FACTFINDER’S CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 The seat of the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords (8) 5 An arquebus, an old-fashioned handgun (6) 9 French writer and philosopher (1694 1778), who wrote Candide (1759) (8) 10 A rapid-firing gun fitted to a plane, etc (6) 11 Obsolete term for confirms the correctness of (8) 13 The royal dynasty of France from 1328 to 1589 (6) 14 and 21 Anti-aircraft fire (3-3) 16 Brendon __ (b 1951), the general secretary of the TUC (2003-12) (6) 19 Ballroom dance to syncopated music (7) 20 Standing stone used by the builders of Stonehenge (6) 21 See 14 across 26 A standard-bearer (6) 27 US state (40,395 sq miles; pop 4.5 million), nicknamed the Bluegrass State (8) 28 Norwegian city (pop 65,000), with the world’s most northerly university (6) 29 Antibodies, constituents of blood serum (8) 30 A fine pigment made from ferruginous ochreus earth (6) 31 The front and larger part of the brain (8)

DOWN

1 A fictitious winged monster (her) (6) 2 A kind of limestone, consisting of a mass of rounded grains (6) 3 Island in the Inner Hebrides, the site of Fiingal’s Cave (6) 4 Membrane forming the front covering of the eye (6) 6 An Indian songbird akin to the weaver birds (8) 7 Humbug or claptrap (8) 8 Old Gaelic system of succession (8) 12 A comedian’s familiar routine, or line of chat, etc (7) 15 and 16 A sweetmeat that’s soft in the middle (6) 17 A highly heat-resistant fibrous silicate mineral (8) 18 Instrument for exhibiting the prismatic colours (8) 19 Adam __ (1723 - 1816), historian who wrote A History of Civil Society (1767) (8) 22 Malignant water-sprite, in the form of a horse (6) 23 Unoccupied, indolent, futile, etc(6) 24 More repulsive, or sickly sweet (coll) (6) 25 Soft material, the source of plaster of Paris, etc (6)