FRIDAY CROSSWORD

ACROSS

10 Plantsman who bred/ introduced a collection of English roses including Constance Spry (6)

11 A group of the corvids known collectively as a storytelling (7)

12 “Weeping” tree depicted in a blue-and-white transfer pattern (6)

13 Old English word for an arrow, especially one shot from a crossbow (4)

14 A rustic cabin, occupied seasonally by skiers or shooting parties (5)

15 Stopcock; or, each of the halves of the hinged shell of a clam, mussel or oyster (5) 16 Word describing an unbuttoned coat or a ticket or competition free from restrictions (4)

17 Auctioneer’s gavel; or, a striking mechanism in a clock or piano (6)

19 Pages in books or essays; or, opinions, political parties or sports teams opposed to others (5)

21 Centre of a target, called gold in archery (5-3)

22 Cowsheds or stables; or, doorless pews (6)

25 Blunt needles for threading cord, elastic, ribbon or tape (7)

27 Completed circuits of courses in golf or showjumping (6)

29 Autograph or handwritten name (9)

30 Graphite stick in a pencil; or, slip for a dog (4) 32 Rock strata; or, clothes worn under others (6)

34 Spherical models of Earth (6)

36 Noble gas named after the Greek word for “new thing” (4)

37 Armoire; or, theatrical company’s stock of costumes (8)

40 Tiered plant stands; or, theatrical “decks” (6)

42 Venetian boat; or, passenger car of a ski lift or a Ferris wheel (7)

43 French word for “star”, applied to Paris Opéra Ballet’s leading dancer (6) 44 A magnet’s keeper; dynamo’s rotor; or, any defensive apparatus (8)

46 Cascades of water; or, flocks of woodcock (5)

48 Meaning “arrow”, a spirelet of a French Gothic cathedral (6)

50 Nickname of the RSPB co-founder with the surname Lemon (4)

51 Prongs of knives inserted into hafts (5)

52 Word for the soft part of bread; or, a morsel or fragment of such (5)

53 Dogleg or switchback in a road; or, a type of knot (4) 54 Horse’s leather headgear with a bit, traditionally made by a lorimer (6)

55 Another word for a cloud or kaleidoscope of butterflies (7)

56 Ideas or fancies; or, pictures obtained by cameras (6)

DOWN

1 Dawn; or, a natural light display, also known as “merry dancers” (6)

2 Dialect for a bullock; or, a pronk (4)

3 Another word for a flyfisher (6)

4 Dictionary of Latin or Greek prosody (6)

5 Centre of an apple, nuclear reactor or Earth (4) 6 Cricketer whose surname was given by P. G. Wodehouse to Bertie Wooster’s valet Reginald (6) 7 A programme of study, originally a concise table of headings of a discourse or text (8)

8 London district around the British Museum where a coterie of artists and intellectuals including Bell, Fry, Grant, and Woolf originated (10)

9 Humorous film, play or event (6)

12 Archaeologist who oversaw excavations at Maiden Castle in Dorset (7) 18 French word for a bowler hat (5)

20 Word for clothes that has become a slang word for defective things (4)

23 One of three offspring born at one birth (7)

24 Burrows of badgers or “brocks” (5)

25 Engraving tool with a sharp lozenge, square or triangular end and a mushroom-shaped handle (5)

26 Newspaper article; or, an entry in an account (4)

28 My Family and Other

Animals, author (7)

31 Play performed by actors on stage, TV or radio (5)

32 Horizontal structure such as a shelf or lode (5)

33 First name of the poet who wrote Salt-Water Ballads (4)

35 Piemontese anchovy-garlic dip for vegetables, served in a similar way to fondue (5,5)

38 An allotrope of oxygen that is one of the greenhouse gases (5)

39 Wooden ball with a bias; or, rounded part of a spoon (4)

41 Fireside container for coal (7)

42 Foliage/verdure, especially when used for floristry or decoration (8) 45 Answer; stroke played in response to a serve in tennis; or, a tax report (6)

46 Relic such as an ammonite, St Cuthbert’s bead or any one found by Mary Anning or Richard Leakey (6)

47 Raucous cry of a jay, parrot etc (6)

48 Word for a textile or its texture (6)

49 Horse used for pointto-point or a pursuit with foxhounds (6)

52 Heads of maize; or, hazelnuts (4)

53 Rhythm; or, the pulsation of the heart (4)

Solutions will be given next week. The last date for entries is Feb 22. The winner of this crossword will be announced on March 4. The winner of the Feb 4 crossword is Supreeya Baruah Reddy