FACTFINDER’S CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 James __ (1770 - 1835), Borders poet known as the Ettrick Shepherd (4) 3 A colourless, sweet-smelling volatile liquid (10) 10 Relating to a form of diarrhoea (9) 11 A foul stroke in snooker, or a scoring one in billiards (2-3) 12 Commuter town in Surrey (pop about 35,000) (5) 13 Encroached or had an effect (on) (8) 15 Placido __ (b 1941), Spanish singer, one of the Three Tenors (7) 17 A thin, glossy silk-stuff (7) 19 Amelia __ (1898 - 1937), US aviator who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic (7) 21 Ludovico __ (1474 - 1533), Italian poet who wrote Orlando Furioso (7) 22 Annoyed, pestered or bothered repeatedly (8) 24 A grass-like plant growing in marshy ground (5) 27 Side dish of yoghurt, vegetables, etc, in Indian cooking (5) 28 Capital city in Eastern Europe (pop about 2 million ) (9) 29 A long-winged seabird akin to the petrels (10) 30 Gigantic extinct birds of new Zealand (4)

DOWN

1 Old soldier armed with a two-handed axe like weapon (10) 2 A short-winged diving bird (5) 4 A low oven-shaped fumarole (7) 5 The back of the head or the skull (7) 6 A giant hunter killed by Artemis in Greek mythology (5) 7 Wheeled instrument used to measure the distance travelled (9) 8 Slight feeling of resentment (coll) (4) 9 A swift-footed huntress in Greek mythology (8) 14 Marching girls in a parade, twirling batons, etc (10) 16 A pearly-lustred mineral (9) 18 A heavy breed of dairy cattle (8) 20 Engine used in ancient Rome for boring walls (7) 21 A tributary of the Rhone in south-central France, rising in the Massif Central (7) 23 The clear part of an egg used as varnish (5) 25 Spanish name for a major Iberian river, flowing into the Atlantic (5) 26 The god of war in Greek mythology (4)