Cryptic

Across

1 The Italian and French here in California and part of Asia Minor (7)

5 Put a fortification round a number backing Belgium. French, perhaps (7)

9 One hesitating to follow the scent in Moroccan port (7)

10 Fijian capital ace traded in old Moldova capital (7)

11 Writing out ‘Ciao, FBI’ on passage between Italy and France (9)

12 River flowing through the Marina di Genova (5)

13 Regions standardized over a course of a day to meet Zion’s order (4-5)

16 Course running in Oxford for exalted Egyptian (4)

19 Azeri capital in name taken from bank by university (4)

20 Coin in Canada a name symbolic of a country (5,4)

22 Top spaghetti offered first in this Italian city (5)

24 Roar about S Sea Island to reach one of the Cook Islands (9)

27 Native American – chief CIA worry on bridge in France (7)

28 Aerobic process in rum-making here in Puerto Rico (7)

29 Southern Chinese family, getting a ‘no’ from the French, find somewhere to land in Ireland (7)

30 First class memo about Soviet leader retreating, to land on the Baltic (7)

Down

1 Direct Cabot to a part of Mindanao (8)

2 Number upset after letterhead indicates impostor in Russia (5)

3 Coastal feature chap named (5)

4 Mecca far? Iranian’s wanting to see an ethnic minority (7-8)

5 English resort to quarters around Ohio over excellent racehorse (6-5-4)

6 Detailed Spanish sherry/port, with volume inscribed in material from Malabar islands (9)

7 Arabic type tomorrow in Italy’s going capless (5)

8 I’m, inside, yearning to go back to a place on the Niger (6)

14 Extinct bird from island off East Timor? (3)

15 ‘City in Henan province’s strangely human.’ Diaz (9)

17 Uncertainty over English at Nigerian university (3)

18 Half a continent has a goal, somehow, to see part of Naples (8)

21 The English river and the Italian flower? Point becomes plain in Brazil (6)

23 Here in Yemen prospective teetotallers follow the saintly Spaniard (5)

25 Place in New Jersey not on the religious council (5)

26 Scottish town atmosphere’s somewhere between the Poles (5)

Quick

Across

1 SE Turkey in antiquity (7)

5 French-speaking Belgian (7)

9 Moroccan port since 1956 (7)

10 Mining city of NE Romania, the medieval Moldova capital (7)

11 Strait separating Corsica from Sardinia (9)

12 N Italian river (5)

13 They number 24 and are 15° of longitude in width (4-5)

16 The Thames at Oxford (4)

19 Capital of Azerbaijan (4)

20 Canadian flag (5,4)

22 Industrial and skiing valley of NW Italy (5)

24 Largest of the Cook Islands (9)

27 Car city of SE Michigan, once the seat of the Ottawa tribe (7)

28 Puerto Rican city, famous for its rum trade (7)

29 Longest river in the British Isles (7)

30 Baltic state (7)

Down

1 Region and port of Mindanao island, Philippines (8)

2 Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, 1870-1924 (5)

3 Sea or river bluff (5)

4 Largest (10%) ethnic minority in the US (7-8)

5 Seaside town in Somerset, England (6-5-4)

6 Archipelago, known since 1973 as the Lakshadweep Islands (9)

7 Citizen of a S Arabian sultanate (5)

8 Capital of Niger (6)

14 River in Sierra Leone: island, part of the Indonesian Kepulauan Leti (3)

15 Henan city, on the main railway between Zhengzhou and Wuhan (9)

17 Major historic centre of the Yoruba, SW Nigeria (3)

18 Classical site, now a suburb of Naples (8)

21 The Brazilian savanna; and a sugar-producing city NE of Rio (6)

23 Capital in greater Arabia, arguably the world’s oldest city (5)

25 English river (5)

26 Scottish city, river and former county (5)

This article is from the March 2004 issue of New Internationalist.

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