£50 PRIZE CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Talks about a piece of rhubarb or celery (5)

4 The ram’s becoming a popular pet for the children (7)

8 Dopey Darlene acquired knowledge and skills (7)

9 Parts going west to secure with a long strip of material (5) 10 Baffled and bewildered between ports on cruise (2,3) 11 Ken and Roy linked up in these Scottish islands (6) 14 Anglers’ baits that

break the rules (5) 16 Nadia makes a comeback with Irish actor Turner (5) 18 Somehow reared to be a Sunday Mail fan (6)

21 Little Ella’s liable to knock back this Scots girl’s name (5) 24 Hint that the wee ref, Nigel, needs to retire (5)

25 Take Doc to Berwick shortly, it starts after September (7)

26 The Round Table knight a fete or fair had (7)

27 Rubbing in new soap easily? Initially it’s a washout (5)

DOWN

1 Auctioned off as a bit of the furniture’s old-fashioned (4) 2 Pat read about an electric device for folk going abroad (7) 3 Len and Ken’s restored boarding place for pets (7) 4 Get out of sight in a

twitcher’s hut (4) 5 What a Scrooge is

called in Reims (5) 6 Take a turn round centre of Cairo or an Italian city (5) 7 Sending a message back about a lying rep (8)

12 OK to pick up one colourful Japanese carp (3) 13 Frightening as noisy morning clock goes off suddenly? (8) 15 The last part of a movie upset little Rodney (3)

16 A flighty person from Scandinavia to reprimand (7)

17 A nut bids bizarrely for a pre-wheelie container (7) 19 Appalling and atrocious yet almost entirely lawful (5) 20 Top soil and wire found in an electric plug (5) 22 Inhospitable and distant with a common ailment (4) 23 Great Lake from which Niagara Falls water comes – sounds spooky (4)