52 | New Scientist | 6 February 2021
Cryptic crossword #50 Set by Rasa
Scribble
zoneAnswers and
the next quick
crossword next week The back pages Puzzles
Our crosswords are now solvable online
newscientist.com/crosswordsQuick quiz #87
1 Remains of the hominin Homo
antecessor were first discovered
in which country?2 Coprophagy is the consumption
of what?3 In what year will Halley’s comet
next be visible from Earth?4 A vertical or nearly vertical shaft
in a glacier is known as what?5 Who invented the first commercial
synthesiser in 1964?Answers on page 55Puzzle
set by Holly Biming
#99 Around the clockPranksters have tampered with the
school clock. They have removed
the minute hand, repainted the
numbers so that some or all of
them are now in the wrong position
and left the clock lying on the desk
so there is no way of telling which
is the right way up.The note they left says: “We won’t
tell you how many numbers are in
the right position because if we did,
you could work out the time.”The hour hand is pointing directly
at the number 2. What time is it?Answer next weekACROSS
1 Waves at accommodating Conservative
hill dweller for something to reduce
tension? (10)
7 Daughter committed to reversing
defeat for English house (5)
8 Mashed tuber added to the empty
measuring vessel (7)
10 Virus variants initially reproduce
in dirty spots (7)
11 Physicist Virginia takes in bad lot (5)
12 Musician Brian? Yuck, knock it off (6)
14 Draw out pests tail first with that object (6)
16 Avoid hail at centre of vortex (5)
17 Unstable element destroyed a ruin
next to well (7)
19 Almost affix mosaic piece designed
to be touched (7)
20 Eccentric earls’ beam (5)
21 Northern regions feature two hairstyles
with split ends (10)DOWN
2 Plain-clothes officer arranged con procedure,
arresting five (10,3)
3 Agents in pursuit of whistle-blower
backing up physicist (5)
4 Ancient unit houses southern artist (6)
5 After abandoning church, chief opponent
makes appearance (7)
6 Story excerpts probing lower ten rare
events (5,8)
7 Hypercube experiment has raised
concerns (9)
9 Tom involved in second-hand transaction,
returning neoprene, for example (9)
13 Bolder jerk upset over rise in disorder (7)
15 Terrible reek surrounds 17A, seen with a
cry of epiphany (6)
18 Remove head from beer-and-juice drink
for Irene of Holmes lore (5)