“POSSIBILITIES”
ACROSS
1 5 9 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 23 24 25 28 29 33 34 35 36 41 42 43 44 46 49 50
“Slippery” trees
Talk online
Western movie star? He worked with pairs
Corker
Novelist’s needs
Kind of starch or pudding Gelatin made from seaweed Feels apprehension
“Please consider it”
Smallest in magnitude
Set the tempo
Track record?
Be in the wrong
Desk drawer item
Like the desert of Sinai
Buddy
“___ de lune” (Debussy)
When to join an opponent? Modem units
Having debts
Tart role for Shirley MacLaine Extensions
IRS form expert
Yankee Clipper’s brother Samuel figure 51 53 58 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67
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8 9 10 11 12 13 21
Leading man in the theater? When to expect good results Alaskan native Masquerade-ball mask Poker money
Painter’s plaster
Nasty boss
One between 12 and 20
All finished, as dinner
Front part of a plane
___ Park (FDR home site)
DOWN
Store on a farm
Idler
Hungarian
Discourages flies
Hardly nude
“Les Miserables” author McLean and Loretta’s sitcom co-star
Dr. Seuss’ Yertle, say
Having two equal lobes Yemen coastal city Freeloader
Long-snouted fish
Lion’s suffix
Prenatal cradle 22 26 27 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 44 45 46 47 48 50 52 54 55 56 57 58 59
Mediterranee, e.g.
Lake or canal
Stretch in a seat
Charles Dutton title character What Hester Prynne wore Council
Industrial waste
End of a musical composition Big count
Footnote abbr.
Vegas card game
Most pleasing to the palate Even number
Coal site
The whole nine yards
Arness TV role
Bush veep
Threw things at
Garfield’s girlfriend
Noted stationer
Mower’s path
Firecracker feature
Type of ’60s dancer
Relative of mine?
Tapered weapon
What candles may signify
___ & Perrins (steak sauce)
FRANCE is set to find out on February 24 if this weekend’s Six Nations clash with Scotland will go ahead after captain Charles Ollivon was among five players to be ruled out after testing positive for Covid-19.
The French Rugby Federation (FFR) announced on February 22 that Ollivon, Cyril Baille, Peato Mauvaka, Romain Taofifenua and Brice Dulin have been withdrawn from the squad after contracting the virus.
The new cases take the total number in the France camp to 14, including coach Fabien Galthie and scrum-half Antoine Dupont.
Six Nations Testing Oversight Group (TOG) saying it would review the situation on February 24 although there is no suggestion as yet of postponing the match.
“A decision on whether the France v Scotland fixture can go ahead will be made at that stage,” said the TOG in a statement.
“Should the decision be that the fixture cannot go ahead, the match will be rescheduled for the earliest possible date.”
The French players who tested positive on February 22 have all left the group, with the remainder of the squad, all of whom tested negative, training with restricted movement and no close contact for the next 48 hours.
“The return to collective training is set for February 24, subject to the results of tests carried out every 24 hours,” the federation said in a statement.
Scottish Rugby said that they were keen for the match to go ahead as any postponement could mean more than 10 players being unavailable for a rearranged fixture due to player-release agreements with clubs.
“We will be working closely with our Six Nations counterparts to press the case for this game to go ahead, should it be medically safe to do so,” the statement read.
Dupont tested positive last week and had already been omitted from the 31-man squad for the game in Paris on February 21. The FFR also revealed that hooker Julien Marchand and centre Arthur Vincent had tested positive on February 20.
Dupont, the Six Nations player of the season last year, is reportedly asymptomatic
and could, in theory, have observed a seven-day quarantine and returned for the game at Stade de France.
The French government is increasing the length of quarantine to 10 days from February 22.
Marchand and Vincent were also left out as were prop Mohamed Haouas and winger Gabin Villiere who tested positive on February 19.
Uncapped forwards trio Gaetan Barlot, Thierry Paiva and Cyril Cazeaux were added to the 31-man squad on February 21, along with back-rower Baptiste Pesenti and full-back Thomas Ramos.
France are top of the Six Nations table after beating Italy comfortably in Rome and then edging Ireland 15-13 in Dublin on February 14.
‘We will be ready’
Team manager Raphael Ibanez said on February 20, before the latest positive tests, that the French were fully expecting to meet the Scots.
“We are entering a week of preparation and I can assure you that we will be ready to face Scotland at the Stade de France,”
said the former France captain.
With a host of different players joining the squad the staff, which is already without Galthie and forwards coach William Servat, faces a difficult task to ready the team to face Scotland.
“We have prepared an adaptation plan, you can trust Fabien,” said Ibanez.
“If other cases turn out to be positive, we have in any case taken exceptional measures with the help of the Covid group which is watching over the France squad.
“The tests will be tripled, we will have a test every day.”
Ibanez struggled to pinpoint how and when the coronavirus infiltrated the French ranks.
“It’s not just the French,” he said. “The English coach has been affected ... and many others.
“Nobody can know how [the French contracted the virus]. Was it in Ireland? Why didn’t it affect the media who are invited to observe the training?
“All it takes is an infected doorknob for the contamination to spread.
“It gives us a real reason to have a great game against Scotland.”
FANS could be back in English stadiums for the final weekend of the Premier League season and there are hopes the Euro 2020 final will be played at a full Wembley under plans announced on February 22.
Under a four-step roadmap to ease the coronavirus lockdown announced by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, elite sport will continue behind closed doors until May 17 at the earliest.
But if there are no setbacks, crowds of up to 10,000 or 25 percent of seating capacity, whichever is lower, will be allowed to return.
The Premier League season is due to finish on May 23. Other than a small number of matches played in front of 2,000 spectators late last year, the entire 2020-2021 season has been played behind closed doors.
All further restrictions would then be lifted on June 21 in time for a series of major international sports events in England.
The semi-finals and final of Euro 2020, which has been delayed by a year due to the pandemic, are scheduled to take place at Wembley on July 6, 7 and 11.
Wimbledon, which was abandoned in 2020 for the first time since World War II, is due to start on June 28 and golf’s British Open runs from July 15 to 18 at Royal St George’s in Kent.
“As we continue to plan for The Championships in 2021, we welcome @10DowningStreet’s announcements,” said a statement on Wimbledon’s official Twitter feed.
“We look forward to continuing to work with them, @CommonsDCMS [Digital, Culture,
Media and Sport] and the rest of sport with the ambition of welcoming spectators safely to our events this summer.”
Britain is one of the countries hardest-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 120,000 deaths.
But Johnson told MPs that with a mass vaccination programme easing pressure on overstretched hospitals, “the end really is in sight”.
A Sunday Times report at the weekend said Britain could offer to host more Euro 2020 matches or the whole tournament due to the potential for crowds to return earlier than in other countries across Europe.
On top of the semi-finals and final, Wembley and Hampden Park in Glasgow are due to host four matches each in the group stages and last 16.
UEFA has so far publicly insisted it is sticking to the original plan of using 12 host cities across the continent despite the logistical challenges.
Dublin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Saint Petersburg, Bilbao, Munich, Budapest, Baku, Rome and Bucharest are all due to have matches.
However, British health secretary Matt Hancock said on February 21 he was unaware of any offer to host the tournament.
The Football Association welcomed the easing of restrictions, saying in a brief statement: “The FA is absolutely delighted that fans will be allowed back soon.
“The game is simply not the same without them and we look forward to the return of full stadia as soon as it is safe and possible.”
Cricket and rugby chiefs also welcomed the roadmap.
A statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board said: “We are . . . very pleased to see the return of spectators to grounds from mid-May. Our leading venues strongly believe they have the technology and know-how to return to capacity crowds.”