Factfinder’s crossword - The Scotsman 07/01/2012

ACROSS

1 Glasgow-born Protestant reformer (c1503-1528), who was tried for heresy and burnt at the stake in St Andrews (7,8)

9 Old nickname for the Times (9)

10 A field of study, or course of action (5)

11 Irregular, usually vertical, veins of ore (5)

12 Town in southern England (pop more than 10,000), called Lactodorum in Roman times (9)

13 Small town in Lower Saxony (pop about 7,000), close to the North Sea coast (5)

15 Abnormal lateral curvature of the spine (9)

17 Name for some species of cranesbill (5-4)

19 A ridge of gravel and sand laid down by a retreating glacier (5)

21 Weighed in the round, or considered carefully (9)

23 David __ (b1947), London-born singer and actor who starred in the film The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) (5)

24 A French private soldier (5)

25 Exhaustion from want of food (9)

26 The act or process of painting in oil on stone and taking impressions therefrom (15)

DOWN

1 Major fishing port (pop about 17,000) in the north-east (9)

2 A barrel-shaped cheese (7)

3 River rising in Tibet, and flowing 1,098 miles into the Indian Ocean (5)

4 Rough limestone country with underground drainage (geol) (5)

5 A West Indian plant, or a nutritious starch made from its rhizome (9)

6 Citizen of a Middle Eastern country (8,022 sq miles; pop about 7 million), independent since 1948 (9)

7 Fish of the British species of shad (7)

8 City in southern Belgium (pop about 100,000), with a university founded in 1831 (5)

14 With full time allowed for each note (mus) (9)

15 A large sea creature with upper jaw compressed and prolonged as a stabbing weapon (9)

16 Formerly, barristers of the highest rank (9)

18 A noxious or troublesome animal or person (7)

20 Citizen of a Middle Eastern country (6,880 sq miles; pop more than 2.5 million), independent since 1961 (6)

21 The Bo Tree, the holy tree of Buddhists in India and Sri Lanka (5)

22 Athenian law-maker (7th century BC), who introduced a harsh legal code (5)

23 Large port in Mozambique (pop more than 500,000), founded in 1891 (5)

Last week’s solution:

Across: 1 Southern Cross, 10 Eclampsia, 11 Senna, 12 Uppsala, 13 Bornite, 14 Faroes, 16 Germinal, 18 Yosemite, 20 Steele, 23 Ricardo, 24 Anneals, 26 Proud, 27 Langridge, 28 Astrodynamics.

Down: 2 Oxlip, 3 Timbale, 4 Ensear, 5 Near beer, 6 Rostrum, 7 Sentience, 8 Venus flytraps, 9 Capellmeister, 15 Rosaceous, 17 Strolled, 19 Mirador, 21 Tangram, 22 Cannon, 25 Asdic.