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, July 8 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, July 24. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.

Across

10 Truman ---, 20th-Century American writer and actor whose works include Breakfast At Tiffany’s (6)

11 A performer who pretends to be famous people as a form of entertainment (12)

12 See 22

13 A republic in the west of Asia, on the Mediterranean (7)

14 The stoat in northern regions, where it has a white winter coat with a black-tipped tail (6)

15 Deciduous trees with heart-shaped leaves and small fragrant yellowish flowers (7)

16 Peak that rises above the centre of Edinburgh (7,4)

20 A rubber ring placed over the rim of a wheel (4)

21 City in north-west England on the River Dee (7)

22 and 12 Novel by William Makepeace Thackeray featuring the character Becky Sharp (6,4)

23 Large burrowing mammal with a black-and-white striped head (6)

25 A large sailing ship with three or more masts, used as a warship or trader from the 15th to 18th Centuries (7)

27 --- VI, Italian ecclesiastic who was pope from 1963-78 (4)

28 An ornament or decoration placed in the middle of a dinner table (11)

29 Tough pieces of armour carried on the arm (7)

32 Old British coin worth two shillings (6)

35 A peninsula of Hong Kong, opposite Hong Kong Island (7)

36 William Frederick ---, American soldier, bison hunter and showman nicknamed ‘Buffalo Bill’ (4)

37 Not limited or checked (12)

38 A song of loyalty or devotion, as to a nation (6)

Down

1 American frontierswoman born Martha Jane Canary in 1852 (8,4)

2 A dish made from oatmeal or another cereal, cooked in water or milk (8)

3 Legendary wizard in Arthurian tales (6)

4 In Greek mythology, a daughter of Tantalus whose many children were slain by Apollo and Artemis (5)

5 Rodent with bristly fur, inhabiting forests of Central and South America (5,3)

6 Another name for chips (6,5)

7 A short or light sleep (4)

8 A hard, dry cheese made from skimmed milk, often grated on to pasta dishes (8)

9 and 27 Labour politician who served as deputy prime minister 1997-2007 (4,8)

17 A large bird of the crow family (5)

18 Nickname of the character Jack Dawkins in Dickens’s Oliver Twist (6,6)

19 The founder, ruler and emperor of the Mongol Empire (7,4)

21 Pierre ---, French physicist and chemist who shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife and fellow countryman Henri Becquerel (5)

24 Antonio ---, Secretary-General of the United Nations since 2017 (8)

26 Insect with membranous wings that preys on aphids (8)

27 See 9

30 Large building for the storage and maintainance of aircraft (6)

31 A vast crowd (5)

33 Period of the Christian calendar lasting from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (4)

34 A brief letter, usually informal in nature (4)