H CROSSWORD NO 1,885 H

TO ENTER Complete the crossword and count how many times the letter ‘C’ appears in the grid. Post your entry to YOU Crossword No 1,885, PO Box 5332, Cardiff Lane, Dublin 2. Closing date is Friday, December 29. One random winner from all correct entries will win a €15 book voucher. The winner will be notified within 14 days (telephone number required). Solution in two weeks.

ACROSS

8 (and 23 across, 24 across) Proverb saying that if you pay someone to do something then you should let them do it (3,4,1,3,3,4,8)

9 1960 stage musical (and 1968 film) with the exclamation mark omitted (6)

10 TV programme that has been presented by David Dimbleby, Robin Day and Fiona Bruce (8,4)

11 Loved, cherished (6)

12 Tree with a name derived from the

Greek for ‘fig-mulberry’ (8)

14 A member of the front row in a game of rugby (4)

15 Drink made from apples (5)

17 Qatar’s capital (4)

19 Forest where Robin Hood supposedly lived (8)

23 See 8 across 24 See 8 across 25 Dramatic end of a show (6)

26 Officially (8)

DOWN

1 Bear, carry, take on (8)

2 Tall building – as found in New York or Chicago etc (10)

3 Occasional, recurrent (8)

4 French film festival city (6)

5 This has 12 signs (6)

6 The number of Great Lakes between Canada and the US (4)

7 German republic that preceded

Nazism (6)

13 Country off the southeast coast of Africa (10)

16 Member of a student-led paramilitary movement mobilised by Chairman

Mao Zedong in 1966 (3,5) 18 The capital of

20 down (8)

20 US state that joined the Union in 1959 (6)

21 Richard, Vincent, Ed,

Edna etc (6)

22 24-hour leave from work (3,3)

24 A fine man – especially in France (4)