THE PRIZE CROSSWORD

There’s an amazing €2,000 prize for the first correct solution drawn at random in our general knowledge Prize Crossword. Entries must arrive by Friday, October 20 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, November 5. You must complete the iSpy box to enter. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter – and good luck!

Across

1 White House --- --- ---,

currently Jeff Zients (5,2,5) 8 Port in west Kenya, on the north-east shore of Lake Victoria (6)

11 Augusto ---, Chilean army general who was head of state and appointed as president in 1974 (8)

12 In astrology, the sixth sign

of the zodiac (5)

13 Construction toy, the name of which comes from the Danish for ‘play well’ (4)

14 Eva ---, the first lady of Argentina whose life inspired the musical Evita (5)

15 20th-Century American jazz singer; subject of the film Lady Sings The Blues (6,7) 17 Violent or cutting criticisms

or attacks (9)

19 Forbidden by law (7)

23 Series of high-pitched sounds used as a time signal on the radio (4)

24 Scottish explorer who led two expeditions to trace the course of the Niger in Africa (5,4)

25 A solemn pronouncement to affirm the truth of a statement (4)

26 E.M. ---, English author whose novels include Howards End (7)

28 René ---, 17th-Century French philosopher and mathematician who wrote Discourse On The Method (9)

31 The --- ---, 1850 historical novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne (7,6)

34 For a particular

purpose only (2,3)

36 Town in southern

France on the River Tarn, birthplace of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (4)

37 Patsy ---, American country music singer whose hits include the 1961 recording Crazy (5) 38 East African country; location of Mount Kilimanjaro (8)

39 Informal name for a

cigarette butt (3-3)

40 The --- ---, nickname of Prince James, Prince of Wales, son of the deposed James II of England (3,9) Down

2 Attracted the attention of by shouting or gesturing (6)

3 The study of the way in which money, industry and trade are organised in a society (9)

4 Island in central Hawaii on which Honolulu is situated (4)

5 Fictional boarding school for girls created by Ronald Searle (2,8)

6 Heavy iron or steel block on which metals are hammered during forging (5)

7 A domesticated variety of the polecat, bred for hunting (6)

8 City in central Japan, on South Honshu; the capital of that country 794-1868 (5)

9 Heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross or letter X (7)

10 The charter granted by King John at Runnymede in 1215 (5,5) 16 To hinder or thwart (6)

18 To grind down or

wear away (5)

20 Los Angeles ---, basketball team that competes in the NBA (6)

21 Italian liqueur having a

bright yellow colour (10)

22 City in north-west

England with Salford to its west (10)

25 Having taken money from one’s bank account in excess of what it holds (9) 27 Small marine food fish of

the herring family (7)

29 A person with congenital absence of pigmentation in the skin, eyes and hair (6) 30 --- of Savoy, mother of

King Francis I and regent of France in 1515, 1525-26 and 1529 (6)

32 Name given to Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, 11th-Century Spanish soldier (2,3)

33 Vogue or current style (5) 35 Small biting insect abounding near stagnant water (4)