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, May 5 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, May 21. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.
Across
1 Metropolitan county of central England soon to have its own mayor (4,8) 8 A species of large deer native to North America (6) 11 Apache chieftain who surrendered to US authorities in 1886 (8) 12 The point on the celestial sphere directly below an observer, diametrically opposite the zenith (5) 13 A republic in West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea (4) 14 A.A. ---, English writer whose volume of verse for young readers was titled Now We Are Six (5) 15 American rock and roll musician known for songs including ‘Long Tall Sally’ (6,7) 17 Former municipal borough now part of the London Borough of Brent (9) 19 Jack ---, fictional captain in the Pirates Of The Caribbean film series (7) 23 Marine flatfish; named by the Romans after the Latin word for sandal (4) 24 Surname of two British Prime Ministers, George and his son William (9) 25 Opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, first performed in Cairo in 1871 (4) 26 An enactment of a legislative body expressed in a formal document (7) 28 A type of Arabian camel with a single hump (9) 31 Oscar-winning American choreographer and director who was codirector of 1961’s West Side Story (6,7) 34 To move a finger across a touchscreen on an electronic device (5) 36 American actress who won an Academy Award for her part in Room, --- Larson (4) 37 --- Bolt, Jamaican sprinter; an eight-time Olympic gold medallist (5,4) 38 Frozen treat on a stick (3,5) 39 Sounds the strings of a guitar or banjo with the sweep of a thumb or plectrum (6) 40 A written thesis, often based on original research (12)
Down
2 An agent or drug that induces vomiting (6) 3 Sybil ---, English actress for whom George Bernard Shaw wrote the play Saint Joan (9)
4 and 33 Scottish author whose first novel was The Wasp Factory (4,5) 5 Market town in Herefordshire, at the confluence of the Rivers Lugg and Kenwater (10) 6 An instrumental group of nine players (5) 7 The state capital of New South Wales and birthplace of actor Hugh Jackman (6) 8 Baroness Sayeeda ---, former co-Chair of the Conservative Party (5) 9 Earthenware vessel for holding or pouring liquid (7) 10 American golfer who won the British Open for the third time in 2006 (5,5) 16 A plant disease characterised by withering and shrivelling without rotting (6) 18 A young eel, especially one migrating up a river from the sea (5) 20 Something or someone fake trying to pass as the real thing (6) 21 A volcanic island in the Caribbean, in the Leeward Islands (10) 22 A citrus fruit similar to a tangerine, often seedless (10) 25 A white-flowered West Indian plant which yields an easilydigested starch (9) 27 Henry David ---, 19th Century American writer (7) 29 Noël ---, English dramatist, actor and composer whose works included Blithe Spirit (6) 30 In mythology, the god of light, poetry, music, healing and prophecy; the son of Zeus and Leto (6) 32 A genus of animals including horses, donkeys and zebras (5) 33 See 4 35 Period of the Christian calendar lasting from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (4)