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.599, 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.598 is Donald Nolan, Swords, Co. Dublin. Across 1 Throw a group of actors 4 School head isn’t commonly a good man 7 Make beer of calibre, weak 9 Nothing seen in award for triumph 10 Laud performance by tenor who’s fully developed 11 Fever is indistinct, but not initially 12 Art museum has no time for a recluse 13 I creep off to get a set of instructions 14 Liaison with a loud blonde 18 Group has registered for a late morning meal 20 Best of undergraduates get Asian food 21 Sketch by student for a lazy speech 22 The sort to use a machine to write 23 Ticket price is reasonable, by the sound of it 24 Last character is round to play game 25 Check report of bad weather
Down 2 Make amends by sending a note 3 Gauge and record a course of action (Two words) 4 His ultimate hypocrisy is barely sufficient 5 Acclimatise to terrible ruin, to a point 6 Teacher has a way of cooking trout 7 Accountant puts some food on the table (Two words) 8 Provide European with a joke 15 Plant life to behold far away outside 16 Raid carried out on old medium 17 Spilling lager produces angry look 18 Sculpt a slab of wood 19 Place in the Gulf of Naples that’s pants