This month, we have again snared the talent of guest cruciverbalist Roy Arnott. As a result, the May 2012 Skeptical Crossword comes in two versions: with standard clues and with cryptic clues. There’s an unusually large crop of Mixed Bag questions to mark Trivia month at Skeptics Café, and seven new Picture Puzzles. Click on the Puzzles tab at the top of the page.
1. a. Basic / sick bay; b. Welfare / farewell; c. Zero / rosy d. Germaine / manger
2. a. 6 Strings on a guitar; b. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover; c. 4 Suits in a deck of cards; d. 1 Giant Leap for Mankind; e. 9 Lives of a Cat
3. Keeps an eye out for police
4. a hermit
5. John Stonehouse
6. Barbara Cartland
7. Prince Charles
8. Pnom Penh
9. Holding / storing liquids (oil or wine)
10. Jimmy Carter
11. Jimmy Hoffa
12. Fear of the number 13
13. Phar Lap (Australia’s most famous race-horse)
14. The Harbour Bridge
15. Wooden Heart
16. Five
17. Calculus
18. Aluminium
19. Octavian a.k.a Augustus
20. The Melbourne Cup
21. 1966
22. A free shot which your opponent allows you after you’ve made a bad shot
23. Bravo
24. Belgian
25. Tyro