THE PRIZE CROSSWORD

There’s an amazing £1,500 prize for the first correct solution drawn at random in our general knowledge Prize Crossword. Entries must arrive by Friday, January 6 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, January 22. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.

Across

11 City in Central England on

the River Soar (9)

12 A supporter of Parliament against Charles I during the Civil War (9)

13 Small insect which feeds by sucking the juices from plants (5)

14 --- Hall, a meeting place of Jehovah’s Witnesses for religious services (7)

15 A conception of something

that is perfect (5)

16 The ---, 1910 ballet and orchestral concert work by Igor Stravinsky (8)

18 20th-Century American actor who played Rhett Butler in Gone With

The Wind (5,5)

22 A state of the south-western US, crossed by the

Rio Grande and the

Pecos River (3,6)

24 Units of length each equal to six feet, used to measure depths of water (7)

27 Lois ---, Canadian actress who played Miss Moneypenny in 14

James Bond films (7)

28 Flow of air blowing obliquely towards the equator (5,4)

30 Style of monument constructed across Western Europe during the early Neolithic period (4,6)

32 In Greek mythology, a nymph who was changed into a bear by Hera (8)

35 A bird of prey’s sharply

hooked claw (5)

37 Sand traps on

a golf course (7)

38 In fairy tales, a servant who appears by magic and fulfils a person’s wishes (5)

39 The capital and largest

city of Slovenia (9)

40 A small sausage in a

narrow casing (9)

Down

1 A leguminous plant of Europe and Asia, widely cultivated for forage (7)

2 The 37th President of the US; the only American president to resign the office (7,5)

3 A small usually spherical piece of glass, wood or plastic with a hole through it (4)

4 Bram ---, Irish novelist best known for his 1897 novel Dracula (6)

5 A strong solution of salt and water, used for preserving food (5)

6 1925 novel by

Virginia Woolf (3,8)

7 The largest of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific Ocean (4)

8 An engine running at low speed with the transmission disengaged (6)

9 Saint known as the Venerable ---, monk and scholar who wrote Ecclesiastical History Of

The English People (4)

10 A small alpine flowering plant with white woolly oblong leaves (9)

17 David ---, British entertainer whose alter ego was

Ziggy Stardust (5)

19 A firearm with

a long barrel (5)

20 Day of violence in Dublin in November 1920, during the Irish War of Independence (6,6)

21 Advanced hominid postulated from fossil bones found in Sussex in 1912, proved to be a hoax in 1953 (8,3)

23 Leonhard ---, 18th-Century Swiss mathematician and physicist (5)

25 In music, a melodic

ornament (5)

26 Light conversation for

social occasions (5,4)

29 A county in the north-west Republic of Ireland, on the Atlantic (7)

31 Decorated metal or wooden ring worn round the wrist, arm or ankle (6)

33 To descend a steep slope or vertical drop by a rope secured from above (6)

34 Mike ---, Vice President of

the US 2017-21 (5)

36 A crude or

oafish person (4)

37 The basic rhythmic unit in

a piece of music (4)

38 The --- Show, 1950s radio comedy programme starring Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and

Peter Sellers (4)