PRIZE PUZZLE!

WIN A FABULOUS BUNDLE OF KNITTING GOODIES FROM MINERVA CRAFTS, WORTH £10 PER PRIZE!

ACROSS

1 Small explosive thrown by hand (7) 5 Modernises (7) 9 One who opposes authority (5) 10 Head teacher (9) 11 --- Sayer, curly-haired singer (3) 12 Furry creature that visits children at Easter (5) 13 Japanese dish, often containing raw fish (5) 14 Helped (5) 16 Basic knitting stitch (6) 18 Root vegetable (6) 19 Large tooth at the back of the mouth (5) 22 Mary ---, former Bake O presenter (5) 24 Lee ---, author of the Jack Reacher series (5) 26 Stitch that creates textured vertical stripes (3) 27 Cease trading (5,4) 29 Male singing voice (5) 30 --- and lemons, nursery rhyme (7) 31 Snakes and ---, classic board game (7)

DOWN

1 Large ape (7) 2 Decorate a design with coloured stitches (9) 3 Improvise (2,3) 4 Increase in size (6) 5 Togetherness (5) 6 --- Martin, TV medical comedy drama (3) 7 Spanish appetisers (5) 8 Member of the army (7) 13 Large group of bees (5) 15 Farm building where milk is kept (5) 17 Patience (9) 18 Dried leaves smoked in pipes and cigarettes (7) 20 Julia ---, Hollywood actress (7) 21 Fruit cake eaten over the Easter period (6) 23 Spanish wine region (5) 24 Symbol on a hot cross bun (5) 25 Old-fashioned (5) 28 Easter treat delivered by 12 Across (3)

Issue 168 solutions Across: 1 Whisper, 5 Harness, 9 Novel, 10 Champagne, 11 Bus, 12 Trout, 13 Tarot, 14 Robin, 16 Rumour, 18 Eyelet, 19 Becks, 22 Elope, 24 Cupid, 26 Emu, 27 Animation, 29 Ditto, 30 Dreaded, 31 Elegant. Down: 1 Wine bar, 2 Invisible, 3 Pilot, 4 Rector, 5 Heart, 6 Rip, 7 Eager, 8 Sweater, 13 Thumb, 15 Niece, 17 Orchestra, 18 Emerald, 20 Shut out, 21 Sponge, 23 On Ice, 24 Child, 25 Dodge, 28 Add. Prize word: SNOWDROP