THE PRIZE CROSSWORD
There’s an amazing £1,500 prize for the first correct solution drawn at random in our general knowledge Prize Crossword. The whole family will have fun trying to come up with the answers. Entries must arrive by Friday, March 14 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name will be published on Sunday, March 30. ACROSS 1 ––– Desmond, Gloria Swanson’s character in Sunset Boulevard (5) 4 Ugandan President 1971-79 (3,4) 8 North African country with more than 84 million inhabitants (5) 13 Astrological sign between Aquarius and Aries (6) 14 Postman played by John Ratzenberger in the TV sitcom Cheers (5) 15 French city situated on the Loire River (6) 16 Arabic word for uprising, used to describe the Palestinian conflict with Israel from 1987 (8) 17 Nickname of the Englishlanguage Nazi propaganda broadcaster William Joyce (4,3-3) 18 Margaret –––, the first Minister for Children in the UK after the post’s introduction in 2003 (5) 20 Victor –––, Ilsa’s husband in the film Casablanca (6) 22 What I represents in the rainbow mnemonic Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (6) 26 Stephen King short story which has inspired a series of eight movies (8,2,3,4) 28 John –––, Poet Laureate appointed in 1668 and dismissed 20 years later (6) 29 Name by which Sri Lanka was known prior to 1972 (6) 30 Alessandro –––, Italian physicist who invented the electric battery (5) 32 Meal commemorated by Christians on Maundy Thursday (4,6) 36 Ulmus hollandica, a diseaseprone hybrid tree (5,3) 38 Name given to two NASA Mars probes (6) 39 Archaic word for a fireplace in a room (5) 40 ––– Society, socialist think tank originally established in January 1884 (6) 41 Four-stringed instrument of the violin family (5) 42 Astronomer and geographer who died in Alexandria circa AD 168 (7) 43 First name of singer Vaughan and US politician Palin (5)
DOWN
2 Constellation in which 35 and Betelgeuse are visible (5)
3 Creature of Mimidae family, featured in the title of a Harper Lee novel (11)
5 Literary hero whose companions are Monk, Ham, Renny, Long Tom and Johnny (3,6)
6 Title of the in-house publication of the BBC (5)
7 The fourth in Dan Brown’s series of novels about Robert Langdon (7)
9 Title of the only UK No1 hit for The Moody Blues (2,3)
10 Christian art in which Mary is depicted holding the dead body of Jesus (5) 11 Scottish island on which Bowmore and Port Ellen are located (5) 12 Django –––, 2013 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson (9) 19 ––– Hammerstein, lyricist partner of Richard Rodgers (5) 21 Polish currency whose name translates literally as golden (5) 23 Morbid fear of crossing the road (11) 24 Jean –––, French writer whose novels include Our Lady Of The Flowers and Querelle Of Brest (5) 25 Scottish city also known as Auld Reekie or the Athens of the North (9) 27 Norwegian city formerly named Nidaros and Kaupangen (9) 29 Person from Nicosia, for example (7) 31 British record label founded in 1976 specialising in punk and new wave (5) 33 ––– Eve, English actress who played Carol Marcus in Star Trek Into Darkness (5) 34 ––– & Retribution, ITV police drama created by Lynda La Plante (5) 35 Seventh brightest star in the night sky (5) 37 Tibetan city whose name translates as Place Of The Gods (5)