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, July 3 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, July 19. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.

Across

1 A sultan of Egypt and Syria and opponent of the Crusaders (7)

5 A stone or marble coffin or tomb, especially one bearing sculpture or inscriptions (11)

10 A.A. –––, English writer who created Winnie-the-Pooh (5) 11 A person who installs and repairs pipes, fixtures for water, drainage and gas (7) 13 Italian poet famous for La Divina Commedia (5) 14 The ability to control or moderate one’s impulses or passions (9)

15 Building in which the agricultural contribution of a parish to its church was formerly stored (5,4) 16 See 28 Down 17 English comedian who starred in musical films of the 1930s, famous for playing the ukulele (6,6) 20 The State ––– is the lower chamber of the Russian parliament (4)

21 English scholar and poet best known for the collection A Shropshire Lad (1,1,7) 22 ––– Stoker, Irish novelist best known for his 1897 novel Dracula (4) 26 A plaything with a mechanism inside it which makes it move or operate when it is wound up with a key (9,3)

27 Richard –––, American actor famous for starring in the films An Officer

And A Gentleman and Pretty Woman (4)

29 One of a set of items used mainly for fortune-telling, consisting of the minor and major arcana (5,4)

31 Very large, nonvenomous, arboreal and semiaquatic snakes that kill their prey by constriction (9)

33 To make a law or marriage void (5)

34 A person’s fate, fortune or lot (7)

35 A tropical African hardwood tree (5)

36 Fictional animated character voiced by Yeardley Smith since 1987 (4,7)

37 Elegant skill in style or performance (7)

Down

1 A city in South East Uzbekistan, conquered by Alexander the Great in 329BC (9)

2 Short periods of calm or diminished activity (5) 3 Marlene –––, German-born American actress and singer whose films include Shanghai Express (8) 4 Square of cloth or paper used to wipe the mouth or hands (6)

5 A light cone consisting of a cork stub with feathered flights, used to play badminton (11)

6 The capital city of Morocco (5)

7 A line of bushes, trees and plants, usually growing along a bank bordering a country lane or between fields (8)

8 The whole corps of a French police force, or its headquarters or barracks (11)

9 A district of London’s East End, in Tower Hamlets (7) 12 Principal town on the Isle of Bute, on its East coast (8) 16 Percussion instruments consisting of circular wooden frames hung with pairs of metal discs (11)

18 The re-establishment of the monarchy in 1660 (11) 19 Theme park opened in Billund, Denmark, in 1968 (8)

23 The county town of Kent, on the River Medway (9) 24 A bowling game in which players knock over as many pins as possible by rolling a wooden ball at them (8) 25 Strong attachment to, or affection for, a cause or a person (8)

26 A shrill whistle or cry expressing public disapproval (7) 28 and 16 Across Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland by marriage to George V (4,2,4) 30 Specific quantities of a therapeutic drug or agent (5)

32 The scum formed, usually by oxidation, on the surfaces of molten metals (5)