BARE BONES

Our Bare Bones Crossword is unique because you have to complete the grid – numbers and squares – as well. We have inserted four black squares and four clue numbers to get you going. The crossword has a four-way symmetry: both top and bottom and left and right match, so you can fill in 12 more squares straight away. There is a prize of a Collins Pocket Thesaurus. Send your solution to: Bare Bones Puzzle No.574, The Irish Mail on Sunday, PO Box 5332, Cardiff Lane, Dublin 2. Entries must arrive by Friday (photocopies not accepted). The winner of Bare Bones No.573 is Shane Murphy, Killarney, Co. Kerry.

Across

5 Spice used by a novice is exceptionally good 7 Marine managed to take first tower 9 Trod in a new way around fellow who’s asleep 11 Doctor joins stupid copper in scrap 12 Cold dish and pasta too ordered by boy (Two words) 15 Judge country left in denial 17 Spoke without us reaching state that’s extreme 19 All crazy about new rite, to be exact 20 Wind is unpleasant to the German

Down

1 Reel shows sunbathers initially next to swimming area 2 Father, at home, can be a nuisance 3 Old student is going the wrong way to the store 4 Heartless Dane has objection to first public performance 6 Speak softly with politician – certain to provide a feeling of calm 8 A soldier gets some volunteers into terrible state of excitement 10 Time gets alto to improve, as a whole 11 Medium is finding queen hardly a philanthropist 13 Dealership’s head used mine to produce tough material 14 Struggle to get iron into a thin sheet 16 A method of being absent from one’s home 18 Allege as a fact that Vera is mad