CROSSWORD

£500 TO BE WON No 1,496

TO ENTER Complete the crossword and count how many times the letter ‘A’ appears in the grid. Text YOU followed by a space, your answer (the number of ‘A’s) and name to 65700, eg, YOU 9 Sue Smith. Texts cost £1 plus your standard network rate. Or telephone 0905 652 2141 and leave your answer and details. Calls cost £1 plus your telephone company’s network access charge. Or post your entry to YOU Crossword No 1,496, PO Box 3451, Norwich NR7 7NR. Entries will be accepted until 11.59pm on Friday 1 July. One random winner from all correct entries will win £250 and five runners-up will win £50 each. If you enter after the closing date you will not be included but may still be charged. Phone and text helpline: 0808 272 0808. Winners will be notified by phone within 14 days. Solution in two weeks.

ACROSS

7 Respectable, upright9 shrieked10 Yelled, Extinct (6) (8) prehistoric reptile (8) 11 Authenticate (6) 12 Integrates, amalgamates (6) 13 David, the actor and singer who was born with the surname Cook (5) 15 Biblical character who deprived Samson of his strength (7) 17 Basic structural and functional unit of the kidney (7) 19 Conscious, open-eyed (5) 20 Seller (6) 22 Building where dead bodies are kept prior to burial or cremation (6) 23 5 down and 14 down, and 8 down and 16 down (8) 24 Enormous, gigantic, immense (8) 25 Make certain (6)

DOWN

1 Distributed, brought (9) 2 Abandoned dogs (6) 3 Supplanted, commandeered (7) 4 Deep crack or fissure, eg, in the ice of a glacier (8) 5 (and 14 down) A reasonable transaction means that there’s no victim (4,8,2,2,7) 6 Exalt to the position of a god (5) 8 (and 16 down) There’s no need to eat everything! (6,2,2,4,2,1,5) 14 See 5 down 16 See 8 down 18 People who conduct a friendship through writing letters (3,4) 20 Flower, bluish-purple colour (6) 21 Punctuation mark which is also the standard monetary unit of Costa Rica (5)