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.570, 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.569 is Freddie Hardy, Naas, Co. Kildare.

Across 1 Bird seen to be on trend automatically (Two words, hyphenated) 10 Boy’s first marble thrown into prickly shrub 11 Quit a performance in current in water 12 Gullible person has something for tea 13 Adjust the rate to provide drama 15 Support conclusion to rose cultivation 17 Became aware of hardly being chilled 21 Make peace with primate with vegetables 25 Artist gets married to an animal 26 List includes space and sound 27 Singer provides some decoration 28 Dealer to scamper about to republican song (Two words)

Down 2 A crop, we hear, can astonish greatly 3 Right to boot out an automatic machine 4 Article with yours truly as subject 5 Nowadays have time for a proverb 6 Relentlessly pursue a hunting dog 7 Animal less cold in the East End 8 Help make a wager 9 The pain of bachelordom 14 Very excited about whisky 16 Maintain a puppy should get some sleep 17 Observe a sound 18 Pick-me-up, often after a gin 19 Swan right next to a snake 20 Imagine being armed, possibly 21 Bream managed to change colour 22 Mixed alcoholic drink is a hit 23 Arrange a sentence in report 24 Therefore in another goal