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 3 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, February 19. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.

Across

11 Having an intermediate climate, between tropical and polar (9)

12 Ballet position in which the dancer has one leg raised behind (9)

13 In maths, the term describing an angle less than 90 degrees (5)

14 Syrupy medicine taken to relieve coughs and sore throats (7)

15 William ---, English poet, painter and engraver who wrote Songs Of Innocence And Of Experience (5)

16 Collections of papers containing information on particular subjects or people (8)

18 Ralph ---, 20th-Century British stage and screen actor (10)

22 A plucked musical instrument, usually having a triangular body (9)

24 Cecil B. ---, early Hollywood film producer and director (7)

27 To attempt to deceive or fool someone (3,2,2)

28 Latin name for the Milky Way (3,6)

30 Low-growing rosaceous plant with white flowers and red edible fruits (10)

32 A wood preservative prepared from coal tar (8)

35 Dry ---, vertical pipe not containing water, having connections on different floors of a building for a fire hose to be attached (5)

37 Game of Chinese origin, played with tiles bearing various designs (7)

38 In Greek mythology, the underworld abode of the souls of the dead (5)

39 Large herbivorous marsupials of Australia and New Guinea (9)

40 Illuminated by burning wax sticks (9)

Down

1 Single lengths of string, hair, wool or wire (7)

2 Person who purchases something on a whim (7,5)

3 A gala, bazaar or similar entertainment (4)

4 Zachary ---, 12th President of the United States; a hero of the Mexican War (6)

5 Tropical plant of the legume family, having typically yellow flowers and long pods (5)

6 Main protagonist in Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick (7,4)

7 Official prohibitions or interdictions (4)

8 A person who belongs to a club or political party (6)

9 A greenish-blue colour (4)

10 Arm of the Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey (6,3)

17 A narrow opening of a coastline (5)

19 In Greek mythology, a monster with nine heads (5)

20 20th-Century Spanish surrealist artist whose painting The Persistence Of Memory features melting watches (8,4)

21 Model of car made by Rolls-Royce from 1906 to 1926 (6,5)

23 Jessica ---, American actress who won Oscars for her roles in Tootsie and Blue Sky (5)

25 A short saying expressing the guiding maxim or ideal of a family or organisation (5)

26 In one go, at the same time (2,1,6)

29 A measure of the compactness of a substance (7)

31 The capital and largest city of Poland (6)

33 Capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan (6)

34 Hieronymus ---, Dutch painter whose works include the triptych

The Garden Of Earthly Delights (5)

36 George ---, 19th-Century French novelist who controversially wore men’s clothing and smoked tobacco in public (4)

37 Subject or open to debate (4)

38 Harold ---, Australian prime minister who disappeared, presumed drowned, in 1967 (4)