CROSSWORD OF THE YEAR
ACROSS
1 Film for which Anthony Hopkins won the Best Actor Oscar in 2021 (3,6) 6 Frances, Best Actress Oscar winner for Nomadland in 2021 (9)
11 Michael, author of
Sticky McStickstick:
The Friend Who Helped Me Walk Again (5)
14 Rami, played Bond villain Lyutsifer Safin in No Time To Die (5)
15 Brazil right-back who resigned for Barcelona for 2022 after spells at Juventus, PSG and
São Paulo (4,5)
16 Largest city in
Gujarat, India (9)
17 Lauren, presenter of BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs since 2018 (7)
18 and 56 Co-presenter of Channel 4 series The Great British Bake Off with Noel Fielding (4,5)
19 City on the Arno in
Tuscany, Italy (4)
20 Cat, singer who released a new version of his 1971 song Peace Train on September 21 for the International Day of Peace (7)
22 International humanitarian movement co-founded by Henry Dunant, joint winner of the inaugural Nobel Peace Prize (3,5) 24 American rapper whose debut studio album, Montero, was released in September (3,3,1)
26 Jonny, Yorkshire and England opener; 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World
Cup semi-finalist against New Zealand (8)
31 Tree nymph or spirit in
Greek mythology (5)
32 Distance to which a boxer can stretch out their hand (5)
33 and 46 Down Actress who reprised her role as Janine Melnitz in 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife (5,5)
34 Chemical element with
the symbol U (7)
36 Vegetable also known as blaukraut after preparation (3,7)
Mollie, Nina Lucas in Coronation Street; Serial Drama Performance winner at the 2021 National Television Awards (9) 39 Gemma, actress who played Sersi in 2021 action film Eternals (4) 42 Italian DJ whose Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) was a 2000 UK No 1 single (7)
43 Chemical element with
the symbol Ne (4)
44 Founder and first queen of the city of Carthage (4)
45 and 79 Presenter of
ITV game show
The Cube (7,9)
48 Sodium chloride (4)
49 Single-seat British fighter planes of the Second World War (9)
50 Former Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland and Cardiff City football manager who died in September (3,7)
US rock group whose album Nevermind was released in a
30th anniversary edition in 2021 (7)
54 See 41 Down
55 Singer whose album 30 was released in November (5)
56 See 18
58 2020 Olympics men’s BMX racing silver medallist; 2022 competitor on ITV series Dancing On Ice (3,5)
60 Daniel, Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner in 2021 for Judas And The Black Messiah (7)
61 Conduct
investigations into (8) 66 Feels intense sorrow (7) 68 Killer whale (4)
70 See 3 Down
71 2021 Channel 4 series starring singer Olly Alexander (A) (3,1,3)
74 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Final winners against New Zealand (9) Former name of African country Ethiopia (9) Sébastien, 2021 World 38 53 75 76
Rally Championship winner (5)
77 Marianela, principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, London who appeared in Giselle in November (5)
78 Container ship that ran aground in the Suez Canal in 2021 (4,5)
79 See 45
DOWN
1 Acrobat who performs
somersaults (7)
2 Stage name of Nick Collier; RuPaul’s Drag Race UK finalist (4,5)
3 and 70 Across
Clarinettist whose Stranger On The Shore was the first Billboard Hot 100 No 1 in the US by a British artist (5,4)
4 Vanessa, actress who plays Karessa in 2021 film Tick, Tick...Boom! (7)
5 New York hip hop group whose founder members include the late Jam Master Jay (3-3) 6 Capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in The Netherlands (10)
7 Rapper whose We’re
All Alone In This Together was a 2021 UK No 1 album (4)
8 and 48 Chancellor of the Exchequer since 2020 (5,5)
9 2021 Epsom Derby winner ridden by
Adam Kirby (6)
10 Alexandre, author of The Count Of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers (5)
11 2021 BBC TV drama series starring Agnes O’Casey as Vivien Epstein (6,4)
12 Citizen (7)
13 Naked human
figures (5)
21 Bob Mortimer autobiography published in
September (3,4)
23 Deciduous tree from
North America whose binomial name is
Acer rubrum (3,5)
25 See 57
27 2018 film starring Emily Blunt (B) and Millicent Simmonds whose sequel was released in the UK in June (1,5,5) 28 2021 Doja Cat single from the album Planet Her (5)
29 The -----------, BBC
Two comedy show hosted by Romesh Ranganathan (11)
30 Mexican F1 driver;
2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix winner (6,5)
31 Indoor game associated with
Fallon Sherrock (5)
32 Singer who released the album Raise The Roof with Alison Krauss in November (6,5)
35 Irish rock band featuring Bono’s son Elijah Hewson whose album It Won’t Always Be Like This was a UK No 1 in July (7)
37 Gottlieb, German engineer, industrialist and automobile pioneer who died in 1900 (7)
40 Collin, 2021 winner of The Open Championship golf tournament (8)
41 and 54 Across
FLOTUS from 2009-17 (8,5)
46 See 33 Across 47 European country governed by Alexander Lukashenko (7)
48 See 8
51 Germany midfielder; Chelsea goalscorer in the 2021 UEFA Champions League Final (3,7)
52 Snooker player;
2021 British Open runner-up (4,6)
57 and 25 Canadian footballer and all-time leading international goalscorer; Olympic gold medallist in
Tokyo (9,8)
59 Christian, Denmark midfielder who suffered a cardiac arrest against
Finland in their opening UEFA
Euro 2020 match (7) 62 Inscription on
a grave (7)
63 The -------, men’s and women’s 100-ball cricket tournament that debuted in
2021 (7)
64 ABBA studio album released in November (6)
65 American mammals related to weasels with black-and-white striped fur (6)
66 Smallest unit of weight in the troy and avoirdupois systems, equal to approximately 0.0648 gram (5)
67 Find the
answer to (5)
69 Daniel, James Bond in the 2021 film No Time To Die (5)
72 Parody (5)
73 Capital of Ukraine,
also known as Kiev (4)