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, March 9 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, March 25. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.
Across
1 People who are trained and skilled in the construction and repair of tall towers, spires and chimneys (12) 8 A multicellular marine animal, the body of which has pores and channels through which water can circulate (6) 11 Eastern Scottish port famous for its smoked fish (8) 12 Wide, water-filled ditches surrounding fortified places (5)
13 and 26 Former England footballer who won the Golden Boot as top scorer at the 1986 World Cup (4,7) 14 A recess in a wall or rock face (5) 15 American poet and short story writer whose tales included The Fall Of The House Of Usher (5,5,3) 17 An inlet of the Tasman Sea on the South East Coast of Australia (6,3) 19 A source, usually sudden and unexpected, of luck or wealth (7) 23 The wheel, tiller or apparatus by which a vessel is steered (4) 24 The ––– –––, a fault valley across the whole of Scotland, extending from the Moray Firth in the East to Loch Linnhe (5,4) 25 Fine deposit of mud and clay, especially in a river or lake (4) 26 See 13 28 A name for a particular type of greengrocer (9) 31 The boundary of a specific area or geometric figure, especially of a circle (13) 34 Informally, to put or store in a secret place, as for safekeeping (5) 36 A predatory, gull-like bird known for its acrobatic dive-bombing (4) 37 Erik –––, French composer and pianist whose works included the Gymnopédies (5) 38 William –––, the 25th President of the US, assassinated in September 1901 (8) 39 A river in East Wales and West England, flowing through Shrewsbury, Worcester and Gloucester (6) 40 A play or TV production in which the performers wear a style of clothes belonging to a former time period (7,5)
Down
2 Fictional time machine that appears in the TV sci-fi series Doctor Who (6) 3 Invertebrate which burrows in the soil and helps aerate and break up the ground (9) 4 In the Old Testament, the first wife of Jacob (4) 5 England’s first Poet Laureate, who attained the post in 1668 (4,6) 6 An orange-brown, woodland butterfly with ragged-edged wings (5) 7 Beetle regarded by the ancient Egyptians as divine (6) 8 A Mexican agave plant cultivated for its fleshy leaves which yield a stiff fibre used for making rope (5) 9 A thin, stiff, transparent dress fabric made of silk or a synthetic yarn (7) 10 An Italian blue-veined cheese with a distinctive smell (10) 16 A flock of geese when not in flight (6) 18 An essential oil from flowers, especially the damask rose, used pure or as a base for perfume (5) 20 Units of weight each equal to one-sixteenth of a pound (6) 21 An evergreen plant with trailing stems and blue flowers (10) 22 Political party led by Leanne Wood since 2012 (5,5) 25 A substitute for sugar (9) 27 A part of a country entirely surrounded by foreign territory (7) 29 Football club based in Glasgow, founded in 1887 (6) 30 High regard or respect (6) 32 A person skilled in building with stone (5) 33 Large jugs or pitchers with wide mouths (5) 35 The largest island of the Inner Hebrides, linked to the mainland by a bridge opened in 1995 (4)