FACTFINDER’S CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 A rear gunner (coll) (4-3,7) 9 Edinburgh-born artist (1756 - 1823), knighted in 1822 (7) 10 A period of five years (7) 11 Gigantic extinct birds of New Zealand (4) 12 A sun-dried brick (5) 13 Sir Robert __ (1788 - 1850), Bury-born politician who served twice as Prime Minister (1834 - 35 and 1841 - 46) (4) 16 River rising in County Cavan and flowing 240 miles into the Atlantic (7) 17 An alarm-bell (6) 19 Bertolt __ (1898 - 1956), German dramatist and poet (6) 22 Rudyard __ (1865 - 1936), Indian-born author who wrote The Jungle Books (7) 25 Long-running US TV series focusing on the Korean War (1972 -83) (4) 26 Series of battles in Belgium in the First World War (5) 27 Marco __ (c1254 - 1324), Venetian merchant and traveller to China, etc (4) 30 A phantom or apparition (7) 31 Staying power (7) 32 A citrus fruit yielding an oil used in

perfumery (8,6)

DOWN

1 An Italian coffee-flavoured dessert (8) 2 The Japanese art of flower arrangement (7) 3 Large flightless birds of Australia (4) 4 Port and university city in New Zealand (pop about 130,000 (7) 5 A large flatfish found in North Atlantic coastal waters (7) 6 A fungal disease of roses, etc (4) 7 Citizen of Middle Eastern country (over 8,000 sq miles; pop about 9 million) (7) 8 Process used to separate metal from ore (5) 14 Major pilgrimage site in County Mayo (5) 15 Length of cable at which a vessel rides at liberty (5) 18 Money-changing, or stock-jobbing (8) 20 Salman __ (b 1947), Indian-born novelist

who wrote Midnight’s Children (1981) 21 A place name (7) 22 The 7 down parliament (7) 23 Citizen of a country in west Africa (124,470 sq miles; pop about 24 million), independent since 1960 (7) 24 Yellowish fossil resin (5) 28 A lump of crude ore (in mining) (4) 29 A young salmon before it becomes a smolt

(4)