THE PRIZE CROSSWORD

WIN £1,500

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, August 21 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, September 6. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.

Across

1 British artist best known for his paintings of horses, such as Whistlejacket (6,6)

8 To give formal approval or consent to (6)

11 Town in Monmouthshire on the River Wye, the location of the racecourse that hosts the Welsh Grand National (8) 12 A shore bird similar to the avocet but having a straight bill (5)

13 A painful or sensitive wound or injury (4)

14 The projecting end of a piece of wood formed to fit into a corresponding mortise in another piece (5) 15 Swiss-born radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution, killed in his bath tub (4-4,5)

17 A rich, soft, creamy cheese (9)

19 In music, to be performed at a moderately slow tempo (7)

23 A liquid produced by the liver to help the body digest fat (4) 24 A widespread Eurasian plant, with woolly leaves and tall erect spikes of yellow flowers (6,3) 25 ––– cat, short-haired, tailless feline believed to originate on the Isle of Man (4)

26 A shape with eight straight sides (7)

28 Comedy characterised by horseplay and physical action (9)

31 A volcano in South

West Italy, on the Bay of Naples (5,8)

34 A feeling of resentment or irritation (5)

36 Jean –––, 20th Century British fashion designer (4) 37 John –––, 19th Century English poet famous for his rural subjects (5) 38 A soft, malleable, highly toxic, white, metallic element (8)

39 A drug or agent that cures a disease or controls its symptoms (6)

40 To single out a particular person or group for special favour or disfavour (12)

Down

2 The reflections of sounds (6) 3 An unprincipled, depraved or roguish person (9) 4 A dialect or archaic name for newts (4)

5 Market town in Gloucestershire, site of a decisive 1471 battle in the Wars of the Roses (10) 6 Type of North American cattle with a massive head, shaggy forequarters and a humped back (5)

7 A city in South West Iran, one of the oldest cities of ancient Persia (6) 8 Mammal of Africa and South Asia, also called the honey badger (5) 9 A crispy, deep-fried tortilla topped with meat, cheese and refried beans (7)

10 The style of the layout of a computer document (10) 16 Italian ice cream (6) 18 Relating to the kidneys (5) 20 The state of wearing no clothes (6)

21 Something that is made known, revelation (10) 22 Aircraft used to spread pesticides on fields of plants (4-6)

25 Harold –––, Conservative Prime Minister 1957-63 (9) 27 Merseyside suburb, the site of a racecourse over which the Grand National steeplechase is run (7) 29 Lee Harvey –––, presumed assassin of US President John F. Kennedy (6)

30 A loud, confused noise, as of a crowd (6)

32 Town and spa in Central France on the River Allier, seat of the collaborationist government under Marshal Pétain (5)

33 Sudden changes of course or direction (5) 35 L. Frank –––, American author of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz (4)