THE PRIZE CROSSWORD

WIN €2,000

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, January 12 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, January 28. You must complete the iSpy box to enter. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter – and good luck!

Across

1 Cartoon character created by David Low who first appeared in the London Evening Standard in 1934 (7,5)

8 In Greek mythology, the messenger and herald of the gods (6)

11 A medieval armoured leather

glove (8)

12 A mound of stones erected

as a memorial or marker (5) 13 To erase a recording (4)

14 A dry white wine from the Veneto region of northeast Italy (5)

15 In Greek mythology, the dwelling place of the blessed after death (7,6)

17 Otto ---, Austrian-American director of movies including Anatomy Of A Murder (9)

19 The technical name

for earache (7)

23 Bee ---, musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb (4)

24 Producing a profit (9)

25 Fine deposit of mud or clay, especially in a river or lake (4)

26 Largest city in Kansas, on

the Arkansas River (7)

28 Ronnie ---, snooker player who won his seventh World Championship in 2022 (9)

31 The --- ---, comic opera by the Czech composer

Bedrich Smetana (8,5)

34 Another name for the European mountain ash tree (5)

36 The soft fibrous tissue lining the inside of the rind of certain fruits (4)

37 John Quincy ---, sixth president of the US; son of the second president of the US (5)

38 James ---, Scottish auctioneer who founded a London auction house in 1766 (8)

39 In weightlifting, a lift in which the weight is raised in one quick motion from the floor to an overhead position (6)

40 Patisserie product often filled or topped with fruit, nuts or icing (6,6)

Down

2 A public speaker (6)

3 People or animals who eat both plant and animal material (9)

4 --- Fitzgerald, American jazz singer nicknamed the ‘First Lady of Song’ (4)

5 A narrow stretch of road or a junction at which traffic is held up (10)

6 The central of the three small bones in the middle ear of mammals (5)

7 Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1982, --- Scream (6)

8 --- Kureishi, British writer whose works include the screenplay for My Beautiful Laundrette (5) 9 Joanna ---, British cyclist who won gold medals in the team pursuit at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics (7)

10 A light shoe with a canvas upper and a braided cord sole (10)

16 A trinket or charm worn as a protection against evil (6)

18 Why Didn’t They Ask ---?, 1934 detective novel by Agatha Christie (5)

20 A dissertation resulting

from original research (6) 21 An announcement or inscription prefixed to a book or piece of music (10)

22 Herbivorous late

Jurassic dinosaur, characterised by a very long neck and tail (10)

25 Small fish who swim in an upright position and have curled prehensile tails (9)

27 A short axe used for

chopping wood (7)

29 --- IV, king of England

1461-70 and 1471-83 (6) 30 Saint Francis ---,

Spanish missionary and a founding member of the Jesuits (6)

32 European freshwater food fish with reddish ventral and tail fins (5) 33 Brittle amber substance used for treating the bows of stringed instruments (5) 35 A device that hurls clay pigeons into the air to be fired at (4)