THE PRIZE CROSSWORD
There’s an amazing €2,000 prize for the first correct solution drawn at random in our general knowledge Prize Crossword. Entries must arrive by Friday, December 15 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, December 31. You must complete the iSpy box to enter. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter – and good luck!
Across
1 Harry Potter And The --- Stone, debut novel by J.K. Rowling, published in 1997 (12) 8 Modern art movement drawing on imagery from popular culture and mass media (3,3) 11 County of South West England (8) 12 A film, play or series that is broadcast or put on again (5) 13 A large open container for transporting waste material (4) 14 A hard-wearing cotton fabric whose name refers to a French city (5) 15 Seventh president of the United States, who successfully defended New Orleans against the British (6,7) 17 A handwritten signature, especially that of a famous person (9) 19 The capital of the Falkland Islands (7) 23 Classic ballet practice posture with back erect and knees bent (4) 24 Duke of ---, title conferred on Prince William on his wedding day in 2011 (9) 25 A disturbance made by an unruly mob (4) 26 Model construction system created by Frank Hornby, patented in 1901 (7) 28 Elizabethan dramatist, the author of The Spanish Tragedy (6,3) 31 A mountainous region in France, covering about one-sixth of the country (6,7) 34 A book or binder for photographs or stamps (5) 36 Mound or ridge of drifted sand (4) 37 The undulating movement of the surface of the open sea (5) 38 The site of a battle in 1356 in which Edward, the Black Prince, defeated the French (8) 39 The former name of Iran (6) 40 Accounting term for the reduction in value of a fixed asset due to use or obsolescence (12)
Down
2 In rugby, the central forward in the front row of a scrum (6) 3 The distance in degrees East or West of the prime meridian at zero degrees (9) 4 A stratum of coal or ore (4) 5 A word or phrase which reads the same forwards as in reverse (10) 6 A mistake or inaccuracy in action or speech (5) 7 Small, mouse-like, long snouted mammals (6) 8 A large, black-and-white mammal, native to China (5) 9 Alexander ---, Russian author whose works include the verse novel Eugene Onegin (7) 10 A large mammal of South East Asia and Africa, with one or two horns on its nose and a very thick skin (10) 16 Tropical, fruit-eating bird with a large, brightlycoloured bill (6) 18 The capital of Western Australia, on the Swan River (5) 20 Bloodsucking African fly which transmits a variety of diseases (6) 21 The English title of a famous waltz by Johann Strauss II, The --- --- (4,6) 22 The visible projection of the thyroid cartilage of the larynx at the front of the neck (5,5) 25 British organisation with the sole right to manufacture coins (5,4) 27 Set of small, swivelling wheels mounted on furniture (7) 29 Epic poem written by Virgil, telling the story of a Trojan hero who became the founder of the Romans (6) 30 A book size resulting from folding printed sheets into four leaves or eight pages (6) 32 A large, cat-like mammal inhabiting the forests of Madagascar (5) 33 A spring-blooming plant with showy, bell-shaped flowers (5) 35 An independent republic consisting of a number of islands in the South West Pacific (4)