Factfinder Crossword - The Scotsman, 28/12/13

ACROSS

7 Stanley __ (1928 - 76), Welsh actor who starred in Zulu (1968) (5)

8 Not known about or understood by many people (9)

10 Disease in plants which blasts or withers them (6)

11 Exotic garden in Wester Ross, created by Osgood MacKenzie (8)

12 A unit of length equal to one hundred-millionth of a centimetre (8)

13 River of northern England rising in Cumbria, and flowing 80 miles into the North Sea (4)

15 With three leaflets (bot) (7)

17 Mack __ (1880 - 1960), Quebec-born film producer who made hundreds of film comedies (7)

20 A strong north-east wind in the upper Adriatic (4)

22 The wood-pigeon (4-4)

25 Leave of absence, especially from military duty (8)

26 Italian city (pop about 250,000), the site of one of

the largest Roman amphitheatres in the world (6)

27 Soft boggy areas of land that give way underfoot (9)

28 One of the Great Lakes (24,361 sq miles) (5)

DOWN

1 Perthshire town which featured as Tannochbrae in Dr Finlay’s Casebook (9)

2 Adam __ (1723 - 1816), Logierait-born historian, regarded as the “father of sociology” (8)

3 Either of two South American birds of the family Cariamidae (7)

4 An escort vessel designed to protect convoys from submarine attack (8)

5 Gertrude __ (1905 - 2003), the first woman to swim the English Channel (1926) (6)

6 Artificial oyster-beds (5)

9 A white mark on a beast’s forehead (4)

14 Robert __ (1772 - 1850), Glasgow-born engineer who designed and supervised the building of the Bell Rock lighthouse (9)

16 Phoebe Anne __ (1852 - 1934), Dublin-born artist who was the first woman to be a member of the RSA (8)

18 Relating to a strong smell or fume, especially of animal substances cooking or burning (8)

19 Gold or other rich embroidery, especially bordering a vestment (7)

21 German prisoner-of-war camps for officers (6)

23 The hub or central part of a wheel, through which the axle passes (4)

24 African antelopes with long spiral horns (5)

Last week’s solution:

Across: 1 Jasper , 4 Isograms, 8 Hermes, 10 Treenail, 12 Spang, 13 Petersham, 14 Okinawa, 15 Ohio, 19 West, 21 Abigail, 24 Acrospire, 26 Bract, 27 Tientsin, 28 Pariah, 20 Doldrums, 30 Stater.

Down: 1 Johnston, 2 Scriabin, 3 Everglade, 5 Stretto, 6 Greer , 7 Apache, 8 Salome, 11 Epha, 16 Idioblast, 17 Calamint, 18 Fletcher , 20 Tritium, 21 Akee, 22 Mantid, 23 Ordeal, 25 Suitor .