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

Historical name for a large country in eastern

Asia (6)

4 Town in north-west England (pop about

8,000), with a market charter since 1267 (8) 9 State in north-west USA, nicknamed the

Beaver State (6)

10 The muse of epic poetry in Greek mythology

(8)

12 Popular name for a US golfer who won seven

majors (5)

13 Greek philosopher (384 - 322 BC), who acted

as tutor to Alexander the Great (9)

14 An ancient galley with three sets of oars (7) 15 River rising in the Czech Republic and

flowing 680 miles into the North Sea (4)

19 Pertaining to the ear (4)

21 Small island state in the Caribbean (135 sq miles; pop 115,000), independent since 1974 (7)

24 Instruments for discharging liquid in a fine

spray (9)

26 Small city on the Adriatic (pop about 160,000), founded as a Greek colony in the 3rd or 2nd century (5)

27 Town in the north-east (pop about 7,500), near where the River Feugh meets the Dee (8)

28 A Mexican riding-blanket (6)

29 A submerged aquatic plant with ribbon-like

leaves (8)

30 Small pickled flower buds of a shrub used in

cookery (6)

Down

1 Village in the Highlands (pop about 700), a

former royal burgh (8)

2 A long wooden pin used to fasten the planks

of a ship to the timbers (8)

3 A novel by Ian Mcewan (2001), adapted as a

film (2007) (9)

5 A coarse-grained igneous crystalline rock (7) 6 Israeli port and resort (pop about 52,000), on

the Red Sea (5)

7 City in Portugal (pop about 230,000). Its

centre is a World Heritage Site (1996 (6)

8 Ancient city on the Nile, a former capital of

Egypt (6)

11 One of the eight Ivy League universities in

the US (4)

16 City in southern Israel (pop about 200,000),

the largest city in the Negev Desert (9)

17 The channel in which water runs away below

a mill-wheel (8)

18 The Carolina team in the NFL (8)

20 Cheeses made from goat's milk (7)

21 Lillian __ (1893 -1993), Ohio-born film actress,

director, screenwriter, etc (4)

22 Old silver coin worth three Scots pennies (6) 23 The European sand eel (6)

25 The ethereal juice in the veins of the gods in

Greek mythology (5)