CROSSWORD

Win a prize with our brain-teaser.

ACROSS

1 ___ slider, species of turtle native to a Central American country (10)

6 Aquatic bird that might be mute, Bewick’s or whooper (4)

9 Wild cereal plant of the Mediterranean, with narrow stems (7, 3) 11 Soft-bodied garden gastropod (4) 13 Sure-footed climbing mammal of the North American uplands (8, 4)

16 Male of the deer species Capreolus capreolus (7)

17 Staff vine species, also called wahoo, burning bush or wintercreeper (7)

18 US term for a spotted beetle in the family Coccinellidae (7)

20 Country of north Africa, whose native animals include the Saharan striped polecat and horseshoe whip snake (7)

21 Solomon Islands’ dull-coloured songbird, Rhipidura drownei (5, 7)

24 The woodpecker finch of the Galápagos Islands sometimes called the ___-using finch (4)

25 Extinct mammal, once native to certain islands of Japan (6, 4)

26 Scottish island, home to breeding sea eagles (4)

27 The name for communities of living organisms (10)

DOWN

1 Scottish loch, home to European eel and Arctic char – but not a plesiosaur (4) 2 River in Somerset, rich in freshwater fish (4) 3 Crimson wildflower of North America, Aquilegia formosa (3, 9) 4 African antelope also known as the giraffe gazelle (7) 5 The egg of a louse – this one’s a bit of a ‘head scratcher’ (3) 7 Perennial plant in the knotweed family, Rumex salicifolius (6, 4) 8 Long-legged wading bird with nocturnal feeding habits – may be rufous or black-crowned (5, 5) 10 Richard ___, author of the wildlife novel Watership Down (5) 12 Flowers that are also known as snapdragons (12) 14 Ancient arthropods that flourished in the Lower Paleozoic era (10) 15 The study of trees and other woody plants (10) 19 The excrement of birds – seabirds in particular (5) 20 Process by which the cells of living things divide (7) 22 Burrowing vermivore with powerful forelimbs (4) 23 Newts (4) 25 Name for the bottle gourd, Lagenaria vulgaris, in Polynesia (3)