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, July 22 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, August 7. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter. Across 1 The past accomplishments and failures of people or businesses (5,7)

8 --- of Avila, sainted

Spanish nun who reformed the Carmelite order and founded numerous convents (6)

11 A plan of procedure for a project, allotting tasks and the time for them (8)

12 Dark reddish-brown pigment obtained from the inky secretion of the cuttlefish (5)

13 --- irrigation, a system involving the controlled delivery of water directly to individual plants through a network of pipes (4) 14 An accumulation of weathered rock fragments at the foot of a cliff (5) 15 Upright poles marking the beginnings of racecourses (8,5) 17 A subsection of a piece of writing (9)

19 James --- ---, criminal who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 (4,3) 23 Golden ---, English galleon which circumnavigated the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake (4)

24 A small burner producing a very hot flame, used to remove old paint (9)

25 A loop, coil or skein, as of rope, wool or yarn (4) 26 Women’s skirts or dresses worn from the late Middle Ages into the Baroque period (7)

28 A speech sound or letter of the alphabet other than a vowel (9)

31 Winner of the Best

Actress Oscar for the

1965 film Darling (5,8)

34 Roman emperor 78-81AD, who succeeded his father Vespasian (5)

36 See 33 Down

37 W.B. ---, Irish poet and dramatist whose verse collections include The Tower (5)

38 People who are guilty

of treason (8)

39 Plant with serrated leaves which have stinging hairs (6)

40 Eldest daughter of Louis XI; acted as regent during the minority of her brother Charles VIII (4,2,6)

Down

2 Style of architecture and decoration originating in early 18th-Century France (6)

3 Grover ---, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States (9)

4 Michel ---, English-French chef who owns London restaurant Le Gavroche (4) 5 G.K. ---, creator of the fictional priest-detective Father Brown (10)

6 The vertical part of a

stair or step (5) 7 --- tank, container for sewage to be decomposed by anaerobic bacteria (6)

8 Ringing sound produced by the plucking of a taut string (5)

9 Type of finch with a greyishbrown plumage, red crown and pink breast (7)

10 Camille --- ---, French composer and musician of the Romantic era (5-5)

16 A disorderly crowd (6)

18 A garden paved area (5)

20 In Greek mythology, a virgin goddess of wisdom, practical skills and warfare (6)

21 A suffix added to a word to show affection or indicate that something is small (10)

22 Cured ham from Italy, often served as an hors d’oeuvre (10)

25 --- Maria, Queen of England

as wife to King Charles I (9) 27 One of three offspring

born at one birth (7)

29 Either of the two divisions of

a pack of tarot cards (6)

30 A set of rules or instructions, for example at the beginning of an exam paper (6)

32 River which flows through

Glasgow (5)

33 and 36 Across British author whose novels include The Woman

In Black (5,4)

35 A person who is homeless,

friendless or neglected (4)