A first prize of £100, three prizes of £25 and six further prizes of the Chambers Book of Great Speeches (hardback) will be awarded for the first correct solutions opened. The first four prizewinners will, in addition, each receive a bottle of champagne. Entries to: Christmas Crossword, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP by 12 January.
 
Part 1: CAROL SINGING
 
The four 13-letter lights in each grid are paired together (always reading from the left-hand grid to the right-hand grid) to yield four quotations from three different Christmas carols and one seasonal song. Each clue is an anagram of its 26-letter solution.
 
1A    Not idle — re-order hundred sheep (four words, one hyphened)
31A  Sleigh-ride went over moon, Hugh! (five words)
8D    They issue the moonshine offer (eight words)
9D    Greedy Tom rates fish for feast (six words)
 
Part 2: FOOD AND DRINK
 
Each clue is a composite anagram of one item of food and one drink. Ignore one accent.
 
10A  Richer eatables (4,3 : 7)
11A  Scampi in heater (7 : 7)
29A  Ant’s adoring fan (7 : 7)
30A  Let’s trifle more (7 : 7)
 
Part 3: PRESENT-GIVING
 
The four 5-letter solutions in each grid yield the name of a boy (13A) and a girl (25A) and their respective gifts (15D and 16D). The two clues, one for each grid, are anagrams of their four solutions.
 
Left-hand grid:
      Holiday at Welsh centre
 
Right-hand grid:
      Eric, broke, misses panto
 
Part 4: STIR WELL
 
Each clue has two parts run together, but never overlapping, which lead to the two solutions to be entered at the same clue-number in each grid. The solution to the first part of each clue is entered in the left-hand grid, the second part in the right-hand grid. Each clue contains a definition and a consecutive letter-mixture of the two solutions.
 
17A  Race has to keep good losers in the pink (3,4: 3,4)
18A  At Christmastide, rhythmic shaking spoilt unaccustomed curmudgeonly propriety (7 : 7)
19A  Clearly proves — and believes — Cinderella has top UK cast that’s beyond compare (7 : 5,2)
22A  Reprimanded having left food lying in the aisles in Cambridge flicks (4,3 : 7)
2D    Outbreak ruined country — bound to provide GB loans (7 : 7)
4D    Birds, sheep and the rest are asleep — resting! (7 : 7)
5D    Adept readings came to the point with mime during time when holed up in a castle (7 : 7)
7D    Some Channel 4 programmes add glamour to a ride round Tolkien land (7 : 7)
20D  The nanny’s Chinese dance fitting well with the steady pace of the neat Dandini (2,5 : 7)
21D  The whole matter concerns the High Beanstalk and the Ghost for a month performance (7 : 7)
22D  Success gained with Murphy’s material during lunch in office (7 : 7)
23D  Artful two obtain discharge, sending salvo to modest Russian statesman (7 : 7)
 
Part 5: STOCKING-FILLERS
 
The remaining solutions will fill in the eight 4-letter lights in each grid. The clues for each grid are in two parts: a sentence which defines each of the eight solutions and a composite anagram of the 32 letters of these solutions.
 
Left-hand grid:
      Snakes slithered to filthy place — one for drying cheese — on meadow by river. Hell!
      So, Sonia, spend Christmas Day at a hotel
 
Right-hand grid:
      Tense censor will brandish instrument and stumble over old saying from damned old Ireland
      Dad, overtired, ill during New Year’s Eve