FACTFINDER’S CROSSWORD

ACROSS

3 Hector __ (c1465 - 1536), Dundee-born historian (5) 8 Susan __ (b 1950), English actor who starred in Straw Dogs (1971) (6) 9 Imaginary state created by Sir Thomas More (1516) (6) 10 Trees of the betel nut genus of palms (6) 11 Flaps on a plane’s wing tips for lateral

balancing (8) 12 A major Muslim festival (3) 13 An obstacle race in canoes (6) 14 Nickname of the Stars and Stripes (3,5) 17 Rotating neutron stars, or white dwarfs (7) 19 Baruch __ (1632 - 77), Amsterdam-born

philosopher (7) 23 Treaty between spain and britain (1713),

governing the slave trade (8) 27 Animals of a badger-like genus (6) 29 A drowned valley (geol) (3) 30 Town in south-west Italy (pop about

16,000), on the Bay of Naples (8) 31 A type of Italian brandy (6) 32 Malaysian state founded by the British East

India Company in 1786 (6) 33 Anything that gives stability or security

(fig) (6) 34 A dense black hardwood (5)

DOWN

1 A seabird akin to the albatross and fulmar (6) 2 American blackbirds of the family Icteridae (8) 3 Relating to a steel-making process (8) 4 South American country (109, 480 sq miles; pop 16 million), independent since 1820 (7) 5 Greek mathematician (c 300 BC), regarded as the father of geometry (6) 6 Reddish brown, or light chestnut (6) 7 A portrait-painter (6) 13 A blackish fluid secreted by a cuttlefish (5) 15 Clarified butter (3) 16 W B __(1865-1939), Irish poet and playwright who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 (5) 18 The goddess of mischief in Greek mythology (3) 20 South American country (157,042 sq miles;

pop 6 million), independent since 1811 (8) 21 A small songbird of the Sitta genus (8) 22 Canadian provincial capital( pop about 5

million), founded in 1793 (7) 24 Marie __ (1880 - 1958), Edinburgh-born

campaigner for women’s rights (6) 25 An incursion into enemy territory (6) 26 Legal infancy or minority (6) 28 The smallest coin in ancient Greece (6)

This week’s prize: a Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus set, to the first correct entry opened at random. Entries must be received by Thursday. Cut out the crossword panel and send to: Factfinder’s Crossword, The Scotsman, Level 8, Orchard Brae House, 30 Queensferry Road, Edinburgh, EH4 2HS.. Normal Johnston Press rules apply: www.johnstonpress.co.uk/jpplc/competition