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, August 25 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, September 10. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.
Across
1 The Prime Minister of France 1997 to 2002 (6,6) 8 A traditional Japanese system of unarmed combat (6) 11 A type of highly-seasoned smoked beef (8) 12 A kingdom occupying an archipelago of more than 150 volcanic and coral islands in the South West Pacific (5) 13 One of the Channel Islands, ruled by a hereditary seigneur or dame (4) 14 In Christianity, the high, pointed headdress of a bishop or abbot (5) 15 American entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Kodak company and popularised the use of roll film (6,7) 17 The widening channels of rivers where they near the sea (9) 19 A small, roundish, lightweight boat (7) 23 The supreme god of the ancient Greeks (4) 24 Horses which are marked or spotted in white and any colour except black (9) 25 An unlucky or malevolent force, person or thing (4) 26 2010 film starring Danny Trejo and Robert De Niro (7) 28 Lady ---, aunt of Algernon Moncrieff in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest (9) 31 The official name for Oscars (7,6) 34 Bob ---, American singer and songwriter awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 (5) 36 The thick, light, porous outer bark of an evergreen Mediterranean oak tree (4) 37 Claude ---, French Impressionist artist famous for his paintings of water lilies (5) 38 A lyric comedy or opera in three acts by Richard Strauss, which premiered in 1933 (8) 39 --- Opera House, iconic Australian building opened in 1973 by the Queen (6) 40 The ships or crew engaged in a nation’s commercial shipping (8,4)
Down
2 A style of slanting type or print used to indicate emphasis (6) 3 Another name for nudists (9) 4 Rich soil consisting of a mixture of sand, clay and decaying organic material (4) 5 English actor posthumously nominated for a BAFTA for his role in the 2000 film Gladiator (6,4) 6 Saint regarded by Roman Catholics as the first Pope (5) 7 A port in West France, on the Loire River (6) 8 Slow-moving Australian marsupial which feeds on eucalyptus leaves and bark (5) 9 --- stone, an inscribed slab discovered in Egypt in 1799 (7) 10 Sheets of heavy, hardwearing fabric for outdoor use as protective coverings against moisture (10) 16 Type of apple with a rough, brownish-red skin (6) 18 A glowing or smouldering piece of coal or wood, as in a dying fire (5) 20 Duke of Illyria in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (6) 21 A prolonged state of depressed spirits; dejection (10) 22 A form of bubonic plague pandemic in Europe and Asia during the 14th Century (5,5) 25 Type of sweet with a brightly-coloured coating around a gelatinous filling (5,4) 27 Dorothy ---, English chemist and crystallographer who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964 (7) 29 P. T. ---, 19th Century American showman famous for his circuses (6) 30 Ivan ---, Russian physiologist who studied conditioned reflexes in dogs (6) 32 An embalmed or preserved body in ancient Egypt (5) 33 The communion table in Christian churches (5) 35 A continuous twisted strand of natural or synthetic fibres used in weaving, knitting etc (4)