CROSSWORD

No 1,575

TO ENTER Complete the crossword and count how many times the letter ‘X’ appears in the grid. Post your entry to YOU Crossword No 1,575, PO Box 5332, Cardiff Lane, Dublin 2. Closing date is Friday, January 12. One random winner from all correct entries will win €100 and five runners-up will win €25 each. Winners will be notified within 14 days. Solution in two weeks

ACROSS

6 Come to pass (6) 8 Real estate (8) 10 Wield (influence) (5) 11 Contrite, sorry (6) 12 Friends – often found with kin (4) 13 Adherence to moral principles; honesty (9) 15 (and 23 across, 2 down, 9 down) Proverb suggesting that everyone gets at least one big opportunity in life (7,6,4,2,5,4,4) 17 Carefree, laid-back (7) 19 The _________ Brothers who had a Number One with ‘Unchained Melody’ (9) 22 Speaker’s platform (4) 23 See 15 across 24 Exaggeratedly masculine (5) 25 Vexations, loathings (8) 26 Acquit, release (6)

DOWN

1 Sport requiring a shuttlecock (9) 2 See 15 across 3 Steal the limelight from (7) 4 Intimidatingly persuasive (8) 5 Rather fat (5) 7 Of, relating to, or belonging to the era before recorded history (13) 9 See 15 across 14 Orange fruit that resembles a large tomato (9) 16 Japanese city where the second atomic bomb was dropped in 1945 (8) 18 Put on a list (7) 20 To keep one engrossed, or to take and hold possession of (6) 21 Indigenous Arctic Canadian (5)