)

5 Name of Matthew before he became an apostle of Jesus (4)

6 Extra cash earned for spending on non-essentials (3,5)

7 (Scottish) Praise, commendation or flattery (5)

8 Scottish name for a frog or toad (7) 11 An old medium-paced French dance (7)

14 Any place resembling hell, especially a conflagration (7)

17 Consort of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia executed in July 1918 (9)

18 Black mineral composed of iron, titanium and oxygen (8)

19 Dark brown weasel-like, foul-smelling animal (7) 21 Mosquito-borne fever endemic to tropical regions (7)

22 (Archaic) Maid assisting both cook and housemaid (6)

24 Host city of the 2010 Commonwealth Games (5)

26 See 25ac (4)