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

7 With false fur, girl was thrifty 8 Rugby player has hesitation getting a compartment 11 Green Jovian moon in arrangement of Venus 12 Virginia in peril, somehow achieving triumph 13 Starts to trip over eighth digit 15 Elderly fellow starts to collapse 16 Snide assessment conceals possible course of action 18 Make an appeal for three different keys 21 Break down, getting bad marks, to a degree 22 Inclination, with time, to go berserk 23 Not broken during form of diplomacy 24 Informant working at the bank

Down

1 Grave talent displayed by ticket salesman (Two words) 2 Big look around chilly residence 3 Large explosion is a thrilling experience 4 Arrangement of poles on the side of a mountain 5 Endless show of mass of loose stones 6 Swan also gets daily writing material (Three words) 9 For every loud DIY assembly is an act of betrayal 10 Happy to see parking get hired out 14 Praising poem for having too much English 17 Clan flourished around a manmade waterway 18 First appearance, we hear, of a ship’s mooring place 19 Fireplace makes a wonderful sound 20 Quite sufficient to have a beer with a politician