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, May 30 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name will be published on Sunday, June 15.
ACROSS
1 23 Railway Cuttings, East –––, Tony Hancock’s address in Hancock’s Half Hour (5)
4 ––– Blumenthal, celebrity chef who owns The Fat Duck (6)
8 ––– Spirit, David Lean’s 1945 film based on a play by Noel Coward (6)
12 Ary Barroso song recorded by Django Reinhardt, Frank Sinatra and many others (6)
13 ––– Vale, London district that is home to a complex of BBC recording studios (5)
14 Maria Eva ––– De Peron, the full name of Evita (6)
15 Group that manages the undersea connection between Britain and France (10)
16 The Song Of –––, epic poem written by Longfellow in 1855 (8)
17 First name adopted by the actress born Mary Louise Streep (5)
19 Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in accounting (6)
22 Big Ed Hurley’s wife in Twin Peaks (6)
25 Ragtime piano player born Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (5,4,6)
28 First name of the chef Ramsay, and footballers Banks and Strachan (6) 29 The Comedy Of –––, Shakespeare play with Egeon and Emilia (6)
30 ––– Gay, the first plane to drop an atomic bomb (5)
32 Lemuel –––, Jonathan Swift’s literary hero (8)
35 Composer of Night And Day and I’ve Got You Under My Skin (4,6)
37 Joseph –––, a pioneer of antiseptic surgery at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary (6)
38 Blue hedgehog in a series of video games (5)
39 Police TV series of the 1970s starring Patrick Mower as DSI Steve Hackett (6)
40 The SI unit of electric current (6)
41 Cartoon dog created by Charles M. Schulz (6)
42 Walt Disney’s middle name (5)
DOWN
2 Son of Zeus who had to perform the Twelve Labours (8)
3 Italian port, site of a crucial Allied landing during the Second World War (5)
5 18th Century Whig politician who supported the American Revolutionaries (6,5)
6 The –––, Franz Kafka novel first published in 1925 (5)
7 Welsh town, birthplace of the actor Ray Milland (5)
8 Pop group fronted by Buster Bloodvessel (3,7)
9 ––– Abramovic, Croatian who lost in the first round of Wimbledon 2006 to Amelie Mauresmo (5)
10 Christopher –––, author of God Is Not Great, who died in 2011 (8)
11 ––– Atlas, a David Mitchell novel filmed with Tom Hanks and Jim Broadbent (5)
18 US traffic sign, the equivalent of Give Way (5)
20 Steven –––, Aerosmith vocalist, father of the actress Liv (5)
21 International yachting regatta held every two years from 1957-99 and finally in 2003 (8,3)
23 A 1996 short story collection by Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Diaz (5)
24 Poetry written in regular metrical, unrhymed lines (5,5)
26 Severe, often deadly, poisoning from improperly prepared food (8)
27 Species of plant used in cosmetics for its supposed healing properties (4,4)
31 Mark –––, swimmer who won seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics (5)
33 River in Hades that brings forgetfulness in Greek mythology (5)
34 Wars of the –––, series of 15th Century conflicts between the houses of Lancaster and York (5)
35 Democratic Republic of the –––, country once known as Zaire (5)
36 The ––– Juror, fictional film from a ‘Kevin Grisham’ novel in the TV sitcom 30 Rock (5)
LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS, No 1645
ACROSS: 1 Dog Star, 5 Mungo, 8 Spock, 13 Porcupines, 14 Idiot box, 15 Volume, 16 Oates, 17 Gerard, 18 Africans, 20 Aleut, 21 Euro, 23 Departmental Ditties, 27 Argo, 28 Ionic, 29 Crowther, 31 Conrad, 33 Ewoks, 35 Elijah, 37 Vespucci, 38 Clementine, 39 Straw, 40 Gemma, 41 Assegai.
DOWN: 2 Ovolo, 3 Succubi, 4 Apple-cart, 6 Upset, 7 Gaitskell, 9 Peter West, 10 Choir, 11 Onions, 12 Gidget, 19 Freyr, 20 Attic, 22 Reeve, 24 Apocrypha, 25 Ernie Wise, 26 Idomeneus, 28 Il Duce, 29 Custer, 30 Thistle, 32 Ovett, 34 Occam, 36 Apnea.