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, April 22 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, May 8. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.

Across

11 1885 comic opera by

Gilbert and Sullivan set in Japan (3,6)

12 A stationary barge or other vessel used as a home (9)

13 --- I, known as --- the Peaceful, King of

England 959-975 (5)

14 --- stone, part of a wall in a castle in the Southwest Republic of Ireland, said to endow whoever kisses it with the ‘gift of the gab’ (7) 15 The beginning

of something (5)

16 An old-fashioned slang word for a surgeon or doctor (8)

18 Places where tickets are sold in theatres and cinemas (3,7)

22 Jack ---, playwright and early Coronation Street scriptwriter, who has a street in Manchester named after him (9) 24 A situation in which no progress is possible (7) 27 Administrative divisions of Russia (7)

28 A Creole dish of shrimps, ham, rice and onions (9) 30 President of the Sinn

Fein political party 1983-2018 (5,5)

32 Calvin ---, the 30th President of the United States (8)

35 The communion table in Christian churches (5) 37 Arthur ---, Conservative Prime Minister 1902-05 (7) 38 A rail at hip height used for ballet practice and leg exercises (5)

39 Language spoken in the mainland Chinese province of Guangdong and its surrounding areas (9)

40 A barrier for defence, especially one erected hastily (9)

Down

1 A person who does not

believe in God or gods (7)

2 A European bird of reed beds and swampy areas, with a streaked brownish plumage and white eye stripes (5,7)

3 The ---, the first novel by Stephen Fry, published in 1991 (4)

4 A small, spherical

hanging ornament (6)

5 A short raid or incursion (5) 6 The illusion that an arm or leg still exists following its amputation (7,4)

7 Jack ---, nightclub owner convicted of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald (4)

8 In golf, to start a hole (3,3)

9 The dried ripe flowers of a climbing plant, used to give a bitter taste to beer (4)

10 Experienced and respected

male politicians (9)

17 A block of light porous material, used as a base for flower arrangements (5)

19 --- board, a board marked with letters, numbers and symbols, used at a seance (5) 20 A biscuit consisting of two layers with a filling of vanillaflavoured paste (7,5)

21 Characters who went to sea in a sieve, created by the nonsense poet Edward Lear (3,8)

23 Moved forwards slowly

and carefully (5)

25 A hard, smooth, lustrous structure found inside a clam or oyster (5)

26 The --- ---, a journey of about 10,000 km undertaken by thousands of Chinese Communists in 1934-35 (4,5)

29 In Greek mythology, the goddess of agricultural fertility and protector of marriage and women (7)

31 Plant with finely dissected leaves and flat clusters of white flower heads (6)

33 A mechanical model

of the solar system (6)

34 A room or corridor used

as an entrance hall (5)

36 Armoured combat vehicle, moving on tracks and armed with guns (4)

37 Joan ---, American folk singer associated with 1960s protest movements (4)

38 In cricket, either of the two small wooden bars placed upon the stumps to form the wicket (4)