(BILL) BRYSON: THE MOTHER TONGUE — The average English speaker confronted with agglomerations of letters like tchst, sthm, and tchph would ... conclude that they were ... unpronounceable. Yet we use them every day in the words matchstick, asthma, and catchphrase.
| A. | Source of revenue for an ecclesiastic | BENEFICE |
| B. | Faint star with a diameter about half that of the sun (2 wds.) | REDDWARF |
| C. | National Park since 1890 | YOSEMITE |
| D. | Hippocrates or Galen, e.g. | SURGEON |
| E. | Mob rule | OCHLOCRACY |
| F. | Lucubratory sort (2 wds.) | NIGHTOWL |
| G. | "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a ___ child!" ("King Lear") | THANKLESS |
| H. | Daddy-longlegs | HARVESTMAN |
| I. | Unsuccessful; failing to make a donation (hyph.) | EMPTYHANDED |
| J. | Bottle holding six liters of champagne | METHUSELAH |
| K. | Eye-related | OPHTHALMIC |
| L. | Ugly customer, goon | THUG |
| M. | Admirable feat in cricket (2 wds.) | HATTRICK |
| N. | Shield bearing a coat of arms | ESCUTCHEON |
| O. | Engage in illegal business activities | RACKETEER |
| P. | Medium's medium, ostensibly | TELEPATHY |
| Q. | Bird whose eggs are incubated by males at night and females by day | OSTRICH |
| R. | Vending place for mass-market publications | NEWSSTAND |
| S. | Lively peasant dance introduced in the court of Louis XIV | GAVOTTE |
| T. | Moody; perpendicular (hyph.) | UPANDDOWN |
| U. | Blues singer known for her treatment of "Stormy Weather" (2 wds.) | ETHELWATERS |