Times Crossword 28,197 across down Yesterday’s solution 28,196
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access charge. SP: Spoke 0333 202 3390.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 89101112 13 14 1516 17 181920 21 2223 24252627FROMNATURE MISO
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A R A N A T
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O E O O I A L
SPAR LAWNTENNIS1 Do reduce your litter! (4,1,3)
9 Machine chopped fruit that a
human regularly bags (8)
10 Standard, one consistently falling
short (6)
11 Jack, with tyrant’s role, taking time
out — making it permanent? (10)
12 Go free from Baltic? (4)
13 Tips on weapons hardware, so
varied (10)
16 1000, say; slightly more ones and
zeroes (7)
17 A quiet moment with the French
chap behind the museum? (7)
20 Elders quietly replaced by trees
next to railway (10)
22 Where cricketers practise catches
(4)
23 Bloomer, with Latin stars receiving
letter from Greek detectives (10)
25 Evidently need oil pipe (6)
26 Link with Brussels bureaucrat so
ruefully if partially recalled (8)
27 Poet’s light, mostly obscene book
(3-5)2 Drive away reformed killer,
perhaps, wiser after case dismissed
(8)
3 What shoppers do after failure to
find cooking ingredient (5,5)
4 Capital made of gossip — PC
covered in shame (6,4)
5 Day trip in need of whacking great
deposit (3,4)
6 Jerk wanting nothing at first to do
with loan request from Antony? (4)
7 Graduate getting zero on a stiff
paper (6)
8 Gifts the first thing Santa has for
picking up? (8)
14 Vague desire maybe to get husband
for Yankee lady at last (5-5)
15 Animated cow in garden to barge
in after hesitation (10)
16 Force king to accept a top
politician’s charter (3-5)
18 Low calorie helping reduced by a
third, people learned (8)
19 Old sailor wearing light, tight
garment (7)
21 Come to a halt by front of pub in
Ireland (6)
24 Hint — minor — that’s dropped
every so often (4)Newspapers
support recycling
The recycled paper content of
UK newspapers in 2020 was 67%John Westerby, Will Kelleher
England’s Guinness Six Nations
preparations were disrupted further
yesterday when Joe Marler became the
latest player to withdraw from their
training squad after returning a positive
test for Covid-19.
Marler’s absence is another blow to
Eddie Jones, the head coach, who lost
his first-choice captain, Owen Farrell,
and his leading tryscorer, Jonny May, to
injury on Monday, forcing him to recall
George Ford and Elliot Daly. Courtney
Lawes, the favourite to replace Farrell
as captain, is unable to participate at the
Brighton training camp because he is
undergoing the return-to-play proto-
cols necessitated by a head injury.
England begin their Six Nations
campaign against Scotland at BT
Murrayfield a week on Saturday.
It is the second time in two months
that Marler, 31, the key loose-headprop, has caught the virus. He missed
England’s victory over Australia in the
autumn after testing positive in
November, but returned to the replace-
ments’ bench to face South Africa after
one training session with the team.
The Rugby Football Union revealed
that Marler tested positive during its
daily lateral flow testing regime. He was
immediately put into isolation, with a
PCR test then confirming the result. If
he is required to isolate for the full ten2GM Wednesday January 26 2022 | the timesSp ort
2022 | thhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhe eeetimesChina deserves to be ridiculed and
Winnie-the-Pooh is the way to do it
Matthew Syed, page 56My hope for Winter Olympics
Fears for
Mané after
head injury
Liverpool’s Sadio Mané was
forced off with a suspected
concussion during Senegal’s
Africa Cup of Nations win
over Cape Verde, having
collided with their
goalkeeper. He played on for
five minutes and scored but
slumped to the ground and
was substituted. Page 65ANDY BROWNBILL/APHodgson lured
by £1m+ bonus
Matt LawtonRoy Hodgson has become the new
head coach of Watford on a heavily
incentivised deal that will reward him
with a seven-figure bonus if he keeps
the club in the Premier League.
The Times understands that the
74-year-old former England manager
has accepted a relatively low basic wage
to succeed Claudio Ranieri, who was
sacked on Monday after securing only
two victories in 13 Premier League
matches.
But after contract talks that started
on Monday evening and were not
concluded until shortly before 7pm last
night, Hodgson has agreed a deal that
will mean he is heavily rewarded if he
can maintain the top-flight status of the
team, who sit 19th in the table. The
contract runs until the end of this
season, with an option on both
Continued on page 65England hit by Marler blow
days, Marler would emerge only two
days before the match at Murrayfield
on February 5. However, as per govern-
ment guidelines, if he tests negative
twice in a row from day five of his
isolation he can return to the squad
from Monday onwards.
The rest of England’s squad and staff
returned negative test results. Marler,
who played for Harlequins on Friday
night in the Heineken Champions Cup
Continued on page 59Prop is third key player to withdraw from Six Nations squad after his positive Covid-19 test
Newcastle bid
for £34m star
Martin HardyNewcastle United last night sought
to take their transfer window spending
to £71.5 million after making a £34 mil-
lion offer for the Lyons midfielder
Bruno Guimarães.
The Brazil international, 24, has been
a long-term target for Arsenal but the
financial might of Newcastle has put
them in pole position for his signature.
Since their takeover in October last
year, when Saudi Arabia’s Public
Investment Fund took an 80 per cent
shareholding in the club, they have
signed Chris Wood for £25 million and
Kieran Trippier for £12.5 million.
The club hope to sign Guimarães and
two more players before the window
shuts on Monday, with their transfer
window outlay expected to pass
£100 million.
Staveley must deliver, page 62