Factfinder’s crossword - The Scotsman 22/06/13

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 Japanese film version of Macbeth, directed by Akira Kurosawa (1957) (6,2,5)

10 Put together as a temporary measure (5)

11 A poisonous perennial plant of the buttercup family (9)

12 Word of the same spelling as another but of different pronunciation and meaning (9)

13 Citizen of country in northern Europe (173,798 sq miles; pop about 8.5 million), which joined the EU in 1995 (6)

14 James __ (1740-95), Edinburgh-born author who wrote a Life of Samuel Johnson (7)

16 Now obsolete term meaning to take across (7)

18 Co-operates in a matter of mutual concern (7)

20 Large salt water lake in central Asia (once about 25,000 sq miles), now heavily polluted (4,3)

21 Flowing and ebbing (5)

23 Benito __ (1883-1945), Italian dictator captured and shot by partisans after fleeing Rome (9)

25 A commander or ruler (9)

26 The Syrian hyrax, the cony of the Bible (5)

27 Large very arid area in north central Chile (about 31,000 sq miles) (7,6)

DOWN

2 Cling to the memory (of) (5)

3 The quality or fact of being different (9)

4 A colourless volatile flammable liquid alcohol (7)

5 Of a dead leaf colour, dull brown (7)

6 Industrial city in northern England (pop about 450,000), founded in Roman times (5)

7 Instruments used to measure distance travelled (9)

8 Edinburgh-born priest (1811-82), who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1869 (9,4)

9 Arrangements of windows in a building (archit) (13)

15 Adheres to an established political principle, resisting all compromise (fig) (6,3)

17 Large South American water-boas (9)

19 An indication of disease or other disorder (7)

20 Protected against discontinuance or change (7)

22 Using a light register (of a singing voice) (5)

24 Turkish seaport and naval base (pop about 2 million), on the Aegean Sea, largely destroyed by fire in 1922 (5)

Last week’s solution:

Across: 1 Mitchell, 5 Kalmia, 9 Reedling, 10 Obeche, 12 Aventails, 13 Tsuga, 14 Wimple, 17 Osage, 20 Ohmic, 21 Wrasse, 24 Furze, 25 Aphrodite, 28 Oolite, 29 Flake out, 30 Stowre, 31 Oxymoron.

Down: 1 Morgan, 2 Tee-tee, 3 Holst, 4 Lungi, 6 Albatross, 7 Macaulay, 8 Adenauer, 11 Asmera, 15 Ilchester, 16 Pawpaw, 18 Mouflons, 19 Amarillo, 22 Vigour, 23 Renton, 26 Helix, 27 Oakum.

Winner: Bruce Weir, Stow, Galashiels