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, January 1 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear on next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, January 17. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.
Across
11 To make full or complete again by supplying what has been used up or is lacking (9)
12 A mountain range in Central Asia, extending about 800 km east from the Koh-i-Baba Mountains of Central Afghanistan to the Pamirs (5,4) 13 A manservant who acts as personal attendant to his employer (5) 14 Instrument used for withdrawing or injecting fluids into a body (7)
15 South Asian republic in the Himalayas (5)
16 The second Roman Emperor, who ruled from 14-37AD (8)
18 Obstructions or snags, impediments (10)
22 The world’s largest mammal (4,5)
24 A Christian religious rite consisting of immersion in or sprinkling with water (7) 27 Something that nourishes or sustains the body or mind (7)
28 A colourless liqueur with orange flavouring (9)
30 A small compartment for papers and letters (10)
32 ––– mining, method of mining involving excavation from the surface (8)
35 City and port in North West Belgium, the capital of East Flanders province (5)
37 A small, simple house, especially in a rural area (7) 38 A state of North East India, part of the Ganges plain (5) 39 The term above the line in a fraction (9)
40 A person who drops rubbish in public places (9)
Down
1 Scarves of silk or fine wool, worn round the neck (7) 2 Game often played on Halloween, involving a tub of water and floating fruits (5,7)
3 Clark –––, alter ego of the fictional superhero Superman (4)
4 See 8
5 A variety of beet, with large, succulent leaves and thick stalks, used as a vegetable (5)
6 A style of decorative or fine art based on imitations of Chinese motifs (11)
7 The Battle of Wounded –––, the last armed conflict between the Great Sioux Nation and the USA (4)
8 and 4 Republic in West Africa that became independent from Portugal in 1974 (6-6) 9 In astrology, a division between houses or signs of the zodiac (4) 10 Conducive to health or physical and moral wellbeing (9)
17 The choice of roads taken to get to a place (5) 19 Acknowledgment of a sum owing by entry on the left side of an account (5) 20 Nigerian novelist and academic whose first novel was 1958’s
Things Fall Apart (6,6) 21 Small, portable electronic devices used for performing mathematical operations (11)
23 Historically, in mythology and fiction, a woman believed to practise magic (5)
25 (Of birds) to maintain feathers in a healthy condition by arrangement and cleaning (5)
26 Displaying angry or destructive behaviour (9) 29 Space or area reserved for keeping or accumulating items for future use (7) 31 A widespread or vehement protest (6)
33 In music, to be played very fast (6)
34 Clark –––, 20th Century US actor who played
Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind (5)
36 Jane Austen novel featuring a matchmaking heroine (4) 37 Old Possum’s Book Of Practical – – –, 1939 collection of poems by
T. S. Eliot, the inspiration for an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (4) 38 A platform or stand on which a coffin rests before burial (4)