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, September 9 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, September 25. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.

Across

11 Venetian trader and explorer; one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China and visit Kublai Khan (5,4)

12 A variety of peach tree, the fruit of which has a smooth skin (9)

13 Unit of weight equal to onesixteenth of a pound (5)

14 Extreme greed for riches (7) 15 A length of yarn, wound in a long coil (5)

16 Follow closely or exactly (6,2)

18 Nursery rhyme character frightened by a spider (4,6) 22 An album that tells a story through the songs it contains (4,5)

24 A variety of long-grain rice (7)

27 A cigar with both ends cut off squarely (7)

28 Having equal dimensions or measurements (9) 30 Displaying the tendency to expect the best and see the best in all things (10)

32 --- Island, island in Poole Harbour and location of a 1907 camp that led to the formation of the Scout movement (8) 35 Slightly warm (5)

37 A rich cake of Middle Eastern origin consisting of thin layers of pastry filled with nuts and honey (7)

38 Hickory tree of the Southern US, with deeply furrowed bark and edible nuts (5)

39 A tough elastic tissue found on the articulating ends of bones (9)

40 --- --- day, a memorably important or happy occasion (3-6)

Down

1 Unscrupulous or unethical (7)

2 20th-Century American science fiction author who wrote the 1965 novel Dune (5,7)

3 Small burrowing mammal with velvety dark fur (4)

4 A brittle, hard, silvery-white element, widely used in alloys (6)

5 In the Old Testament, a Hebrew prophet who was swallowed by a great fish (5)

6 A person who supervises examination candidates (11)

7 The culminating point of achievement or excellence (4)

8 The capital and chief port of the Bahamas, on the Northeast coast of New Providence Island (6)

9 A council area of East Central Scotland, bordering the North Sea between the Firths of Tay and Forth (4)

10 Leonard ---, 20th-Century American composer who wrote the music for the musical West Side Story (9)

17 The right-hand pages of a book, bearing the odd numbers (5)

19 Stout, single-edged cavalry sword with a curved blade (5)

20 --- --- Key, American lawyer who wrote the lyrics for The Star-Spangled Banner (7,5)

21 Evergreen plants with trailing stems and blue flowers (11)

23 Titus ---, English perjurer who fabricated the Popish Plot (5)

25 Small, mouse-like, longsnouted mammal (5)

26 Poems or other lines of writing, certain letters of which form a word or proverb (9)

29 Long strips of flexible material displaying slogans or advertisements (7)

31 The capital city of Spain (6)

33 Republic in Central Africa, the capital of which is Kigali (6)

34 An island off Western Italy, in the Bay of Naples (5)

36 A knitting stitch made by doing a plain stitch backwards (4)

37 A card game; an old form of poker (4)

38 An earnest entreaty or request (4)