Factfinder’s crossword - The Scotsman 27/04/13

Across

1 Agreement with England signed in 1174 by William I, and cancelled in 1189 (6,2,7)

9 Giuseppe __ (1807-82),a central figure in the Italian Risorgimento (9)

10 The altar parts or sanctuaries in ancient and Orthodox churches (5)

11 The largest of the European dormice (5)

12 Any starchy bananas widely used for cooking in the tropics (9)

13 North Atlantic fish of the cod family (5)

15 A large reptile with bony scales (9)

17 Citizen of small island nation in the Caribbean (290 sq miles; pop about 100,000), independent since 1978 (9)

19 Scattered seed for growth (5)

21 A fish-eating diving duck (9)

23 George __ (1896 -1996), US comedian who won an Oscar in 1976) (5)

24 Halos surrounding supernatural beings and saints (5)

25 A dungeon with no opening but at the top (9)

26 A plant (Ornithogalum) of the lily family (4-2-9)

Down

1 Composed of plates overlapping like tiles (9)

2 Any dermapterous insects of the family Forficulidae (7)

3 Wasting away (pathol) (5)

4 The lowest deck on a ship (5)

5 A small Venetian vessel with a square stem and two masts (9)

6 Acts of ritual pouring of liquids as an offering to the gods (9)

7 One of a sect of Shiite Muslims (7)

8 Moves very gradually (5)

14 Asmall republic in southern Europe (26sqmiles;pop about 30,000); it joined the UN in 1992 (3,6)

15 A jester’s cap (9)

16 In a seed, nutritive tissue formed from the embryo sac (9)

18 A type of African xylophone (7)

20 Anyo f a genus of Australian shrubs with showy flowers (7)

21 Bird sof the starling family, able to mimic human speech (5)

22 North African capital city (pop about 1million), with a university founded in 1957 (5)

23 A fish akin to the turbot, spotted with white (5)

Last week’s solution:

Across: 1 Scarlet-runner, 10 Insipient, 11 Prion, 12 Laotian, 13 Painter, 14 Aranea, 16 Barracan, 18 Dumfries, 20 Svelte, 23 Nodules, 24 Eclipse,

26 Allen, 27 Newmarket, 29 Consistencies.

Down: 2 Cisco, 3 Riptide, 4 Eterne, 5 Rataplan, 6 Nippier, 7 Eristical, 8 William Dunbar, 9 Infringements, 15 Armadillo, 17 Versants, 19 Rulings,

21 Voltaic, 22 Peewee, 25 Pekoe

Winner: F Morton, Sunderland

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