THE PRIZE CROSSWORD
WIN £1,500
There’s an amazing £1,500 prize for the first correct solution drawn at random in our general knowledge Prize Crossword. Entries must arrive by Friday, September 21 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, October 7. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.
ACROSS
1 19th Century Russian novelist and dramatist who wrote the play A Month In The Country (4,8) 8 Feebleness of mind, especially as a result of old age (6) 11 The right to vote, especially in public elections (8) 12 In fairy tales, a servant who appears by magic and fulfils a person’s wishes (5) 13 In the Old Testament, a Hebrew patriarch who built a ship to survive the Flood (4) 14 The rear part of a ship or boat (5) 15 Large gun dog with a white coat speckled with liver, brown or yellowish markings (7,6) 17 Humorous poems with five lines (9) 19 Moby Dick’s narrator and only surviving crew member of the Pequod (7) 23 A strong spirit popular in Turkey and the Balkan countries, usually flavoured with aniseed or other aromatics (4) 24 The accounting department of the Treasury, responsible for receiving and issuing funds (9) 25 A male horse or pony under the age of four (4) 26 See 28 28 and 26 19th Century author whose works included the novels Mary Barton and Cranford (9,7) 31 Berkshire residence of the British monarch (7,6) 34 A race between two or more teams of contestants in which each contestant covers a specified portion of the distance (5) 36 Eric – – –, member of the Monty Python comedy team (4) 37 – – – lily, summer-flowering plant with a white funnelshaped spathe and glossy green leaves (5) 38 Inflammation of the mucous membrane that lines the nose (8) 39 A hot spring that discharges a column of steam and water (6) 40 The act of recalling or narrating past experiences (12)
DOWN
2 London Silver – – –, subterranean market in Chancery Lane (6) 3 The chief consort of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten (9) 4 A tree native to Java, with a poisonous milky sap (4) 5 A small garden bird, with yellow patches on the wings and tail (10) 6 – – – Mansell, British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in 1992 (5) 7 To disappear suddenly or mysteriously (6) 8 Solid particles that settle at the bottom of some liquids (5) 9 Character in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (4,3) 10 American actress who married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, in 1956 (5,5) 16 To annul or rescind officially; revoke (6) 18 The sound of a bell rung to announce a death or funeral (5) 20 A person who copied documents before the invention of printing (6) 21 A pattern of drum beats produced by using alternate sticks (10) 22 American astronaut who became the second person to set foot on the Moon in July 1969 (4,6) 25 First name of the Duchess of Cambridge (9) 27 Bean-shaped organs that filter the blood (7) 29 Of or relating to the eye (6) 30 Another name for the cassava plant (6) 32 Name often used for a statuette awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (5) 33 A large mass of small creatures, especially insects (5) 35 Sweet fruits from a tree or shrub of the genus Ficus (4)