BARE BONES

WIN A COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY AND THESAURUS SET, AND A BRADFORD’S CROSSWORD SOLVER’S DICTIONARY

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.

ACROSS

1 Make a judgement about fools at school 4 Reward staff by putting in caricature 9 Broken hearted to be grounded 12 Nice to have left off being rustic 14 The golfer has an inflated self-esteem 15 Row about grooming head for feline 16 Only worried about getting new material 17 Get baby’s toy after quiet babble 18 Stop girl getting a stringed instrument 20 Cold dish as ordered by boy 22 Talk idly of neon, say 23 Suggest making a down payment 25 Fight and argue, seeing a bird 27 Caught enthusiast going after lucky plant 28 National symbol on a large bottle

DOWN

2 Show of indifference in close-fitting cardigan 3 Notice third character in report 5 You and I follow article in overwhelming admiration 6 Depict student as having a slow way of speaking 7 Five bare tree forms look like bones 8 Bear with feathers to go off duty (Two words) 10 Keep talking about old hunting weapon 11 Drive mad socialist back to nag about energy 12 Sees top new composition by writer 13 Trouble remembering a name is worrying 19 Christmas with Beethoven’s seventh is a work of art 21 Slow tempo of river as a log floats round 24 Stick to a prompt 26 Close friend in Kampala