Factfinder’s crossword - The Scotsman 11/02/2012

Saturday’s puzzle...

ACROSS

1 Opposition to inquiry, reform or new knowledge (12)

8 A ring-shaped coral reef or island (5)

9 Boccaccio’s book of 100 tales (9)

11 West African city (pop about 1.3 million), which in 1926 became its country’s capital (6)

12 A fine sort of tobacco moistened with molasses (5-3)

14 Assumption of divine powers (10)

15 European capital city (pop more than 600,000), founded around 1048 (4)

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18 Mountain in western Sardinia (2,664ft), north-east of Terralba (4)

19 Seeking to know the future or hidden things by magical means (10)

21 Small Japanese carved ornaments (8)

23 Biblical prophet (and a book of the Old Testament) (6)

25 Citizen of north European country (148,746 sq miles; pop 5 million), independent since 1905 (9)

26 __ Delon (b1935), French actor who starred in Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers (1960) (5)

27 Papal representatives at minor courts (12)

DOWN

1 Pertaining to a name, especially to the signature to a paper written in another hand (9)

2 Outward-pointing angles, especially of fortifications or lines of defence (8)

3 The official literary language of Pakistan (4)

4 The office of one of the nine chief magistrates of ancient Athens (10)

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5 The degree of hardness and elasticity in steel and other metals (6)

6 A second-year salmon (5)

7 Irish monk (c625-704) who in 679 became the ninth abbot of Iona (5,7)

10 Large region in North America (43,008 sq miles; pop about 475,000), the world’s 16th largest island (12)

13 The point of the orbit of a planet or a comet at which it is nearest to the Sun (10)

16 Short, single-edged, curved swords (9)

17 Large semi-arid plateau in southern Africa (225,000 sq miles), home to the Bushmen (8)

20 City in the north-west of the USA (pop about 150,000), with a university founded in 1876 (6)

22 Industrial city and regional capital in northern Italy (pop 900,000), the site of the Fiat HQ (5)

24 At another time, or presently (4)

Last week’s solution:

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Across: 1 Douglas Haig, 9 Evans, 10 Residual, 12 Organon, 13 Melrose, 14 Gilan, 15 Open order, 18 Ring-snake, 20 Humid, 21 Ortolan, 24 Gagarin, 25 Seriatim, 26 Lorca, 27 Hawkishness.

Down: 2 Opsonin, 3 Girandola, 4 Assam, 5 Hidalgo, 6 Idaho, 7 Seton Gordon, 8 Pangolin, 11 Henry Dundas, 16 Energumen, 17 Demerara, 19 Selkirk, 20 Haggles, 22 Theca, 23 Notus.

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