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 28 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, October 14. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.
ACROSS
1 Garden summerhouses with open sides (7) 5 London street inhabited by Sherlock Holmes in Conan Doyle’s stories (5,6) 10 Christopher –––, character in A. A. Milne’s Winnie-thePooh stories (5) 11 An ornament that hangs from a piece of jewellery (7) 13 A republic in Western Asia, on the Mediterranean (5) 14 Guns, cannon, howitzers, mortars of calibre greater than 20 mm (9) 15 In ballet, a leap in which the dancer repeatedly crosses or beats together his or her feet (9) 16 A clever plan or tactic to help gain an advantage (4) 17 Item of laboratory equipment producing a hot blue flame, consisting of a metal tube with an adjustable valve (6,6) 20 Musical instrument with a fretted fingerboard, a flat-backed body and six strings (4) 21 Yellow-flowered plant that is poisonous to livestock when eaten fresh (9) 22 The side post or lining of a doorway, window or fireplace (4) 26 People or things that appear to be beyond control and are potentially a source of unintentional damage (5,7) 27 A member of a Native American people living in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba (4) 29 ––– Palace, London residence of Henry VIII on the River Fleet, which later became a prison (9) 31 Vegetables such as cabbages, broccoli and turnips (9) 33 Admit to doing something (3,2) 34 Marie ---, creator of wax sculptures who founded a permanent exhibition in London in 1835 (7) 35 Italian poet famous for La Divina Commedia (5) 36 Russian port, formerly a main German naval base on the Baltic, ceded to the Soviet Union in 1945 (11) 37 A crispy, deep-fried tortilla topped with meat, cheese and refried beans (7)
DOWN
1 Mikhail –––, the final leader of the Soviet Union until 1991 (9) 2 A large Asian civet with tawny fur marked with black spots and stripes (5) 3 British comic, writer and director who co-wrote Blackadder and wrote We Will Rock You (3,5) 4 A group of seven singers or instrumentalists (6) 5 The last Briton to reach the final of the men’s singles at Wimbledon until Andy Murray did so in 2012 (5,6) 6 Another word for the jack playing card (5) 7 A bulbous nerve ending on the surface of the tongue or in the mouth (5,3) 8 Vessels made of baked clay (11) 9 Agricultural vehicle used to pull heavy loads (7) 12 A strong, malleable, corrosion-resistant white metallic element (8) 16 Designed to increase the sales of a product or service (11) 18 Flexible platform used for diving or gymnastics (11) 19 Capital city with thermal springs, split by the Danube (8) 23 In the Old Testament, the wife of David and mother of Solomon (9) 24 Ever-youthful character created by novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie (5,3) 25 Sits in or holds a position of authority (8) 26 A city in North West Texas, centre of a cottongrowing region (7) 28 A robber, especially a member of an armed gang (6) 30 A source of high-intensity optical, infrared or ultraviolet radiation (5) 32 A Latin American dance usually performed by a number of people in single file (5)