GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Across 10.

Daughter of Herodias, instrumental in the execution of John the Baptist (6)

11. “To ___ is to change; to be perfect is to change often”: Winston Churchill (7)

12. One of track cycling’s most prestigious records, held by Belgian Victor Campanaerts at 55.089 km (4)

13. A story told in order to gain someone’s sympathy (4,4)

14. ____ Street Preachers, Welsh rock band formed in 1986 (5)

15. Greek word meaning far, or far off, used as the prefix to many modern words (4)

16. Layer of cartilage and pulp between vertebrae (4)

17. Roman general, and architect, who is a character in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra (7)

19. Annual herb also known as starflower (6)

20. Second oldest of the brothers in The Jackson Five (8)

22. Name of the lion mascot associated with British and Irish Lions rugby team (5)

23. Dynasty which ruled China from 960 to 1279 (4)

25. Horizontal piece of wood or stone forming the bottom of a window-opening (4)

26. Woodcutter character in One

Thousand and One Nights (3,4)

28. First name of American actresses Hamilton, Gray and Evans (5)

31. Paper-thin sheets of pastry (4)

33. A musical recording that has been altered from its original state by adding new material (5)

35. Best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland (8)

37. Edible marine gastropod mollusc of the genus Littorina (6)

38. Italian vermouth which dates back to 1757 (7)

39. Song released by Fleetwood Mac in 1979 (4)

40. Protein found in milk (4)

41. Species of sea duck which lives around the coasts of Europe and North America (5)

43. Oxfordshire-based team which has been in Formula 1 since 1977, winning the constructors’ championship nine times (8)

44. English equivalent of the Latin ‘nova’, as in Nova Scotia (3)

45. First name of Lady Greystoke, major character in a 1912-1939 series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs (4)

46. Second highest rank in the Royal Navy (7)

47. African beer brand first produced in 1922 (6)

Down

1. Lotion, a mixture of zinc oxide and ferric oxide, used to treat mild itchiness (8)

2. Designation of the peoples or culture of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (6)

3. Castle on the island of Anglesey, built as part of Edward I’s plan to conquer north Wales (9)

4. Fictional character created by Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie in 1904 (6,4)

5. Foodstuff which was central in a famous Monty Python sketch (4)

6. Type of pen which can be refilled with ink (8)

7. American band, founded 1961, which had 36 songs in the US Top 40 between 1962 and 1988 (5,4)

8. Cocktail consisting of vodka, coffee liqueur and cream (5,7)

9. In golf, a chance to re-take a bad shot (8)

18. Style of hat often worn by Jacqueline Kennedy (7)

20. Franz ___, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia from 1848 until 1916 (5)

21. Largest town in Buckinghamshire (6,6)

24. Colloquial term for a police informant (5)

27. Fictional fairy tale character who dates back hundreds of

years (3,3,4)

29. North American term for a roofed, open passage connecting two buildings, such as a house and garage (9)

30. Tuscan bread and bean soup (9)

32. The ____, 2019 crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert de Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci (8)

34. Type of road construction pioneered by a Scottish engineer (7)

36. UK term for the powered garden tool also known as a weedeater (8)

39. French name for Switzerland (6)

42. Acronym for ships designed to carry wheeled cargo such as cars, trucks and buses (2-2)

than an induction cooker.

As an electrician I can point out that induction cooktops have significantly larger power drain than a standard electrical cooktop. Add that to the power required to charge an electric vehicle (at a level above a trickle charge) and most houses, and in fact the main supply to the street, won’t be sufficient to cope with the increased demand. Dave Berry, Palmerston North

Face masks work

Dr Ian Miller (Letters, September 12) suggests a simple strategy for testing mask efficacy, but the conclusions he draws are full of holes.

It is true that smoke particles and respiratory viruses are of similar size. However the latter never travel alone as they are always transmitted through the air in droplets or aerosols which, unlike smoke molecules, are too big to sneak through face masks.

It only took me a couple of minutes to find an excellent article (Nature Medicine, April 2020) which, based on thorough scientific research, provides evidence that face masks do work.

Maree Roy, Dunedin