| SPARTANS | The first recorded use of cryptography for correspondence was used as early as 400 BCE by this ancient people, who employed a cipher device called the scatale for secret communication between military |
| QSHIP | Decoy vessel used as early as WWI |
| CODEBREAKING | Aspect of cryptography (4-8) |
| WHATSAPP | Messaging app licensing Signal's cryptography for consumer protection. (8) |
| RATIO | Only a fraction of correspondence was in proportion (5) |
| LETTERPERFECT | Correspondence was bang on, being verbatim (6,7) |
| SYRACUSE | It was the chief city of Sicily for the ancient Greeks. It was settled about 734 BCE by Corinthians, and its history is a long story of invasions and conflict, including the Allied invasion of 1943. I |
| BAMBOO | As early as 1300 BCE the Chinese were using this plant for writing; they bound pieces of it together to form tablets. |
| ROPE | Describing a length of thick cord, one of the oldest English words, recorded as early as 725 AD (4) |
| LIEDETECTOR | This device for supposedly identifying fibs was in use as early as 1909 (3-8) |
| SPEAKER | The first recorded holder of this House of Commons office was Sir Thomas de Hungerford in 1377 (7) |
| CATANIA | This city in Italy was founded in 729 BCE by Chalcidians and then renamed Aetna in the 5th century BCE. It is home to ancient Roman and Greek ruins and structures, and it was rebuilt in Baroque style |
| TACTICUS | During the 4th century BCE, he wrote On the Defense of Fortifications, one chapter of which was devoted to cryptography, making it the earliest treatise on the subject. |
| GUAVA | A fruit cultivated in Peru as early as 2500 BCE; now India is the main producer (5) |
| NOVA | The first recorded one was noted by the Greek scientist Hipparchus in 134 B.C. |
| TRAUM | Happy ___, American folk musician who cut the first recorded version of Blowin' In The Wind with his group, the New World Singers |
| COOK | Who completed the first recorded circumnavigation of the main islands of New Zealand? (4) |
| ACHAEANLEAGUE | Which alliance between Greek cities was formed in 281 BCE by the people of Dyme, Patras, Pharae and Tritaia and lasted for over 100 years? (7,6) |
| CASTIRON | Material used for weaponry in ancient China as early as 500 B.C. |
| DAMASCUS | Capital city in the Middle East (pop about 2.5 million), inhabited as early as 10,000 BC (8) |
