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, December 9 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on

ACROSS

1 Dictator who was the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (6,6) 8 The characteristic mode of pronunciation of a person or group (6) 11 Agile, easy-to-train monkey inhabiting forests in South America (8) 12 --- of attorney, legal authority to act for another person in certain specified matters (5) 13 A thick cord made of twisted and intertwined hemp or other fibres (4) 14 A fine-grained metamorphic rock (5) 15 English Romantic artist best known for his landscape paintings, including The Hay Wain (4,9) 17 English poet whose works included the ode On A Grecian Urn (4,5) 19 See 16 Down 23 Kingsley ---, novelist and poet whose works included Lucky Jim (4) 24 A reasoned exposition (9) 25 A bucket, especially one made of wood or metal (4) 26 A wooden structure formerly used for hanging criminals (7) 28 --- House, Tudor mansion in Hertfordshire; the former home of Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton (9) 31 Actress and fashion icon whose film roles included Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (6,7) 34 Industrial city in Western Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia (5) 36 Spanish sparkling wine produced by a method similar to that used for champagne (4) 37 A resounding metallic noise (5) 38 Buildings, especially large or imposing ones (8) 39 Long, narrow body of water between Arabia and North East Africa (3,3) 40 Comedy by Ben Jonson, first performed in 1610 (3,9)

DOWN

2 A prophecy, revealed by a priest or priestess at the shrine of a god (6) 3 Instances of lava bursting forth from a volcano (9) 4 A wall or other boundary set in a ditch so as not to interrupt the landscape (2-2) 5 Artist of the late Italian Renaissance whose works include one of the world’s largest paintings, Paradise (10) 6 A leguminous plant bearing large spikes of brightlycoloured flowers and flattened pods (5) 7 Isaac ---, English mathematician, physicist, astronomer and philosopher (6) 8 A wall hanging, especially of tapestry (5) 9 Hanging cloth for concealing all or part of a theatre stage (7) 10 --- Wars, series of 19th Century conflicts between the French Empire and European powers (10)

16 and 19 Across The 17th US President, who succeeded to the Presidency upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (6,7) 18 Coastal town in South Ayrshire, Scotland; the location of a famous golf course (5) 20 In medieval folklore, the king of the fairies, husband of Titania (6) 21 --- Conception, the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was conceived free from original sin (10) 22 --- Beauty, a butterfly with dark purple wings with cream-yellow borders (10) 25 Element with the symbol K; one of the alkali metals (9) 27 Long ropes with a running noose at one end; lassos (7) 29 Person who is concerned chiefly with insignificant detail (6) 30 A space such as a niche or alcove (6) 32 Shrub of tropical and subtropical America, with stiff, lance-like leaves and spikes of white flowers (5) 33 A brass musical instrument similar to the cornet but usually without valves (5) 35 The soft, fibrous tissue lining the inside of the rind of certain fruits (4)