Factfinder crossword - The Scotsman 21/01/2012

Across

1 Edinburgh-born opera singer (d 1977), who made his debut as Faust at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1914 (6,6)

8 A low, oven-shaped 17 across (7)

9 Implies the non-existence of (7)

11 A Shakespearean term for a cutting (4)

12 A large West Indian plant of the Caesalpina family (6-4)

14 A French subsonic tactical missile (6)

15 The great ant bear (8)

17 A vent emitting gases in a volcano (8)

19 A liqueur made from wild cherries (6)

22 Part of a timepiece connecting the wheelwork with the pendulum or balance (10)

23 Large African water antelopes (4)

25 A flattish wooden block with a rope or iron band round it, and pierced with three holes for a lanyard (4-3)

26 Son of Abraham who was expelled into the desert after the birth of Isaac (7)

27 A plant (Cynglossum) of the borage family (6-6)

Down

1 Ancient oasis town in the West Bank, north of the Dead Sea (7)

2 A puckering or gathering (4)

3 The larger of the two moons of Mars (6)

4 Country in Central America (43,278 square miles; pop about 8 million), independent since 1838 (8)

5 The arrowhead genus (10)

6 Canadian province (415,598 sq miles; pop about 13 million), one of the four original provinces of Canada (7)

7 English market town (pop about 70,000), where George Stephenson (1781-1848) is buried (12)

10 A common prickly composite plant (5-7)

13 The top of a rampart, or space behind the parapet (10)

16 Thickset, short-legged spaniels with dense silky coats (8)

18 Set of small metal plates, rods, nuts and bolts etc used to make models (7)

20 City in the western Unites States (pop about 180,000), founded as a sawmill in 1871 (7)

21 A violet blue dye (6)

24 The green cormorant (4)

Last week’s solution:

Across: 1 Cierges, 5 Johnson, 9 Olivier, 10 Parsnip, 11 Bernstein, 12 Corfu, 13 Evans, 15 Tessellate, 16 Heteronym,

18 Escot, 21 Lyssa, 22 Videlicet, 24 Centaur, 26 Anemone, 27 Austere, 28 Stevens.

Down: 1 Crombie, 2 Eritrea, 3 Grits, 4 Serpentine verse, 5 Japanese medlars, 6 and 25 Harare, 7 Sangria, 8 Neptune, 12 Crete, 14 Syria, 16 Halacha, 17 Tisanes, 19 Cyclone, 20 Titlers, 23 Liege.