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, February 25 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, March 13. You must complete the iSpy box to enter. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter – and good luck!

Across

11 A person who argues in

favour of something (9)

12 Culinary term meaning cooked or garnished with onions (9)

13 A lock of hair (5)

14 See 31 Down

15 State of the Northwest United States, the capital of which is Boise (5)

16 Dutch exotic dancer executed as a German spy in World War I (4,4)

18 A set of metal bars in the surface of a road, intended to prevent the passage of livestock (6,4) 22 Lance ---, US cyclist who won the Tour de France seven consecutive times but later admitted using banned substances (9)

24 The Hunt For Red ---,

1984 debut novel by

Tom Clancy (7)

27 A professional long-term

member of a military unit (7) 28 A period of three months (9) 30 Thistle-like plants cultivated for large edible flower heads containing many fleshy scalelike bracts (10) 32 To represent or mean (5,3) 35 A row of shrubs, bushes or trees forming a boundary to a field or garden (5)

37 Dumplings made of pieces of semolina pasta or potato (7) 38 Mint ---, a long drink consisting of bourbon whiskey, crushed ice, sugar and sprigs of mint (5)

39 A natural or artificial lake for collecting and storing water (9)

40 In law, evidence given by a witness, especially in court (9) Down

1 A typical example or embodiment of a characteristic or class (7)

2 The section of a racecourse forming the approach to the finish (4,8)

3 The gallery of

a theatre (4)

4 A biography or historical account, especially one based on personal knowledge (6)

5 Goods kept on the premises of a shop or business (5)

6 In law, to make an agreement between the prosecution and defence, in which the accused agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge (4-7)

7 Stow-on-the- ---, English market town in Gloucestershire at the junction of main roads through the Cotswolds (4)

8 Plant cultivated for its crisp, curly leaves, which are used in salads (6) 9 An oral examination

at university (4)

10 Wind instruments of the flute family, blown through a fipple (9)

17 --- Hempstead, town in West Hertfordshire, England, designated a new town in 1947 (5)

19 A recurring theme

or idea (5)

20 and 34 British naval officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic (6,6,5)

21 A type of climbing plant with large hard-shelled fruits, also called the calabash (6,5)

23 The trunk of the

human body (5)

25 The largest satellite of the

planet Saturn (5)

26 The act or an instance of

wilful betrayal (9)

29 Gives the amount owed

in advance (7)

31 and 14 Across The -----, the last play by

Russian dramatist

Anton Chekhov (6,7)

33 A craving to drink (6)

34 See 20

36 Twilight, or the darker

part of twilight (4)

37 A diluted alcoholic spirit,

usually rum (4)

38 A place for the confinement of people sentenced to imprisonment (4)