Factfinder’s crossword - The Scotsman 07/07/12

ACROSS

1 Tayport-born poet (1913-73) who wrote The Puddocks (7,5)

8 Large South American birds with huge beaks (7)

9 Relating to the wrasse genus of fishes (7)

11 A ravine, or water course (4)

12 Relating to the view that Christians are released by grace from the obligation of observing the moral law (10)

14 Shakespearean term for a cobbler (6)

15 An umbelliferous plant with yellow flowers (5-3)

17 A dry white German table wine (8)

19 The women’s quarters in a Muslim palace (6)

22 A genus of small American freshwater fishes akin to perch (10)

23 A day’s work (4)

25 Settle or move into a warm, comfortable position (7)

26 Halldor __ (1902-1998), Icelandic writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955 (7)

27 A fossil plant of a group resembling ferns (12)

DOWN

1 Gavin __ (1476-1522), Scottish poet who wrote Eneados, a translation of the Aeneid (7)

2 US state (84,899 sq miles; pop about 2 million), known as the Beehive State (4)

3 An amino acid, a decomposition product of proteins (6)

4 Arthur __ (1842-1900), English composer who wrote the music for the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers (8)

5 A rain gauge (10)

6 A black mineral, typically occurring as dense tabular crystals (7)

7 Large-eyed birds with mottled brownish plumage, resembling the plovers (5,7)

10 Scientist who studies the natural history of trees (12)

13 One who prepares skins for tanners (10)

16 An invasive plant of the dock family (8)

18 Use up (resources or reserves) completely (7)

20 City in California (pop about 350,000), founded in 1857 by German settlers (7)

21 Entrails (liver, heart etc), especially of a deer (6)

24 __-guard, a pedestal or pillow block (4)

Last week’s solution:

Across: 1 Kerouac, 5 Trismus, 9 Latimer, 10 Shearer, 11 Ametabola, 12 Quoin, 13 Apnea, 15 Shintoism, 16 Melatonin, 18 Ridge, 21 Drown,

22 Thecodont, 24 Saimiri, 26 Ideates, 27 Nandine, 28 Slaters.

Down: 1 Kolkata, 2 Ratteen, 3 Urmia, 4 Cordon sanitaire, 5 Tasmanian devils, 6 Ide, 7 Marconi, 8 Surinam, 12 Qatar, 14 Acton, 16 Madison,

17 Laotian, 19 Dioptre, 20 Ectasis, 23 Onega, 25 Ibi.

30 June winner: Alan Wiseman, Edinburgh. Mr Wiseman receives a copy of Abdication by Juliet Nicolson