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 fourway symmetry: both top and bottom and left and right match, so you can fill in 12 more squares straight away.

Across

1 Obsolete after London area calmed down 5 Simple to put graduates in charge 7 Keen to agree to change 10 Canasta certainly includes a card 11 It makes a straight line for the sovereign 12 Sailors having energy is maybe how it all ends 13 Dream makes follower stay involved 15 Expect chap will get work 16 Coarse wife guided outside 17 Socialist in prosperous time shows lack of enthusiasm 21 Thespian has worn coat to the end of winter 22 Pale, like a farm animal 23 Expected trick to remove pressure 24 Odds level on Sunday 25 Malicious and talkative without husband 26 Prolong a term at Her Majesty’s pleasure

Down

1 Fracas broke out without a muffler 2 Depicted as having a strained appearance 3 Article thanks to foreign character 4 Divine being shows solidity, lacking north and south 5 Their brat affected how many more kids there will be (Two words) 6 Alters cultivation with favourite fertiliser 8 Fruit stolen as ammunition 9 Scenery I’d design for a regular gig 14 Item of formal attire is a link 17 Alloy of copper makes money 18 Clause for an equestrian 19 Lived to have terribly lewd time 20 Parade takes thirty-one days