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, June 26 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, July 12. You must complete the iSpy box to enter. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter – and good luck!
Across
1 Musical based on short stories by Damon Runyon, first performed in 1950 (4,3,5) 8 The clear, yellowish fluid portion of blood, in which blood cells are suspended (6)
11 Spencer –––, the only British prime minister to have been assassinated (8) 12 A modern Latin American dance, resembling the rumba (5)
13 To transfer, make over or surrender something (4) 14 Decomposition, as of vegetable matter (5) 15 Acute respiratory disease whose medical name is pertussis (8,5)
17 Benjamin –––, British poet and Rastafarian whose collections include Talking Turkeys (9) 19 A popular type of satirical West Indian ballad, especially from Trinidad (7) 23 A large bowl for baptismal water, usually mounted on a pedestal (4)
24 Eleanor of –––, medieval queen consort of France and England, the mother of King Richard I and
King John (9)
25 A card game, an old form of poker (4)
26 Two successive lines of rhyming verse (7) 28 Medical condition causing swollen, painful joints (9) 31 Unidentified serial killer active in the Whitechapel area of London in 1888 (4,3,6)
34 Alexandre –––, French novelist and dramatist whose works include
The Three Musketeers (5) 36 The main body of a vessel, tank or flying boat (4) 37 Large spiral-horned antelope of East and South Africa (5)
38 A race on foot of 26 miles 385 yards (8)
39 A word or phrase repeated by Buddhists and Hindus in meditation (6) 40 An intimate conversation or discussion between two people (5-2-5)
Down
2 ––– bars, two parallel bars set horizontally at different heights, used in gymnastics, also known as asymmetric bars (6) 3 A Christian rite, such as baptism (9)
4 A variable star that undergoes a cataclysmic eruption (4)
5 Garden plant cultivated for its spikes of blue, pink or white spurred flowers (10) 6 A Caribbean dance in which dancers pass, while leaning backwards, under a bar (5)
7 A meeting of chiefs of governments or other high officials (6) 8 A sharply-pointed end of an instrument, such as on a fork (5)
9 Small, salty, food fish of the herring family, often tinned or made into a paste (7)
10 An island republic off the East Coast of Africa (10) 16 An ancient country in the East Balkan Peninsula (6) 18 An essential oil from flowers, especially the damask rose, used pure or as a base for perfume (5)
20 ––– acid, colourless, pungent liquid, the main component of vinegar after water (6)
21 A florid virtuoso passage in 18th and 19th Century arias (10)
22 A lightweight hat protecting the wearer from the sun, formerly worn by European travellers and explorers (4,6)
25 A small block of compressed coal dust, sawdust or charcoal used for fuel (9)
27 A thin kind of crumpet (7) 29 Mary –––, former Labour MP who lost her Wakefield seat at the 2019 general election (6)
30 Courage or bravery, especially in battle (6) 32 Long-legged, carnivorous, dog-like mammal of Africa and South Asia (5)
33 City in Veneto, North East Italy, on the Bacchiglione River (5)
35 A type of pasta similar in size to grains of rice (4)