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, February 18 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, March 6. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter. Across 10 Plant used in a tincture

to treat bruises (6)

11 Relating to the scientific study of the stars, planets and the universe as a whole (12)

12 A domed or vaulted recess, especially at the East end of a church (4)

13 Innate abilities, aptitudes

or faculties (7)

14 A farm, especially a farmhouse or country house with its various outbuildings (6)

15 Leo ---, Russian writer whose works include

Anna Karenina and War And Peace (7)

16 John D. ---, American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870 (11)

20 The central part of certain fruits, such as the apple or pear (4) 21 Informal name for a member of the

Royal Canadian

Mounted Police (7) 22 An infusion of dried or fresh leaves or flowers (6) 23 The bell in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London (3,3)

25 Samples or previews of products (7)

27 A cover for keeping things warm (4) 28 With spaces between (2,9) 29 A wooden structure formerly used for hanging criminals (7)

32 A male goose (6)

35 A spear with three or more prongs for catching fish (7)

36 A brook or stream (4)

37 People who search shore debris for anything of worth (12)

38 Displays of the skills of cowboys, including bareback riding (6)

Down

1 Expert in the study

of handwriting (12)

2 An enthusiast

for films (8)

3 Raul ---, revolutionary and statesman who was president of

Cuba 2008-18 (6)

4 See 21

5 To be distinctive or

conspicuous (5,3)

6 A person employed to

run a home (11)

7 A percussion instrument consisting of a metal platelike disc struck with a softheaded drumstick (4)

8 Events that are contrary to the established laws of nature and attributed to a supernatural cause (8)

9 Fritz ---, Austrian-born filmmaker whose movies include

Metropolis and M (4) 17 The ---, three goddesses of destiny known to the Greeks as the Moirai and to the Romans as the Parcae (5)

18 20th-Century Irish physicist who, along with John Cockcroft, was the first to split the atom (6,6)

19 Austrian Symbolist painter whose works include The Kiss (6,5)

21 and 4 Resort forming part of the principality of Monaco; site of a famous casino (5,5)

24 --- XVI, the Pope from

2005 to 2013 (8)

26 American actor nominated for an

Oscar for the 1955 film Rebel Without A Cause (3,5)

27 State of the Central

US, the capital of which is Denver (8)

30 --- borealis, a natural electrical phenomenon seen around the

North Pole (6)

31 Informally, a secret store or the place where this is hidden (5)

33 Port city in Yemen; site of an ancient natural harbour (4)

34 A former instrument of torture that stretched the body of the victim (4)