Theme: Scams, Frauds and Hoaxes

by Roy Arnott and Ken Greatorex

(click to enlarge and download)

STANDARD CLUES

(Scroll Down for CRYPTIC CLUES)

CLUES ACROSS:

      1. & 25 down. Person currently serving 150 years imprisonment as operator of a Ponzi scheme considered to be the largest fraud in U.S. history: (two words; [6], [6])

3. Type or kind [3]

6. Frauds, swindles [5]

11. See 7 Down

13. Charitable gifts [4]

15. Light spear [7]

17. Ship’s bottom [4]

18. Saturate [4]

19. Fish eggs [3]

21. & 14 down. Famous anthropological fossil hoax (Two words, [8] [3])

23. See 60 Down

24. Charged atom [3]

26. Frodo, for one [6]

28. Being a single entity [3]

29. Large non-venomous snake [3]

32. Bare, hairless [4]

33. Male offspring [3]

36. The country actually responsible for generating most internet scams [6]

37. The Lion [3]

38. & 41 Across. Historical documents purchased by Germany’s Stern magazine and published in 1983, later demonstrated to be forgeries. (Two words, [6], [7])

39. & 12 Slimming preparation company charged with fraud in 2011 by Australia’s ACCC. (Two words, [5], [4])

42. See 38 Across

43. Every [4]

44. Pertaining to the mind or intellect [6]

47. Fuss [3]

48. See 59 Down

51. See 51 Down

53. Unit of electrical resistance [3]

54. Amount or level considered to be average [3]

55. Egyptian dancing girl OR Spanish for “soul” [4]

57. Uncooked [3]

58. See 65 Across

60. Low female singing voice [4]

62. & 41 Down. Australian cabaret singer who staged her own abduction for publicity in the 1980s (two words, [7], [5])

64. We [2]

65. & 58 Across. All Fool’s Day (two words, [5], [5])

68. Biblical infanticide [5]

70. & 1 Down. Mythical Australian arboreal predator (two words, [4], [4])

72. Hand tool with one side of its head sharpened to a cutting edge [3]

73. & 35 Down. Non-sustainable business scheme that depends on enrolling new people rather than supplying real investment or sales to the public. (Two words, [7], [7])

74. Dense black wood [5]

CLUES DOWN:

1. See 70 Across

2. Crafty stratagem [4]

3. Irritate [3]

4. Untruth [3]

5. Retain [4]

7. & 11 Across. British photographic hoax of 1917 (Two words, [10, [7])

8. Member of a Grand Lodge [5]

9. Dilatory [4]

10. Inquire [3]

11. Ompax spatuloides, an Australian zoological hoax, purported to be a species of what? [4]

12. See 39 Across

14. See 21 Across

16. Alone, unaccompanied [4]

20. & 29 down. Performance enhancing wrist band which ran foul of Australia’s ACCC (two words, [5], [7])

22. Female rabbit [3]

23. Pig’s place [3]

25. See 1 Across

26. The symbol # represented as a word [4]

27. See 59 Down

29. See 20 Down

30. Shout of approval, triumph, or encouragement [3]

31. See 62 Down

34. “Snake _ _ _”  – generic term for alternative medicines of little value [3]

35. See 73 Across

40. Awarded annually on April 1 by James Randi to perpetrators of parapsychological, paranormal or psychic frauds. [7]

41. See 62 Across

43. & 50 Down. Australian poet invented as a hoax (Two words, [3], [7])

44. Country often mistakenly cited as the source of most internet scams [7]

45. Lowest and highest note of a major musical scale in tonic sol-fa [3]

46. Hoax spirit channeler, real name Jose Alvarez [6]

49. Fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors [5]

50. See 43 Down

51. & 51 Across. Celebrity subject of a fraudulent 1970s biography by Clifford Irving (two words, [6], [6])

52. Beneficiary [4]

54. Friend, chum [3]

56. Frenzied woman [6]

59. & 27 Down & 48 Across: Australian Skeptics annual award “presented to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle” (three words, [3], [4], [5])

61. & 23 Across. Linen cloth bearing the image of a man who appears to have suffered crucifixion (two words, [5], [6])

62. & 31 Down. Siblings who were pioneers in the pursuit of spiritualism (two words, [3], [7])

63. Soft drinks [4]

66. Anger [3]

67. A tennis shot [3]

68. Horse fodder [3]

69. Beam [3]

71. Italian river [2]

CRYPTIC CLUES

       1. & 25 down. The makings of bad firemen create a Ponzi schemer: (two words; [6], [6])

3. Pilkington can reveal what, of a kind, is sought [3]

6. Direction to motor sport organisation is fraudulent [5]

11. See 7 Down

13. Calm seas provide a charitable relief [4]

15. “Ixwa” – the sound heard as it is withdrawn from a victim’s wound. [7]

17. A thousand fish provide support for a ship [4]

18. Tree, not from the North, for a water sump [4]

19. Poor Oedipus has something fishy [3]

21. & 14 down. Cranial cobblers (two words, [8] [3])

23. See 60 Down

24. Radicle – you are on a charge! [3]

26. Part of kitchen fire place shelf sounds like it belongs in Middle Earth [6]

28. n/n [3]

29. Airline loses at the end and is snaky [3]

32. Not hirsute [4]

33. Clergyman lacking equality provides a family member [3]

36. Hair cut down south [6]

37. Number X in the series of these did well for himself out of the Church [3]

38. & 41 Across. Used to record dates with Eva? (Two words,[6], [7])

39. & 12 Dodgy product is a mess slain (Two words, [5], [4])

42. See 38 Across

43. Beached and everyone in bed [4]

44. Organisation founded when God spoke to Mitchell [6]

47. It may be about nothing [3]

48. See 59 Down

51. See 51 Down

53. The law will deal with resistance [3]

54. Remove the decay from the bird, it will become equal [3]

55. Crimea 1854 [4]

57. Take the war back, this is not cooked [3]

58. See 65 Across

60. A lot can give voice [4]

62. & 41 Down. Pointer to a good golfing position indicates dishonest Aussie performer (two words, [7], [5])

64. Abused – but we are in retirement [2]

65. & 58 Across. The missing bit from pril (two words, [5], [5])

68. There were several kings of this dynasty. They got a bad press from Christian writers [5]

70. & 1 Down. Breaking brad rope results in ursine fall (two words, [4], [4])

72. Instrument of execution is included in tax exemption [3]

73. & 35 Down. A major activity of touts in Cairo (two words, [7], [7])

74. Dense wood but now not often found in one [5]

CLUES DOWN:

1. See 70 Across

2. Not sure it is a trick [4]

3. Take the annoyance from a dagger [3]

4. Porky [3]

5. Retain within castle [4]

7. & 11 Across. Photos from the bottom of Frances and Elsie’s garden? (two words, [10, [7])

8. Mother and child worked in stone [5]

9. Largo or, perhaps, adagio [4]

10. Take wager from wicker-work container to enquire [3]

11. The earliest were soft bodied chordates [4]

12. See 39 Across

14. See 21 Across

16. Game to take a trick? [4]

20. & 29 down. One method of checking calculations involving interconnected  circuit elements is to see that the total power delivered equals the total power absorbed (two words, [5], [7])

22. Jane is not identified in America [3]

23. Stereotypical Australian remains [3]

25. See 1 Across

26. Brown American breakfast [4]

27. See 59 Down

29. See 20 Down

30. The Spanish are impressed? [3]

31. See 62 Down

34. Take back the big cat without direction for lubricant [3]

35. See 73 Across

40. It was said in Australia that a drover’s dog could win the election. In America, it was …. [7]

41. See 62 Across

43. & 50 Down. He certainly got the penguins angry (two words, [3], [7])

44. I regain a scam country resort [7]

45. Bottom, and top, of the scale [3]

46. A lesson might be that the need to believe in something like this is so great in some people that we must despair of them ever being liberated [6]

49. Send me $100 and I will appoint you as team leader to recruit more subscribers [5]

50. See 43 Down

51. & 51 Across. All spruced up. What a goose! (two words, [6], [6])

52. e.g Prince Charles [4]

54. Go backwards once around the track for a friend [3]

56. Upset to find average common Era [6]

59. & 27 Down & 48 Across: Definite Dislocated cutlery article (three words, [3], [4], [5])

61. & 23 Across. There was no historical  portrait against which to compare the image (two words, [5], [6])

62. & 31 Down. Leah, Margaret and Kate (two words, [3], [7])

63. Saxophonist, gynaecologist, composer – take your pick [4]

66. Spleen is vented, but this is a unit used in the measurement of composite video signals [3]

67. _ _ _ lolly boy – a surgeon’s assistant in the Royal Navy [3]

68. Trigger for allergic rhinitis? [3]

69. e.g Charles [3]

71. Gozunder [2]

Solution here: http://skeptics.cafe/puzzles/march-2012-crossword-solution/

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