Factfinder's Crossword

Across

3 Hebridean island, the site of Kisimul Castle (5)

8 A Hindu holy man, ascetic and mendicant (6)

9 A goldsmith's crucible (6)

10 West African country (481,186 sq miles; pop about 9 million), independent since 1975 (6)

11 The wife of Orpheus in Greek mythology (8)

12 & 29 Ball game of Basque origin, resembling fives (6)

13 A trained falcon (6)

14 Treaty (especially between Spain and Britain) for the supply of African slaves (8)

17 Wolfsbane, or monkshood (7)

19 A fashionable dressmaker or milliner (7)

23 A long-bodied pig, typically red or brown (8)

27 Tropical woody climbing plants (6)

29 See 12 across

30 William __ (1897-1962), US novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 (8)

31 Hoists, lifts or raises up (6)

32 A prairie wolf (6)

33 An adulterant in brewing (6)

34 An upright stone or tablet (5)

Down

1 One of a tribe of native Americans in Nebraska, Oklahoma etc (6)

2 Canadian provincial capital (pop about 800,000), founded as a fur-trading settlement in 1795 (8)

3 East European capital (pop 2 million), the site of the remains of the Roman town of Aquincum (8)

4 A woman's short cloak, worn in the 18th century (7)

5 A mite (6)

6 Ancient city, a royal burgh since the 12th century, once a major whaling port (6)

7 A group of three lines in verse (6)

13 Ulysses S __ (1822-85), the 18th president of the United States (5)

15 & 18 A violet-blue dye (6)

16 Jesse __ (1913-80), US athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (5)

18 See 15 down

20 US state (69,956 sq miles; pop about 3 million), also known as the Sooner State (8)

21 Dingy yellowish grey or drab (8)

22 A psalm or hymn tune (7)

24 A former kingdom of north-east Spain, united with Castile in 1479 (6)

25 James __ (1805-60), Hawick-born businessman who founded The Economist (1843) (6)

26 Props, shores or bars (6)

28 The lower world, or hell, in Greek mythology (6)

Last week's solution:

Across: 1 Ploughgate, 6 Abba, 10 Tarantula, 11 Riant, 12 Sayers, 13 Khaddar, 15 Star-gazer, 18 Haiti, 19 Regma, 21 Ivy league, 23 Biltong, 24 Dipody, 27 Chile, 28 Inverurie, 29 Akee, 30 Stereogram

Down: 1 Putt, 2 Ocrea, 3 Ginseng, 4 Gauss, 5 Thackeray, 7 Brandling, 8 Asteroidea, 9 Breach, 14 Asarabacca, 16 Argillite, 17 Zeitgeist, 20 Azores, 22 Esparto, 24 Dover, 25 Durer, 26 Herm.

Winner: Frank & Sheila Morris, Dalgety Bay, Dunfermline