A Cryptic UK Mixture Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cardiff

The word 'initially' indicates that you need to take the first letters of the words which follow to obtain the answer. The first letters of 'Charles assumed Richard drove in from France' spell out Cardiff.

The city of Cardiff is located in the southern part of Wales and is the capital of the country. The Welsh Parliament, known as the Senedd Cymru, is located there in a purpose built building adjoining Cardiff Bay.

Answer: Cowslip

A female bovine is a cow, and losing balance provides the slip part to give the name of this member of the primrose family.

Cowslips have longer stems than primroses and a cluster of small flowers, but their leaves are very similar to those of the primrose. The cowslip is the flower chosen to represent three English counties - Surrey, Northamptonshire and Worcestershire.

Answer: Hastings

Rushing = haste and pains = stings to create Hastings, possibly the most famous battle fought on British soil.

The Battle of Hastings saw the downfall of the Anglo-Saxons when King Harold II was killed by William of Normandy, or William the Conqueror as he became known. The Norman dynasty did not last long, though.

Answer: Hawking

The words in capital letters needed to be anagrammed, with the word 'confused' providing the clue to what was required. Hankwig can be rearranged to form the name Hawking.

The late Stephen Hawking was one of the best known scientists of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Despite being physically disabled by motor neuron disease which left him reliant on a wheelchair and a speech synthesiser, Hawking was able to continue working in his specialist areas of physics and cosmology. He died in 2018 at the age of seventy-six.

Answer: Badger

The cryptic question here referred to the word badger having two meanings - one meaning the animal and the other meaning to pester or harass someone.

The European badger, Meles meles, is native to the UK and most other parts of Europe, even extending its range into Asia. It is a nocturnal animal, feeding on insects, worms and carrion as well as plants, which lives underground in burrows known as setts.

Answer: Thatcher

'people THAT CHERished principles' hides the surname of the UK's first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

The clue also referred to her famous speech of 1980 at the Conservative Party Conference which included the lines 'You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning'. The first part was a play on words, reminding her listeners that a U-turn in policy was not something she was prepared to do, while the lady's not for turning was borrowed from the title of a Christopher Fry play 'The Lady's Not for Burning'. It helped to cement Thatcher's reputation as the 'Iron Lady' of British politics.

Answer: Freddie Mercury

The capital letters indicated an anagram which, when unscrambled, gives the name of the band Queen's singer, Freddie Mercury.

Born in Zanzibar, now Tanzania, in 1946 as Farrokh Bulsara, Freddie arrived in England in 1964 with his family. With Brian May and Roger Taylor, he formed the band Smile in 1970 before John Deacon joined them a year later and the band was renamed to Queen. Freddie died in 1991 from complications of AIDS.

Answer: Lancelot

'a quick gLANCE LOTharios can' hides the name Lancelot, who seduced the wife of King Arthur in myth.

Although there is little proof that he ever existed, and the stories have been much embellished over time, the legend of King Arthur, his knights and the round table are firmly fixed in English lore. Lancelot was one of Arthur's knights, who fell in love with Guinevere, the king's wife. He was also the father of Galahad, usually described as the perfect knight.

Answer: Blackpool

'Dark' in the clue refers to 'Black' and a 'place to swim' is a pool, giving the name of Lancashire's famous resort of Blackpool.

Blackpool is one of the UK's best known seaside towns, beginning with the health giving 'taking the waters' phase in the eighteenth century and expanding with the arrival of the railway in the nineteenth century. With its promenade, tower and arcades of amusements, Blackpool has remained a popular destination for holidaymakers into the twenty-first century.

Answer: London

The first word of the clue, 'finally', indicated that you needed to use the last letters of the listed capitals to spell out LONDON, the capital of the United Kingdom.

London may well have existed since the Bronze Age. During the Roman occupation, from 43 AD until 410 AD, it was known as Londinium. Its location in south east England on the river Thames provides easy access to mainland Europe then and now.