BARE BONES

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. There is a prize of a Collins Pocket Thesaurus. Send your solution to: Bare Bones Puzzle No.564, The Irish Mail on Sunday, PO Box 5332, Cardiff Lane, Dublin 2. Entries must arrive by Friday (photocopies not accepted). The winner of Bare Bones No.563 is Trevor Scanlan, Fossa, Killarney, Co. Kerry.

Across

1 Rational, getting left with one solution 4 Confusion at the first corner 10 Scrap occasion for some old-style music 11 Respect new order, in spirit 12 Spread on the head 13 Easy to work with school composition 14 Worry about a line found on the neck 15 Wife right to get space for a bird 16 Small duck seen as quite a bargain 17 Look carefully in this canteen 21 Open second half with serious score 22 Ruin a French variety of dingo 23 Family has race with English youngster 24 Insult is not very serious

Down

1 Band to take their clothes off 2 Boxer who’s lacking in depth 3 Nothing about a form of digital protection 5 Primate gets a kiss at the top 6 Start making an omelette (Two words) 7 Happening, still, to have time 8 Type of dog in the evening sun (Two words) 9 Snake finds a form of sugar in vegetable 15 Destroy what’s left of the ship 18 Thing has different alignment in darkness 19 Reported lengthy periods of confusion 20 Object of worship sounds lazy