March 2015 Skeptical Crossword

by Ken Greatorex 

Theme: General Skeptical Issues

(Click on the above grid to enlarge and print off)

ACROSS:

1. Once-faddish method of predicting various aspects of a person’s life through simple mathematical cycles. Scientists now believe that predictions are no better than chance and that the concept is pseudoscience [10]
2. Dishonest scheme [4]
3. Alas! [3]
4. Completely [7]
5. A minority religious belief considered to be extremist by its non-adherents [4]
6. One of the major principles of a religion or philosophy [5]
7. Serenity [9]
8. Excreted solution [5]
9. System of fortune telling based on cards [5]
10. One of a race of giants [5]
11. The ratio of a company’s debt to its equity [7]
12. Intelligible, comprehensible, cogent [5]
13. Prepare a document again, but in a different way [7]
14. Ensanguined [6]
15. Fable, lore [4]
16. Reliable, continuing [6]
17. Belief [3]
18. Gratuity [3]
19. Czech-born German-language writer whose name has become a by-word for senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity [5]
20. Musical theatre [5]
21. Roman sixty-one [3]
22. Fanatical or zealous believer in a particular religion or god [7]
23. Subjective form of Us [2]
24. Carved Maori good-luck figure [4]
25. Tiller or wheel of a ship [4]
26. Complain persistently [3]
27. & 54 across: Technique of using guesses and assumptions, then narrowing in on any positive responses, in order to give the impression of having psychically gained information about a person (two words, [4], [7])
28. See 52 across
29. By way of repetition [5]
30. & 58 across: Early Spiritualist siblings, subsequently proved fraudulent (two words, [3], [7])
31. See 57 across
32. That which remains [7]

DOWN:

2. & 42 down: A form of Creationism – the conjecture that life arose under the guidance of an intelligent agent rather than the result of random natural processes (two words, [11], [6])
3. Decompose; also verbal nonsense [3]
4. & 28 down & 37 down & 53 down: Paranormal skill claimed by John Edward, James van Praagh et al (four words, [7], [2], [3], [4])
5. & 41 down: Early photographic scam which attracted ardent believers such as Conan Doyle (two words, [10], [7])
6. & 32 down: What Daniel Palmer was into before he invented Chiropractic (two words, [8], [7])
7. & 36 down: Motion that continues indefinitely without any external source of energy; not possible according to basic physical laws (two words, [9], [6])
8. Interpretations of omens related to the flight of birds [8]
9. & 24 down: Discovery of recoverable water resources by paranormal means (two words, [5], [8])
10. & 26 down: The belief that humans and sometimes farm animals are being taken secretly against their will by apparently nonhuman entities and subjected to complex physical and psychological procedures [two words, [5], [9])
11. & 38 down: Alleged supernatural or paranormal properties of certain ancient Egyptian tombs and objects of similar shape (two words, [7], [5])
12. Two of these make one em [2]
13. Tune [3]
14. See 10 down
15. See 12 down
16. Insect [3]
17. See 4 down
18. Kimono sash [3]
19. See 7 down
20. Consume available resource frugally to make it last [3]
21. See 8 down
22. See 4 down
23. See 14 down
24. Creative activity in pursuit of beauty [3]
25. See 6 down
26. See 2 down
27. Edson Arantes do Nascimento [4]
28. Originating in the Isle of Man [4]
29. Refer to previously published literature as evidence for or justification of an argument or statement e.g. in a Scientific Paper [4]
30. See 4 down
31. Irrational root of an integer e.g. The square root of two [4]

SOLUTION