FACTFINDER’S CROSSWORD

Dear Reader,

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic we are suspending competition entries for all our prize crosswords. Puzzles will continue to appear as normal but no entries will be accepted or prizes given.

We hope to return to normal as soon as possible.

The solution to this week’s Factfinder crossword will appear next Saturday as usual.

Stay safe!

Joy Yates, Editorial Director

Across 1

Small town in the Borders (pop about 2,000),

a conservation area (10)

6 Spenserian term for something not requiring

much effort (4)

10 The planet Venus as morning-star (7)

11 A very large tropical beetle (7)

12 Heavy sea waves as they hit the shore (8) 13 Former fishing village in Fife (pop about

1,600), a former royal burgh (5)

15 US state (98,381 sq miles; pop about 4

million), nicknamed the beaver state (6) 17 A lamb or kid (8)

19 Ancient Dutch city (pop about 170,000), close to the German border, founded in 98 AD (8)

21 Any small group acting as a body inside a

larger organisation (6)

24 A show carried about in a box (5)

25 A feudal superior (8)

28 Charles __ (1812 70), Portsmouth-born

novelist (7)

29 A hot, dry gusty wind from north Africa in

Italy (7)

30 A gaseous element, one of the noble gases

(4)

31 One causing trouble by behaving

outrageously (10)

Down 1

A small island in the Inner Hebrides (pop

about 200) (4)

2 A purple medick, also called alfalfa (7)

3 Capital city in south-east Europe (pop about

1,25 million) on the Black Sea (5)

4 A colloquial Australian term for a spiv (6)

5 Large ancient merchant ships from Venice,

etc (8)

7 Port city and provincial capital in Sicily (pop

about 68,000) (7)

8 A student of animal behaviour (10)

9 The part of the carpel that bears the ovules

(bot) (8)

14 English poet (1631 - 1700), appointed the

first Poet Laureate in 1668 (4.6)

16 Fully aware of what is involved (4-4)

18 Raised in relief by hammering from behind

or within (8)

20 Ancient Palestinian city on the West Bank

(pop about 18,000) (7)

22 Capital city in South America (pop about 2.5

million) founded in 1467 (7)

23 A small carnivore (Mustela nivalis) (6)

26 Federico Garcia __ (1898 - 1936), Spanish

poet and dramatist (5)

27 Nils __ (18815 - 1962), Danish scientist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics along with his son, Aage (4)