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, December 9 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, January 1. SEE BELOW THE GRID for details on how to enter.

Across

1 German monk and theologian whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation (6,6)

8 Maria ---, American-born soprano; renowned 20thCentury opera singer (6)

11 A decorative type of light in which a luminous viscous material moves in constantly changing shapes (4,4)

12 Alloy containing iron, nickel and carbon, having a very low coefficient of expansion (5)

13 In an airport, a numbered exit that leads to the airfield or aircraft (4)

14 A small booth from which newspapers or refreshments are sold (5)

15 Lawyer who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993 (5,8)

17 Samuel Taylor ---, English poet and critic who wrote The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner (9)

19 A sauce made from sieved tomatoes, often used in Italian cookery (7)

23 A cosmetic powder used to darken the area around the eyes (4)

24 Up --- --- ---, song by

Gerry Goffin and Carole King, recorded in 1962 by The Drifters (2,3,4)

25 A republic in North

Central Africa that gained independence from

France in 1960 (4) 26 A word or phrase, the letters of which can be rearranged into another word or phrase (7)

28 Enclosures or barriers of

stakes and timbers (9)

31 In cricket, the style of rightarm bowling which involves passing to the left of the non-striker’s stumps in the run-up (4,3,6)

34 See 10 Down

36 An open pastry or sponge tart filled with fruit or a savoury mixture (4)

37 The dried, oil-yielding

kernel of the coconut (5)

38 Tropical plant cultivated for its large white, red or purple bell-shaped flowers (8)

39 Devices for trapping birds

and small animals (6)

40 Stores such as warehouses, for furniture and valuables (12)

Down

2 In music, a movement or piece to be performed slowly (6)

3 Non-technical term for an inedible fungus with a capped, sporeproducing body (9)

4 In the Old Testament, a Hebrew patriarch who built a ship to survive the Flood (4)

5 In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the final year of secondary education; Year 13 (5,5)

6 A chief port of Israel, situated on the slopes of Mount Carmel (5) 7 To patch up

or renovate (6)

8 A Christian religious song

sung at Christmas (5)

9 Bodies of water cut off from the open sea by coral reefs or sand bars (7)

10, 34 Across & 30

1947 play by Tennessee Williams featuring Blanche DuBois (1,9,5,6)

16 City in Northern Italy on

the Adige River (6)

18 A person who receives hospitality at the home of another (5)

20 In law, a fight or disturbance between two or more people in a public place (6) 21 English gardener and diarist who was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society (4,6)

22 Caretakers of flats

or hotels (10)

25 Maurice ---, French actor and singer who died on New Year’s Day 1972 (9)

27 Erle Stanley ---, American lawyer and author best known for his Perry

Mason stories (7)

29 Moved a finger across a touchscreen on an electronic device (6)

30 See 10

32 Simple procedures performed to resolve problems (5)

33 A painful involuntary

contraction of a muscle (5) 35 The burrowed lair of an animal, especially an otter (4)