BBC FOCUS CROSSWORD

GIVE YOUR BRAIN A WORKOUT

ACROSS

1 Shoot series, beginning with puritan (5)

4 Label American river (5) 8 Students accept first woman as equal (5)

9 Pain left university doctor in the past (7)

10 Ireland lost initial anger (3) 11 Frenchman spun tale for copper, say (5) 12 Element obtained from country without a hesitation (6)

14 Novel about who salutes state (3,5,5)

17 Bishop and a lieutenant in charge in Latvia, say (6) 19 Time to pair off an animal (5) 22 Newt is skilful without a head (3)

23 Terrible leech performing – rank (7)

24 Foreign character has a laugh about record (5) 25 Never worked as a writer (5) 26 Lake contains every last nest (5)

DOWN

1 Demanding job, seasoning my one (4,4)

2 Fix hedge, removing front (5) 3 Girl gets one sign from Italian polymath (7)

4 Swollen tornado initially spreading mud around island (5)

5 Measured response in church (7)

6 Hardly fast food, by the sound of it (4) 7 Telescope in design for an epoch (11)

13 Mean ruse managed to obtain virtual tag (8) 15 Withstand conditions (7) 16 Comedian has a race with European power (7) 18 Head of teaching lied, fabricating Spanish accent (5) 20 Daily copy follows pressure put on Republican (5) 21 Fuel secures the German victory (4)