BARE BONES

NO.616

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.616, 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.615 is John Robinson, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.

Across

7 Monster has right to have a companion 8 Church has spoken of a type of composition 11 Lack of memory is a mean condition 12 The Greek as depicted by Spanish artist (Two words) 13 Allow point to be contested again 15 Lose one’s balance during lively dance 16 Sailor gets this last letter from former ruler 18 Draw a digit, by the sound of it 21 Revolutionary heat generated by fast runner 22 Catch traitor first in squalid building (Two words) 23 London police gets DNA back together 24 Moderate one’s frame of mind

Down

1 Tan made artificially by student gets third prize (Two words) 2 Superlative to contain a wild animal 3 Hide a leaf outside – perfect 4 31 days with alien group 5 Almost fail to remember to make a fraudulent copy 6 Food supplier on the way to Holmes’s location (Two words) 9 Put limit on cereal as a whim 10 Dishonest firm has religious man put off 14 The golfer conceals a sense of self-importance 17 Detailed investigation of a place of work 18 Article with yours truly as subject 19 Sounds appropriate to compose 20 Sticker shows statesman’s head, thanks to politician