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 Insect behind cheese for a moment

5 For reason that follows notes

9 Wise arrangement holds a lot of water 10 Riot needs inclination and time

11 Prompt remedy has run out

12 New Age article about European sea 13 Mistakes are overturned to catch traitor

14 Commotion ruined a scarf 17 Like at that time, included capital

21 Charming about weapon 22 Art displayed in a bake-off 23 Barrel tax

24 Empty bar should be borne

25 Carry pear off beforehand as a precaution

Down

1 Figure it’s broken

2 Stupid tavern has a point 3 Coping without part of river that’s extensive (Two words, hyphenated) 4 Force enemy to land 5 Courageous bishop joins dance party 6 Open a window to remove tension (Three words)

7 Defence group reduced as director would have wanted

8 Still in the venture 15 NATO character gets round city first

16 Second writer with temperature, exhausted 17 Read a generality about a proverb

18 New book

19 Bad construction involving universal plaster

20 Party animal?