Times Crossword 2 7, 800
across down Yesterday’s solution 27,79 9
Check today’s answers by ringing 0905 757
0 141 by midnight. Calls cost £1 per minute
plus your telephone company’s network
access charge. SP: Spoke 0333 202 3390.1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8
9 10
11 12
13 14 15
16
17 18 19 20
21
22 23
24 25
26
GAMETE HAB I TAT
A U H B O O A E
SENSE ADMIXTURE
T T S R E T R N
REJOINDER HA IRY
O A S O O N
PUCK CLOVERLEAF
U S P E N O
BLACKTHORN SCAR
U I I A H G
LOTUS NEFERT I T I
U O L E I C A V
MICROWAVE HANOI
P A P T D E T N
SCREECH TRYING1 Cloth worker joins navy, perhaps,
becoming NCO? (6,8)
9 Bishop abandons climb I’m for
circulating in celluloid ( 9 )
10 Burrowing insect duke removed
from flower-bed ( 5 )
11 Pub has appeal, commonly, is that
not so? ( 5 )
12 Islander thanks Welsh girl
entertaining crew (9)
13 Person drawing vessel in Home
Counties river ( 8 )
15 Urge initially to understand an
Indo-European language ( 6 )
17 Hood, for example? Old hat
originally worn around city ( 6 )
19 Work together in diplomacy,
protecting Queen (8)
22 A rage rejected by a lean American
trapeze artist (9)
23 Pride’s initial spur for his historical
act? ( 5 )
24 Girl consuming a side dish in
Mumbai? ( 5 )
25 Friend in Prague reportedly
winning position on board? ( 9 )
26 O for a means to disseminate
information! (8,6)1 Doorman’s company getting
Hebridean beauty in trouble ( 14 )
2 Permit husband to leave fungus on
church ( 7 )
3 University club housing old
submarine (1-4)
4 Bird an impatient landlord might
hope to secure? (8)
5 Fail to attend again? That’s careless
( 6 )
6 Opening in battlement half of them
support? Absolutely ( 9 )
7 City man put up with heartless
crone ( 7 )
8 Be last to contact certain soldiers in
pub (5,2,3,4)
14 Brief opportunity to secure Omani,
perhaps, as coach ( 9 )
16 Clothing worn by knight on river
— sweaters and things ( 8 )
18 Word in India for transport hubs ( 7 )
20 A brute keeping right up to date ( 7 )
21 Entry in brief is calculation relating
to tax revenues (6)
23 Quick glance, half-heartedly, over
last of jasmine tea ( 5 )y(7HB7E2*OTSLMR( |||+[!@
Newspapers
support recycling
The recycled paper content of
UK newspapers in 2019 was 63.2%Paul Joyce
Northern Football Correspondent
Liverpool are continuing to push for
answers over the incident that has
wrecked Virgil van Dijk’s season after
receiving contradictory explanations
of how the match officials dealt with
Jordan Pickford’s reckless challenge.
A senior figure from the Premier
League was in contact with Liverpool
officials during the Merseyside derby
on Saturday and said that no check had
been made by David Coote, the VAR
official, on whether the Everton goal-
keeper should have been sent off for the
tackle that left Van Dijk with anterior
cruciate ligament damage and battling
to play again this campaign.
This stance was corroborated by the
Premier League in response to media
inquiries into the sixth-minute incident
that was one of the main talking points
during television coverage of the
fixture, which ended 2-2.
Feedback from Stockley Park, where
Coote was based for the game, is
relayed to the Premier League, which
then responds to questions surround-
ing any matches.
However, Liverpool subsequently
received an email from Mike Riley, man-
aging director of Professional Game
Match Officials Limited (PGMOL),
over the weekend stating that a check
on the red card had been made.
The two messages are at odds with
each other, which leaves Liverpool
unclear on what to believe and
concerned as to whether a story has
Lucky Jiménez halts Leeds rise
Deflected goal gives Wolves 1-0 win over Marcelo Bielsa’s team, page 64
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER BRADLEY ORMESHERWasps get four
more positives
Alex Lowe Deputy Rugby Correspondent
South Africa
tour go-ahead
Elizabeth Ammon
Wasps’ participation in the Gallagher
Premiership final against Exeter Chiefs
on Saturday remains in doubt after the
club returned four more positive tests
for coronavirus.
Public Health England (PHE) has
advised Wasps to keep their training
ground closed and ordered that
another round of tests must be
conducted today before a final decision
can be made tomorrow morning.
Wasps halted training last week after
four players, who are understood to be
house-mates in the club’s academy, and
three staff members tested positive for
the virus. The latest positive tests apply
to three players and a staff member.
Bristol Bears have had to put family
holidays on hold because they are on
standby to play Exeter should Wasps,
who defeated them 47-24 in the semi-
Continued on page 61England’s cricket tour to South Africa
next month is set to go ahead after the
South African government agreed to
let the squad train outdoors during
their period of quarantine.
The normal requirements are that
visitors from high-risk countries, such
as the UK, must stay in their hotel
rooms for ten days but an agreement
has been reached to waive that and
allow the team to train within a
biosecure environment.
The England and Wales Cricket
Board (ECB), which has said it will put
the mental health and wellbeing of its
players at the forefront of any decisions,
would not agree to tour unless the
players could train outside.
It is expected that the ECB will now
charter a private flight, which it has
Continued on page 642GM Tuesday October 20 2020 | the times
Sp ort
Come clean
on Van Dijk,
say Liverpool
been concocted amid the fallout from
Pickford’s challenge.
A formal process whereby Liverpool
can ask for clarity would normally have
John Achterberg, the goalkeeping
coach, contact Simon Morgan, the Pre-
mier League’s head of football relations.
PGMOL would then sit on Thursday
and review requests it has received.
But Liverpool have written to the
Premier League seeking an explana-
tion on how two versions of how the
matter was handled can be so different.
PGMOL would not comment when
contacted by The Times. It is under-
stood it will be reaffirmed to Liverpool
that the incident was looked at by the
VAR, who took the view that while it
would have been a penalty if Van Dijk
had been onside, Pickford made a genu-
ine attempt to reach the ball so it would
have been only a yellow-card offence.
The reason “possible red card” did
not flash up on to the screens at Goodis-
on Park was that the VAR was also
looking at the offside and possible
penalty decisions.
The FA said on Monday that Pick-
ford, 26, would not be punished retro-
spectively as the incident was seen by
the match officials in accordance with
Riley’s version.
Speaking for the first time about the
injury to Van Dijk, Jürgen Klopp, the
Liverpool manager, said that he feared
the worst when watching the tackle
again after the match.
“Virgil is Virgil and we don’t want to
set any time frame,” Klopp said on
Continued on page 63Club claim officials changed story over Pickford
Emerging jockey Osborne
survives horror Windsor fall
Racing, page 58
Narrow escape