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 A breed of large German terriers (9)

6 A short literary piece (5)

9 The eastern part of a church (7)

10 Prepares to get ready for some event or

activity (5,2)

11 Dave __ (1935 - 2005), Irish comedian and

satirist (5)

12 Citizen of a European country (148,279 sq miles; pop 5.4 million), independent since 1905 (9)

13 A people from the highlands of Kenya and

Tanzania (5)

14 Passing, or of short duration (9)

17 Apostates or renegades (9)

19 Industrial city in western Germany (pop

about 580,000), on the River Ruhr (5)

21 Small community in Nova Scotia (pop about

1,500), once a coal-mining centre (9)

24 A white heron of various species (5)

26 A province of the Roman Empire in central

Europe, including the Tyrol, etc (7)

27 Indecent, especially in a sexual sense (7) 28 A flowering plant widely cultivated for

yielding agave fibre (5)

29 Varieties of garnet, also called cinnamonstones (9)

Down

1 Old name of a capital city in southern Asia (pop about 8.9 million), founded in the 17th century (5)

2 Now obsolete term for the messengers or

criers of a court (7)

3 Obscure, abstruse or profound, etc (9)

4 City in Texas (pop about 400,000), founded

in 1876 (9)

5 Country in west Africa (489,000 sq miles; pop about 24 million), independent since1960 (5)

6 County in western Ireland (1,330 sq miles; pop

about 120,000) (5)

7 A rocket-launched weapon (7)

8 A breed of poultry (white, black or buff (9)

13 Shrove Tuesday (5,4)

15 Legal advisors who sit with a judge in a court

case (9)

16 Teofilo __ (1952 - 2012), Cuban boxer who

won three Olympic gold medals (9)

18 Formal warnings (7)

20 A northern constellation (7)

22 Badger-like genus, akin to the gluttons (5) 23 A public storehouse (Fr) (5)

25 Trousers, especially of tartan cloth (5)