CROSSWORD NO 1,880 £500 TO BE WON

TO ENTER Complete the crossword and count how many times the letter ‘A’ appears in the grid. Text YOU followed by a space, your answer (the number of ‘A’s) and name to 65700, eg, YOU 9 Sue Smith. Texts cost £1 plus your standard network rate. Or telephone 0905 652 2141 and leave your answer and details. Calls cost £1 plus your telephone company’s network access charge. Or post your entry to YOU Crossword No 1,880, PO Box 3451, Norwich NR7 7NR. Entries will be accepted until 11.59pm on Friday 24 November. One random winner from all correct entries will win £250 and five runners-up will win £50 each. If you enter after the closing date you will not be included but may still be charged. Phone and text helpline: 0330 100 0601. Winners will be notified by phone within 14 days. Solution in two weeks. ACROSS 1 Imaginary authorofa collection of French fairy tales andlaterof English nursery rhymes (6,5) 7 Weep (3) 9 Flower; colour (5) 10 Win back control over a country or territory (9) 11 Part of your body someone might cry on? (8) 12 (and 4 down) Became an 18 down in 1948 (6,6,4) 14 Spectators in theatres (9) 15 As banned during a drought (5) 17 Surrealist Max(5) 19 Lousy, useless, inferior (5-4) 21 Late playwright (surname) who wrote Blithe Spirit (6) 23 Extremely severe headache (8) 25 Surname of the 26th and 32nd Presidents of the US (9) 26 Costa _____: how the coastal region of Catalonia is known (5) 27 Haveadesire for Japanese money? (3) 28 How Ireland was referred to in the poem When Erin First Rose by William Drennan (7,4) DOWN 1 Could be strawberry, chocolate or vanilla (9) 2 Became an 18 down in 1968 (7) 3 Very well done (9) 4 See 12 across 5 Killer whale (4) 6 The Premium Bonds computer (5) 7 Crows, screeches (7) 8 Member of the lowest rank of the nobility (5) 13 Plant of the lily family (10) 15 Indian city (9) 16 Became an 18 down in 1946 (9) 18 Crawley in 1947 or Milton Keynes in 1967 (3,4) 20 Cats, dogs, pigs, horses etc (7) 21 Became an 18 down in1950(5) 22 Chaucer pilgrim (5) 24 Outdoor bazaar (4)