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.620, 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.619 is Francis O’Reilly, Ballinagh, Co. Cavan.

Across

1 Play travelled round with a key cargo 5 Auction includes British form of fur 7 Old performance is word for word 10 Mother has time to get something on the floor 11 Enjoyment, having taken to bed 12 An expert gets new protective garment 13 Draw directions for baseball team 15 Cricket match can be a trial 16 Set out quiet phase 17 Fluster assembly that was calm 21 Soon return to European rope 22 Strange to send a line 23 Bottle-top found behind gold sphere 24 Article with yours truly as subject 25 Obvious it’s not in code 26 Always returning with untruth to appease

Down

1 £25 gets English flower 2 Enemy forced to land 3 Shocking engineers is unacceptable for a start 4 Take oxygen, say, from French artist 5 Security arranged for circus performers (Two words) 6 Boats then transported building material (Two words) 8 Attack industrial action by pilots (Two words) 9 Can batsman be useful in the kitchen? (Two words, hyphenated) 14 Equipment starts to knock itself together 17 Make mention of freer arrangement 18 Reel bends backwards 19 Cloth sack contains rebel’s heart 20 Weapon, note, is in the way