This is part 21 of A Trivial Pursuit, a 25-part puzzle hunt. Each part is solvable on its own, with the exception of the meta-puzzle at the end.
Excerpts from recent round-the-world itinerary:
- Flew to a city on the Mediterranean, the birthplace of Raging Bull’s Thelma Schoonmaker, a creative in the movie industry (4,6)
- On the hunt for an authentic Sachertorte in its city of origin, I frequented a traditional pastry shop (10)
- Came out to the Balkans to see this incredible illuminated manuscript, listed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register (8,8)
- Up at dawn to visit an exhibition in Falkenhagener Feld and learn the literal meaning of ‘Bandenbekämpfung’ (6-8)
- Saw a beautiful sculpture of the local goddess of love (9)
- On a tour of the city’s hundreds of islands and canals, I admired their glassware, in which white threads are embedded in transparent glass to give a lace-like effect (5-2-5)
- Now in the Antipodes, I attended meetings with various politicians, including a recent Leader of the National Party (6,7)
- Larked about with Henrik, a striker who was top scorer in the 2020 1. divisjon season (5)
- Yet to visit the country’s two most renowned holy cities, but have frequented many local mosques, where I was exposed to the sayings and customs of the Prophet Muhammad (6)
- Largely talked sport with the cricket-mad locals, particularly the international tournament, most recently held in 2018 and won by Bangladesh (7,6)
- I wandered around the oldest University in the English-speaking world and the 2012 host city of the first IQA World Cup in a sport now commonly known as quadball (9)
…ending with a tour of several of the United States:
- Nearly missed the beginning of the annual long-distance sled race run in early March (8)
- Encouraged by the Sam Mendes movie, fruitlessly searched the third most populous city in the US for the road to this damned state (9)
- Explored the hometown of Jericho Brown, winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (3,9)
- Nipped over to a port city on the Pacific, the setting of a Keanu Reeves film (2,3,7,5)
- Dropped in on the home of the Cowboys and reminisced about the player who caught the final touchdown in the coldest Super Bowl ever played (5)
- Stopped in at Calvary Cemetery to pay my respects to a meat-packing industrialist who gave his name to two cities in different states (6)
The final answer is a 6-letter word with a connection to the Middle Ages.