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, December 11 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, December 27. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.
Across
1 A strait between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (5,7) 8 Short moral stories, especially with animals as characters (6) 11 The capital of India (3,5) 12 A bright gleam or flash (5) 13 Surname of French brothers Albert and Michel, owners of Le Gavroche when it became the first UK restaurant to gain three Michelin stars (4) 14 A sheikhdom in the North East United Arab Emirates, on the Persian Gulf (5) 15 Illustrations facing the title pages of books (13) 17 Dried legumes used in soups and to make pease pudding (5,4) 19 Refusal or inability to swallow (7) 23 David –––, British Paralympic wheelchair athlete who has won the London Marathon eight times (4) 24 A light, malleable, silverywhite metallic element (9) 25 A stratagem for gain, a swindle (4) 26 Shapes or pictures drawn aimlessly (7) 28 American dish consisting of chopped lettuce, chicken, hard-boiled egg, bacon, avocado, vinaigrette and blue cheese (4,5) 31 English merchant and slave trader, whose statue was toppled in Bristol in June 2020 (6,7) 34 A worker, especially in an office, who keeps records (5) 36 Long, snakelike fish with smooth, slimy skin and reduced fins (4) 37 In Greek mythology, the successor to Oedipus as king of Thebes (5) 38 To dupe, trick (8) 39 The royal house that ruled in England from 1603 to 1714 (6) 40 20th Century American business magnate, aviator and film maker (6,6)
Down
2 ––– macaque, a monkey of South Asia, used extensively in medical research (6) 3 Person who carries off and holds someone, usually for ransom (9) 4 James K. –––, the 11th President of the US (4) 5 A vessel containing an alcoholic drink offered to a horse rider in the saddle (7,3) 6 An extremely unreactive colourless, odourless element of the rare gas series (5) 7 Alchemical preparation supposed to be capable of prolonging life indefinitely or of transmuting base metals into gold (6) 8 Slang term for a deliberate attempt to make an innocent person seem guilty of a crime (3-2) 9 See 29 10 Relating to the Christian Church throughout the world, especially with regard to its unity (10) 16 The concluding part of any performance or presentation (6) 18 Essential ––– acids, organic compounds that cannot be synthesized in the body and must be components of the diet (5) 20 Tall, South American grass cultivated for its large, feathery flower branches (6) 21 A temporary transfer to another job or post within the same organisation (10) 22 Character and symbol in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the leader of the totalitarian state of Oceania (3,7) 25 Informal word for a scamp or rascal (9) 27 A lake between Israel, Jordan and the West Bank with very high salinity (4,3) 29 and 9 20th Century American animator and director who founded an animation studio with William Hanna (6,7) 30 Hard alloy consisting primarily of copper and a smaller proportion of tin (6) 32 A gold coin that was used as a trade currency throughout Europe before the First World War (5) 33 Another name for a tendon (5)
35 In the Old Testament, a Hebrew patriarch who built a ship to survive the Flood (4)