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, June 28 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, July 14. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter. Across

1 Baked pastry with a filling of meat and vegetables, originating from a county of South West England (7,5) 8 See 18 Down 11 Fellow members of a religion, sect or society (8) 12 Exposure to risk or harm, jeopardy (5) 13 Electrically-charged atoms (4) 14 Loch –––, lake in East Central Scotland with seven islands, on one of which Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned (5) 15 Arm of the Mediterranean between Italy and the islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily (10,3) 17 Close-fitting woollen hood covering the head and face, originally worn by soldiers in the Crimean War (9) 19 Empty page of a book next to the cover (7) 23 Garden tool consisting of a row of metal or wooden teeth attached to a long handle (4) 24 A long-bodied, short-legged breed of dog (9) 25 Game played on horseback using long-handled mallets (4) 26 The Roman name for Odysseus (7) 28 City in Queensland, Australia, which hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games (4,5) 31 Lowest non-commissioned officer rank in the British Army (5,8) 34 Nickname of Jean Louise Finch, narrator of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird (5) 36 In Greek myths, the winged goddess of victory (4) 37 Rainbow or brown game fish (5) 38 Director-General of the BBC 2000-04 and chairman of the Football Association 2013-16 (4,4) 39 Room in a church for storing ceremonial clothes (6) 40 Armed insurrection that took place in Dublin in April 1916 against British rule in Ireland (6,6)

Down

2 Edna –––, Irish writer whose first novel was The Country Girls (6) 3 ––– ––– de Paris, Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité, badly affected by a fire in April 2019 (5-4) 4 See 32 5 The first adhesive postage stamp, issued in Britain in 1840 (5,5) 6 ––– middleweight, a boxer between a middleweight and a light heavyweight (5) 7 In cricket, a ball bowled so as to pitch at the batsman’s feet (6) 8 New –––, the capital of India (5) 9 Main character in a French puppet show of the same name, representing the workers of the French silk industry (7) 10 A town and resort forming part of the principality of Monaco, site of a famous casino (5,5) 16 See 35 18 and 8 Across Portuguese explorer who was the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India (5,2,4) 20 A market town in Shropshire, site of a castle founded in the 11th Century (6) 21 A drug or treatment that relieves suffering without treating the cause of the condition (10) 22 A rectangular courtyard, especially one having buildings on all four sides (10) 25 Series of letters and digits used to assist the sorting of mail (9) 27 Walter –––, German-born British Impressionist painter (7) 29 Chris –––, British cyclist who has won the Tour de France four times (6) 30 John –––, art critic of the Victorian era whose theories influenced the Pre-Raphaelites (6)

32 and 4 Museum ship in Greenwich, London (5,4) 33 Titus –––, English perjurer who fabricated the Popish Plot (5)

35 and 16 The first parliamentary leader of the Labour Party (4,6)