Factfinder’s Crossword - The Scotsman - 24/03/2012

Saturday’s puzzle...

Across

1 The northernmost point of mainland Scotland (6,4)

6 Straw, especially of gathered plants (4)

10 Asian capital city (pop about 800,000), situated on the Mekong River (9)

11 Shining, bright or merry (poet) (5)

12 A sitting, especially of spiritualists (6)

13 Alexander __ (1881-1955), Ayrshire-born pharmacologist who shared the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1945 (7)

15 Major seaport in northern Russia (pop about 350,000) (9)

18 Archaic term for bedaubs or defiles (5)

19 George Gordon __ (1788-1824), poet who wrote Don Juan (5)

21 Former name of large east African country (426,371 sq miles; pop about 90 million) (9)

23 Fillets, chaplets or wreaths (7)

24 Old term for the cowslip (6)

27 The shaft of a vehicle (5)

28 Borders battle (1388) in which a Scottish army defeated an English one (9)

29 River rising in County Cavan and flowing 72 miles into Donegal Bay (4)

30 Stoppage of bleeding, or the flow of blood (US spelling) (10)

DOWN

1 Humphry __ (1778-1829), Cornwall-born chemist who invented a safety lamp for miners (4)

2 The fist (5)

3 East European country (17,413 sq miles; pop 1.3 million), independent since 1991 (7)

4 Move into a certain position, originally of a ship (5)

5 Small town in Perthshire, the site of the Black Watch memorial (9)

7 An imperfect sorrow for sin (theol) (9)

8 African country (226,597 sq miles; pop about 22 million), independent since 1960 (10)

9 Italy-born saint (c1033-1109), who in 1093 became Archbishop of Canterbury (6)

14 Small town in the south-west, once noted for its granite quarry (10)

16 A colour ranging from light pink to deep crimson (9)

17 Deep-water port in eastern Australia, founded as a colony in 1847 (9)

20 A way of ornamenting metal by engraving (6)

22 A water parsnip with edible roots (7)

24 A member of a west African genus of lemurs (5)

25 Joe __ (1914-81), Alabama-born boxer who was the world heavyweight champion from 1937-1949 (5)

26 Large African antelopes (4)

Last week’s solution:

Across: 8 Plumbago, 9 Bolted, 10 Freaks, 11 Delaware, 12 Stot, 13 Fenestrate, 15 Blossom, 17 Implode, 20 Coloratura, 22 Buff, 24 Batteler, 26 Weasel, 27 Edison, 28 Tarboosh.

Down: 1 Claret, 2 Amiantus, 3 Passiflora, 4 Bonding, 5 Obol, 6 Blower, 7 Secreted, 14 Samian ware, 16 Leonardo, 18 Labrador, 19 Burrito, 21 Obtuse, 22 Flense, 25 Lynx.

Winner: DRH Crichton, Balerno