Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/410228
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2014 Sport 23 Answers to the MaltaToday crossword will be published next Wednesday WEATHER: Partly cloudy VISIBILITY: Good WIND: Variable force 2 to 3 becoming mainly East Northeast force 2 to 3 locally force 3 to 4 SEA: Slight to moderate becoming slight SWELL: Low Easterly SEA TEMP: 24 ° A B C D E F G H 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 White to play and mate in four moves A B C D E F G H 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Last week's solution Sudoku rules are extremely easy: Fill all empty squares so that the numbers 1 to 9 appear once in each row, column and 9x9 box. FAIR 23 º C / 14 º C UV INDEX: 4 Today's Weather Chess Sudoku Pursuits FOOTBALL TENNIS Across 3. Breaks (8) 9. Wrathful (5) 10. Ask for a loan (3) 11. Narrow beam of light (3) 12. Wastefully extravagant (11) 14. Listens (5) 16. Stink (4) 17. Flowers (5) 19. Occurring each hour (6) 20. Pen point (3) 22. Inhabitant of Kansas (6) 23. One-twelfth of a year (5) 25. Drag (4) 26. Worth (5) 28. Important (11) 30. Exclamation of contempt (3) 31. Wrath (3) 32. Plentiful (5) 33. Leaning to one side (3-5) Down 1. Low in pitch (4) 2. Crease in the skin (7) 4. Exact moment of noon (4,4) 5. Material in the form of a tube (6) 6. Worm that burrows in soil (9) 7. Genre (5) 8. Secret agents (5) 13. Wide view of an extensive area (8) 15. Something deleted (8) 18. Spacecraft (9) 21. Fashion shop (8) 24. End result (7) 25. Minor Prophet of the 6th century (6) 26. Brilliant (5) 27. Defamation (5) 29. Digits (4) Qe4+ Kf6 Qxe6+ Kg5 Ke4 Kh4 Kf4 Kh5 Qd6 Kh4 Qh6# ENGLISH champions Manchester City are re- portedly ready to offer in-demand Bundesliga playmaker Marco Reus a whopping €17 million a season contract in or- der to spurn advances from German giants Bayern Munich. After Dortmund's ex- ceptionally poor start to the Bundesliga sea- son, it now looks inevi- table that Reus will be leaving the club unless something miraculous happens in the Cham- pions League. However, there is a slew of interest in his services from elsewhere, especially Bayern Munich, who have already signed two of Dortmund's best players in recent years. City will make him an astronomi- cal offer in order to tempt him to the Premier League and out of the hands of their Champions League rivals. While Reus's club Borussia Dort- mund are adamant he will not be allowed to leave in the January win- dow, they are resigned to losing him next summer because of an escape clause in his contract. The 25-year-old's deal runs until 2017 but has a release clause enabling him to join any club who meet Dortmund's asking price of €25 million. However, joining City and Bayern Munich in their interest is Barcelona, which is believed to be the 25 year old's favoured des- tination. Liverpool and Manches- ter United have also been linked with Reus, who has won 23 caps for his coun- try. But City believe they are in pole position to lure him to the Barclays Premier League and are hopeful that increasingly strained relations between Bayern and Dortmund will deter the winger from switching to Munich. BRITAIN'S Andy Murray has been drawn in the same group as Swiss legend Roger Federer for the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Murray, 27, has won three titles in the past six weeks to qualify for the eight-man season-ending tournament, which takes place from 9-16 November. The Scot is in Group B along with Swiss second seed Federer, Japan's Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic of Canada. Meanwhile, the top-seeded Novak Djokovic, who won his 20th Masters title in Paris on Sunday, was placed in the same group with Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka, U.S. Open winner Marin Cilic and Tomas Berdych for the season- ending, eight-man tournament, which starts Sunday in London. ''Two successive titles in Lon- don in the last two years gave me reason to believe that I can do well,'' Djokovic said after winning in Paris, where he did not drop a set during the whole week. Murray will open play at the O2 Arena on Sunday against Nishikori, followed by Federer against Raonic. Wawrinka and Berdych begin proceedings on Monday, with Djokovic and Cil- ic in the evening session. The top two players in each group will progress to the semi-finals, with the standings based initially on match wins, although it can come down to the percentage of games won or even world rankings as the final tie-breaker. Murray has avoided defending champion Djokovic, who beat him at the Paris Masters last week to end his 11-match win- ning run. But the 2013 Wimbledon champion will face Federer, who is attempting to regain the world number one spot and win this ti- tle for a seventh time. Three-time semi-finalist Mur- ray and Federer have each won 11 of their career meetings. Djokovic, this year's Wim- bledon champion, is unbeaten on indoors courts the past two years and is vying with Federer for the year-end No. 1 ranking. The Serb extended his lead over the 17-time Grand Slam champion to 1,310 points as he bids to finish the year on top for the third time. ''It helps that I'm playing well, and that I'm feeling good about myself on the court playing in- doors,'' Djokovic said. ''Every match that I play, every match that I play and win, gets me closer to holding No. 1 the end of the year.'' Federer's quarterfinals loss in Paris against Raonic has ham- pered his bid to overtake Djoko- vic in London, where a potential 1,500 points are up for grabs. Maro Reus Manchester City and German giants Bayern Munich to fight for Borussia Dortmund's star next summer Man City set to offer Marco Reus €17 million- per-season deal Andy Murray to face Roger Federer in ATP finals