At a gallop
Running the 22-mile man v horse race in Wales
ACROSS
1 Small town in the south-west (pop 4,000), founded as a planned town in 1792 (6,7) 10 A pitch-black solid bitumen (9) 11 Sayings, especially early collections of those attributed to Christ (5) 12 A Mexican dish of a tortilla with a savoury flling (7) 13 The first day of each month in ancient Rome (7) 14 A Greek lyric poet (c612 - 580 BC) (6) 16 A contagious bacterial skin disease (8) 18 A native of an ancient state in Italy, north of the Tiber (8) 20 Island in the Strait of Malacca, the first British settlement in Malaya (6) 23 A traditional form of greeting in India (7) 24 Name of many birds, including skua, chough and cormorant (3-4) 26 The largest moon of Saturn (5) 27 An active volcano in the Tyrrhenian Sea (3,031 feet) (9) 28 Bearing examination, and accepted as satisfactory (7,6)
DOWN
2 The third Mughal emperor, reigning from 1556 to 1605 (5) 3 Relating to a large country in the Middle East (330,883 sq miles; pop about 80 million (7) 4 Thomas __ (1847 - 1931), Ohio-born American inventor (6) 5 At a loss for words (8) 6 Inland sea in north-east Israel (64 sq miles) (7) 7 South American country (1,072,515 sq miles; pop 40 million), independent since 1816 (9) 8 Ruined abbey near Stirling, founded in the 12th century (13) 9 Stretch of fertile land on the north shore of the River Tay (5,4,6) 15 A fabric made of worsted and cotton (9) 17 William __ (1658 - 1719), financier who was one of the founders of the Bank of England (8) 19 The acts under Scots law of giving legal possession of feudal property (7) 21 Rotterdam-born Christian philosopher (1466 - 1536) (6) 22 A place of retreat for a religious group (6) 25 River rising in the Swiss Alps and flowing 505 miles into the Mediterranean Sea (5)
ACROSS
1 Mismatch (5) 4 A barrier (5) 10 Perch (5) 11 Daydream (7) 12 A bugle-call (4,4) 13 Tip (4) 15 Comes to a point (6) 17 Sterile (6) 19 Actor’s part (4) 20 Direct (attention) (8) 23 Move forwards (7) 24 Composition (mus) (5) 25 A small stream (5) 26 Baffle (5)
DOWN
2 Weaving machines (5) 3 Singled out (3,5) 5 Grudge (4) 6 A bearer (7) 7 The working class (11) 8 Assignation (5) 9 Landing place (11) 14 Attacked with artillery (8) 16 Bother (7) 18 Alcoholic drink (5) 21 Invalidate (5) 22 Remarkable (4)