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 Put an end to each of two recipes, initially in soup (Two words) 9 French river sounds sensible 10 Heathen deity accepts silver 11 Land in terrible rain 12 Chewed section in non-speaking role (Two words) 14 A friend finds ancient city incompetent 16 Dance energetically, then become depressed (Two words) 18 Radio about your start in dictatorship 21 Swine has time to pack 22 City company encompasses an atmosphere 24 Set of characters in part of the church 25 Main event to promote scum (Two words) Down 2 Caught nobleman backing an undesirable person 3 Consult a plumber about drain 4 Intoxicated, so far above sea level 5 Managed to have called endlessly 6 Particular shade without a trace 7 Obvious nothing is added in policy statement 8 Gloomy nature’s in trouble 13 Procession causes an argument 15 Might be an ex-PM 17 Look for water, initially, in some medicine 19 A wife treated flu that’s very bad 20 Drink, say, to stand at a funeral 22 Reduction heard at the end of scene 23 Making a departure during coffee