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, May 20 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, June 5. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.

Across

11 Business transactions conducted on the internet (1-8)

12 Plant typically having showy flowers and poisonous parts, sometimes called the Christmas rose (9)

13 Specific pieces of work,

duties or chores (5)

14 Septimius ---, Roman soldier and emperor, who spent his last years in Britain (7)

15 A brass musical instrument similar to the cornet but usually without valves (5)

16 --- Lost, epic poem in blank verse by John Milton, first published in 1667 (8)

18 Extra payments in addition to the usual payments or taxes (10) 22 A string with a metal weight at one end that, when suspended, points directly towards the Earth’s centre of gravity (5,4) 24 George ---, Prime Minister of the UK who died in office in 1827 (7)

27 In Greek mythology, the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, who helped Theseus find his way out of the Minotaur’s labyrinth (7) 28 In Arthurian legend, the wife of King Arthur and lover of Lancelot (9) 30 20th-Century British tennis player better remembered as a radio and TV commentator on the sport (3,7) 32 A number of people gathered together for a regular formal meeting (8) 35 Evergreen tree with edible pods that are used as a substitute for chocolate (5)

37 A reading desk or support

in a church (7)

38 Mike ---, US boxer; undisputed heavyweight champion in the 1980s (5) 39 Sergei ---, Russian composer whose works include Peter

And The Wolf (9)

40 Ramsay ---, the first

British Labour Party

Prime Minister (9)

Down

1 The secret state police in

Nazi Germany (7)

2 Compulsory military

service (12)

3 Large Australian flightless birds with grey or brown plumage (4)

4 An unstable period, especially one of extreme trouble or danger in politics or economics (6)

5 Christopher ---, American actor who played

Superman in four films in the 1970s and 1980s (5)

6 Cooked cold meats, or a

shop selling them (11)

7 --- sign, the symbol +, indicating addition or positive quantity (4)

8 A small nocturnal burrowing rodent of dry regions of

Asia and North Africa (6) 9 --- Island, island in Southeast New York

State, containing the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens (4)

10 The flag of the British

Merchant Navy (3,6)

17 A member of an ancient order of priests in preChristian Gaul, Britain and Ireland (5)

19 A hidden store of provisions, weapons or treasure (5)

20 Republic of --- ---, country in West Africa, bordering Senegal to the North (6-6) 21 Famous hollow formed in the basalt coastline of Staffa in the Inner Hebrides (7,4)

23 In snooker, the opening shot with the cue ball that scatters the placed balls (5) 25 Daughter of one’s sister

or brother (5)

26 Painting or photograph depicting natural scenery (9)

29 Highly poisonous

chemical compound (7)

31 An archaic or poetic name

for Britain or England (6)

33 --- the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher; tutor and adviser to Nero (6)

34 Rays or columns

of light (5)

36 Chesspiece also called

the castle (4)

37 The resting place of

a wild animal (4)

38 A gait of a horse, faster

than a walk (4)