THE PRIZE CROSSWORD

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, August 19 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, September 4. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.

Across

1 A sideboard with drawers and cupboards below and open shelves above (5,7)

8 The ---, golf resort in Wishaw, Warwickshire; headquarters of The Professional Golfers’ Association (6)

11 American Major League baseball player whose nickname was ‘the Sultan of Swat’ (4,4)

12 The criminal act of intentionally setting fire to another’s property (5)

13 The symbol ‘-’ used in the written representation of Morse code (4)

14 Meat, especially beef, sliced into strips and dried (5)

15 Romanian-born 20th-Century dramatist associated with the Theatre of the Absurd (6,7)

17 Posts supporting a rail or coping (9)

19 --- greyhound, a breed of dog like a miniature greyhound (7)

23 --- jug, a beer mug, typically in the form of a stout seated man wearing a threecornered hat (4)

24 Martin ---, 16th-Century English sailor after whom an inlet of the Atlantic in Northeast Canada is named (9)

25 In music, a symbol placed on the left-hand side of each stave, indicating the pitch of the music written after it (4)

26 Commotions or disturbances characterised by loud noise and confusion (7)

28 William Petty, 2nd Earl of ---, British prime minister 1782-83 (9)

31 A town in North Worcestershire on the River Stour (13)

34 A cylindrical roll of cured tobacco leaves, for smoking (5)

36 A combination of style and vigour (4)

37 Republic occupying an archipelago in the Mediterranean South of Sicily (5)

38 An evergreen shrub or tree cultivated for its large, fragrant, waxy white flowers (8)

39 Small hole for a lace or cord to be passed through (6)

40 Irrational belief characterised by obsessive reverence for omens or charms (12)

Down

2 The substance hard white covering calcified the crown of a tooth (6)

3 During the American Prohibition, a place where alcohol was sold illicitly (9)

4 Wattle and ---, a form of wall construction consisting of interwoven twigs plastered with a mixture of clay, lime, water, dung or straw (4)

5 Extreme tiredness (10)

6 A fine-grained metamorphic rock (5)

7 Type of apple with a rough, brownish-red skin (6)

8 Small bucket-shaped drum played by beating with the fingers (5)

9 Eric ---, Chinese-born Scottish athlete, rugby player and missionary who won a gold and a bronze medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics (7)

10 A British beetle that has a greenish body with a metallic lustre and feeds on plants (4,6)

16 A person or thing that lessens shock or protects from damaging impact (6)

18 The Third ---, the Nazi dictatorship in Germany 1933-45 (5)

20 The bones of the ankle and heel, collectively (6)

21 Manager of Liverpool F.C. 1974-83 (3,7)

22 NASA Space Shuttle that broke apart after lift-off in January 1986 (10)

25 Any spice or sauce such as salt, pepper or mustard (9)

27 A number denoting relative position in a sequence, such as first, second or third (7)

29 --- Medal, prize awarded every four years for outstanding achievements in mathematics (6)

30 A white or unbleached cotton fabric with no printed design (6)

32 The area of authority or responsibility of an individual or group (5)

33 The skin and subcutaneous tissue covering the top of the head (5)

35 A badly-behaved child (4)