PUZZLES CODE CRACKER
$300 UP FOR GRABS!
To win one of three prizes of $100, work out which number represents which letter. All letters of the alphabet appear at least once. Fill in the coloured boxes at the bottom to reveal our prize word. Write this answer on the entry coupon.
ACROSS
1 Impressive ability (7)
3 Lightly wooded bushland (5) 5 Ditch, dry watercourse (5) 8 Acrobatic sportsperson (7) 10 Digital effects in filmmaking (1,1,1) 11 Well-mannered males (9) 13 Berate or pester repetitively (3) 14 – Chaney, classic horror movie actor (3)
15 Tuition costs at a school (4) 17 – Rogers, Fred Astaire’s dance partner (6)
20 Picture, representation (5) 23 Ballet costume (4)
24 1415 Battle in which England’s Henry V defeated the French (9) 28 Wages and other earnings (6) 30 As above (5)
31 – Malley, hoax poet (3)
32 Elk or caribou (4)
34 Dried plum (5)
35 Cosy and warm (4)
36 Seed or bacterium (4) 37 Specialty foodstuffs retailer (4) 38 Official review of accounts (5) 39 Close tightly (4)
41 Trophy contested by England and Australia in cricket (5) 42 Church keyboard (5) 44 Enlighten, morally enrich (5) 47 Shoulder gesture (5)
49 Back of the foot (4) 51 Municipal leader (5)
53 Simple (4)
54 Fairytale monster (4) 56 Charles M. –, creator of Charlie Brown and Snoopy (6) 58 Larval stage of an insect’s life cycle (4)
59 Wizard in Tolkien’s novels (7) 61 Captain’s journal (3)
63 Tilda –, actress in box A (7) 64 – Drew, teen detective (5) 65 Long-barrelled firearm (5) 67 Alcohol, booze (4)
69 Hindu scripture (4)
71 South American mountains (5) 73 Time at which the sun crosses the equator, in autumn and spring each year (7)
76 Part, component (5)
79 Woolly farm animals (5) 80 Arboreal marsupial ‘bear’ (5) 81 Brief sighting (7)
82 Major city in Scotland (7) 83 Automaton, android (5) 85 Insidious cunning (5) 87 Medical attendant (5)
90 Julia –, actress in box B (7) 93 Award for valour or achievement (5) 95 Quickly bend down as an evasive measure (4) 96 Armour made from interlocking metal rings (4)
97 Snapshot (5)
98 Fairy-like sprite (5) 100 Hamlet’s romantic interest (7) 103 Harden (3) 105 Blood-sucking monster (7) 108 Portal into a garden or field (4) 109 Gain, particularly in financial terms (6)
110 Banded quartz mineral (4) 111 Agitate (4)
112 Large road transport vehicle (5) 114 Journey (4)
116 Petrified resin (5)
119 Strong point, particular skill (5) 121 Bodily component which produces hormones or other biochemicals (5) 122 Handled rudely (5) 124 Fencing weapon (4) 126 Volume of maps (5) 127 Oxidation of ferrous metal (4) 129 Ceremony, formal procedure (4) 131 Related or similar (4) 132 Verbose (5)
133 Banner (4)
134 Small dog breed with distinctively pushed-in face (3)
136 Fly without mechanical propulsion (5) 137 Highly decorated (6) 138 Spying, covert infiltration in order to cause damage (9)
139 Level of military seniority (4) 140 Majestic, imposing (5)
142 – acid, fatigue-inducing bodily chemical which builds up during exercise (6)
146 Major African river (4) 150 Artificial hairpiece (3) 151 Clumsy dolt (3)
153 Snail or similar mollusc (9) 154 Sense of self (3) 155 Eccentrically clever trick or technique (7)
156 Planet (5)
157 Serious, not intoxicated (5) 158 Beauty contest (7)
DOWN
1 Oriental temple (6)
2 – and Charybdis, maritime hazards of classical mythology (6) 3 Autograph, endorsement on a contract or document (9) 4 Anne –, second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I (6) 5 Forrest –, eponymous Tom Hanks film character (4)
6 Long jousting spear (5) 7 Japanese currency (3)
8 Lady –, pop music artist (4) 9 Bullseye, sharpshooter’s goal (6) 12 Papua –, country to Australia’s north (3,6)
15 Mia –, journalist and media personality (8) 16 Sweetener refined from cane (5) 18 Honking bird (5) 19 Humorous garden statuette (5) 21 Bullfighter (7) 22 Supernatural spirit (5) 25 Approximately, imprecisely (7) 26 Fictional family headed by Gomez and Morticia (6)
27 Fire a rocket (6)
29 Military dining hall (4)
33 The –, stage name of U2 guitarist Dave Evans (4) 34 – Miller,former Home and Away actress (3)
39 – Hawking, physicist depicted in The Theory of Everything (7)
40 Jennifer –, actress in box C (5) 43 Verve, relish (5)
45 Multiply by two (6) 46 Amphibian (4)
48 Offer salutations, welcome (5) 50 Tallest living land animal (7) 51 Medieval Chinese dynastic period, noted for art and porcelain (4) 52 Wise nocturnal bird (3) 55 Crush, as grain or coffee beans (5) 56 Feeling, perception (5) 57 Bolshevik leader during the Russian Revolution (5) 60 Concur, assent (5)
61 Small wild cat with tufted ears (4) 62 Hold firmly (4)
63 Voracious marine predator (5) 66 Underneath (5)
68 Fissure or break (3) 70 Spiritual retreat often centred on yoga and meditation (6) 72 Frightened (6)
74 Rugby –, football code (5) 75 Desert waterhole (5)
77 Inuit snow shelter (5)
78 Keen, enthusiastic (5)
81 – Kelly, film star who married into Monegasque royal family (5) 84 Twenty Four Hours from –, 1963 hit song for Gene Pitney (5) 85 Tree which is home and exclusive food source for 80 across (3) 86 Mode of speech (5)
88 Male domestic fowl (7) 89 Greek god of earthly love (4) 90 Captivated, entranced (4) 91 Pugilist (5)
92 Young female narrator in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird (5) 94 Hold up, put off until later (5) 97 Young swine in the tales of Winnie-the-pooh (6) 99 Exercise power (7)
101 Fuss, commotion (3-2) 102 Surreptitious eye gesture (4) 104 Additional (5)
106 Simple melody (3) 107 Reflected sound (4)
109 Family of lions (5)
113 With an ascending trajectory (7) 115 Sarah Jessica –, actress in box D (6) 117 From Brussels (7)
118 Strip of bacon (6) 120 Valiciously sinful (4) 121 Grotesque carved figure on a building (8)
122 Minor chess piece (4)
123 Arid, parched (3)
125 Bent document fastener (9) 126 Wrath (5)
128 Golfer’s stroke (5)
130 Mixer often served with gin (5) 133 Leader of the pickpocket gang in Dickens’ Oliver Twist (5) 135 Volatile chemical compound used in firearms and explosives (9) 141 Early medieval Norse raider (6) 143 Sign of the Bull (6)
144 Main circus tent (3,3)
145 Young swan (6)
147 Variety of beer (5)
148 Loading and unloading area of a port (4)
149 Second hand (4)
152 Not many (3)