The Times Specialist - Crossword Answers | 2020 08 23

crossword answers
Clue Answer
Ancient region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers MESOPOTAMIA
Anne ____ played Valerie Barlow in Coronation Street and Jean in Dinnerladies REID
America’s Buckeye state OHIO
A ____ allows both conventional and microwave cooking COMBINATION OVEN
Netflix black comedy series written by and starring Ricky Gervais as widower Tony AFTER LIFE
One spelling of the name for a sterile male hybrid of a yak and a cow DZHO
____ revolutionised steel production in the 1850s Sir Henry Bessemer
The underworld or, euphemistically, part of the body NETHER REGIONS
European country with about half the area of the UK, but a similar length of coastline GREECE
Ancient Roman novel by Petronius Arbiter, about licentious adventures in southern Italy SATYRICON
In the US, an expert MAVEN
Apple Inc’s headquarters are in this Californian city cupertino
A Berkshire town; marshy ground; to shed skin SLOUGH
The birthplace of Beethoven BONN
An American duplex house contains two ____ APARTMENTS
Port at the mouth of the River Wear SUNDERLAND
Antiviral protein produced by infected cells INTERFERON
Former acronym now largely replaced by GUI (Graphical User Interface), from four of its important elements WIMP
Austria’s first female chancellor, appointed on an interim basis after the 2019 Ibiza-gate scandal Brigitte Bierlein
Colloquially, a tablet of the drug Ecstasy disco biscuit
This meal may be Cornish or Devonian CREAM TEA
Ford model whose name came to be synonymous with commercial failure EDSEL
“But ____, just to watch him die” (Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues) I SHOT A MAN IN RENO
Optical illusion created by the refraction of light MIRAGE
“Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the ____” (Ambrose Bierce) UNKNOWABLE
____ assassinated John F Kennedy LEE HARVEY OSWALD
Things to be believed, especially articles of faith CREDENDA
1973 single by Roxy Music; 1979 album by the Crusaders STREET LIFE
In 1963, Richie ____ became the first player to reach 200 wickets and 2,000 runs in Test cricket BENAUD
Posh Spice VICTORIA BECKHAM
South Wales town with a Ford engine plant and Sony’s UK Technology Centre BRIDGEND
A name for romantic affection which is seen as trite or clichéd LURVE
“Good company and good ____ are the very sinews of virtue” (Izaak Walton) DISCOURSE
Amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree centigrade CALORIE
Colloquially, a cold-stimulus headache induced by eating ice cream, for example BRAIN FREEZE
The first monarch of Russia to use the title of Tsar IVAN THE TERRIBLE
This may erupt without producing lava TOOTH
Arts-based documentary series aired since 1975, mainly on BBC Two ARENA
The owner of Chelsea FC Roman Abramovich
Babbitt was one of this US author’s best-known books SINCLAIR LEWIS
In Australia, a gathering of pickup trucks for display and competition UTE MUSTER
Nintendo console launched in 2001, discontinued in 2007 gamecube
French word for a (full-sized) cup TASSE
Exclamation, usually subdued, used to express annoyance GRRR
Skintight garment named after a French trapeze artist LEOTARD
Pertaining to the belief that natural objects have souls ANIMISTIC
Capital of the Limburg province of the Netherlands MAASTRICHT
Another name for London pride, or in North America, catchfly none-so-pretty