Factfinder’s crossword - The Scotsman 01/06/13

This week’s prize: a Collins English Dictionary Concise Edition, to the first correct entry opened at random. Entries must be received by Thursday. Cut out the crossword panel and send to: Factfinder’s Crossword, Promotions Department, The Scotsman, PO Box 1027, Edinburgh, EH8 8AS.

Across

1 A long-legged, short-winged falcon of the Accipiter genus (7-4)

9 Island divided in two by the Highland Boundary Fault (5)

10 Industrial city in California (pop about 150,000), north-east of Los Angeles (8)

12 A low platform (7)

13 The fusee of a watch (7)

14 J L __ (1888-1946), Helensburgh-born pioneer of television (5)

15 A hard Swiss cheese, similar to Gruyere (9)

18 Citizen of small European country (39,714 sq miles; pop 300,000), independent since 1944 (9)

20 Wat __ (d1381), the leader of the Peasants’ Revolt in England (5)

21 An organ or segment corresponding to another (zool) (7)

24 North African seaport (pop about 300,000), created a free port in 1962 (7)

25 A large bottle holding the equivalent of four normal bottles of champagne (8)

26 An alluvial riverside plain (5)

27 A fishing line with hooks or weights attached at intervals (11)

Down

2 A small, slim dagger (7)

3 Find fault with, or reprove (9)

4 Kilns used for drying hops (5)

5 Roman emperor (76-138), who founded the Athenaeum in Rome (7)

6 Declined in power, prosperity etc (5)

7 Glasgow-born dramatist (1888-1951) who founded the Citizens’ Theatre (5,6)

8 A partition used to control ventilation in a mine (8)

11 Large bushy plants producing small, apple-shaped fruit (6,5)

16 The Atlantic provinces of eastern Canada (9)

17 A rope used to hoist or lower a sail, yard or

flag (8)

19 Needle-pointed (bot) (7)

20 An ecclesiastical vestment like a dalmatic (7)

22 Large stretch of water in north-west Russia (3,710 sq miles), the second largest lake in Europe (5)

23 Archaic term meaning to separate and remove (5)

Last week’s solution:

Across: 1 Tobias Smollett, 9 Illuded, 10 Diurnal, 11 Trajectory, 12 Kame, 14 Nassau, 15 Parakeet, 17 Appleton, 19 Bonsai, 22 Utah, 23 Ptarmigans,

25 Hornito, 26 Calorie, 27 George Gershwin.

Down: 1 Tristan da Cunha, 2 Balkans, 3 Addle-pated, 4 Sudate, 5 Omdurman, 6 Lout, 7 Tyndale, 8 Albert Einstein, 13 Sapodillas, 16 Zoetrope,

18 Prairie, 20 Sparrow, 21 Orache, 24 Kier.

Winner: Mrs M E Mackinnon, Isle of Harris