Sunday Telegraph GK

[mohill]

Italian police officers   - B - - R - I

7 letters and I cannot vouch for the R

Thanks folks.

[kosoro]

cabineri

[kev100]

kosoro,

my italian is a bit rusty but I'm fairly sure the word is spelt like this:

carabinieri.

[Quizmonster]

I don't at the moment know what the answer is, but I thought the branch of the Italian police were called the caRAbineri...and 'cabineri' contains eight letters rather than seven. Are you sure of your answer, Kosoro? It may, of course, be a local Italian abbreviation, but I still don't see how it's going to fit into Mohill's crossword grid!

[Quizmonster]

Oops! A bit of synchrography, there, Kev.

[mohill]

Thanks to all of you and my apologies.  I was careless in posting the question, which is No 20 across.

It has only 6 letters and not 7

I have  - B - R - I

I had disregarded carabinieri and its variant spellings, because of its number of letters.

Google has been no help, nor has Chambers, nor The Times dictionaries.

But, the answer has got to be out there somewhere!

[shaneystar]

Sbirri.
A police force that existed in the Pope's dominions.

http://www.bibliomania.com/2/3/255/1184/24203/1/frameset .html