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

7 Notice trio composition is skilful 8 Say again about solid form of fuel 11 Crude tune heard from a pirate 12 Alternatively get vegetable from some trees 13 Playfully deceive a young person 15 Don’t answer, just go to one side 16 Foundation is without moral principles 18 Lose argument about the Baltic, say 21 Central problem, to woman, is viral disease 22 Charles gets relative to provide outer framework 23 Left a student at the gate 24 Highly decorated or terribly neat

DOWN

1 Talk with reserve to list of contacts (Two words) 2 Left coal production in the vicinity 3 Bird finds main stem, by the sound of it 4 Think deeply about a number of children 5 Enid initially cooked chop for a long time 6 Two vehicles with a vision, say, for residential area (Two words) 9 Respect lost for symbol of sovereignty 10 These days, some poetry is hostile 14 Noticed something cold inside 17 Rock that can be wiped clean 18 Period of reduced prices includes British fur 19 Croat developed as a performer 20 Fellow isn’t commonly lacking conviction