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, January 5 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, January 21. You must complete the iSpy box to enter. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter – and good luck! Across 10 To force oneself on another or others, foist (6) 11 Of or relating to the nervous system (12) 12 --- put, a track and field event in which contestants hurl a heavy metal ball (4) 13 Trees often planted as a windbreak around agricultural fields to protect against wind erosion (7) 14 Extended areas of land (6) 15 In football, an attacking player (7) 16 American astronomer after whom a space telescope, launched in 1990, is named (5,6) 20 A gala, bazaar or similar entertainment (4) 21 A toy dog breed with long hair, large dark eyes and its tail curled over its back (4,3) 22 An ancient galley with two banks of oars (6) 23 Recorded sound that plays through two or more speakers to recreate natural hearing (6) 25 In British society, a commoner who holds the lowest hereditary title awarded by the British Crown (7) 27 In Roman tradition, the queen of the Olympian gods (4) 28 1st Baron ---, newspaper magnate and politician; Minister of Aircraft Production in the 1940s (11) 29 North West county on the Atlantic (7) 32 The second sign of the zodiac, also called the Bull (6) 35 John ---, English dramatist and screenwriter whose works included the 1956 play Look Back In Anger (7) 36 Wading bird with a long, thin down-curved bill (4) 37 20th Century writer and actor famous for his memoir The Naked Civil Servant (7,5) 38 Laurence ---, novelist and clergyman who wrote The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (6) Down 1 A circular or oval building in which tiers of seats rise from a central open arena, as in ancient Rome (12) 2 Pseudonym of French writer Francois-Marie Arouet, whose works included the satire Candide (8) 3 In Scottish folklore, a water spirit in the form of a horse that drowned its riders (6) 4 Bird of marshes, rivers and ponds, with a long straight bill (5) 5 Opera in three acts by Puccini which features the aria Nessun Dorma (8) 6 An individual voter within an electoral district (11) 7 A large bowl for baptismal water, usually mounted on a pedestal (4) 8 Wilkins ---, character in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield (8) 9 Talk or shout at length in an angry, impassioned way (4) 17 The costume of a nun or monk (5) 18 A book of the Old Testament, traditionally ascribed to the prophet Jeremiah (12) 19 William ---, British politician and philanthropist who was a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade (11) 21 East Anglian river which flows through Canterbury and Sandwich (5) 24 A title of respect for a clergyman (8) 26 A parallelogram with adjacent sides of unequal length (8) 27 Politician who served as the 47th Vice President of the United States from 2009 to 2017 (3,5) 30 A port in Southern Denmark, on Funen Island; birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen (6) 31 The stomach lining of an ox or cow, prepared for cooking (5) 33 Plant with arrow-shaped leaves and a typically white spathe (4) 34 To slide sideways while in motion, especially out of control (4)