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.623, 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.622 is Connor Lyons, Malahide, Co. Dublin.

Across 1 20s young woman in a panic 5 Greatly upset society milliner 9 Idiot has a couple of seconds 10 Not as serious as a smoking accessory 11 Pressure to get a French joke 12 Iron only involved in crime 13 Fish is in location that’s reported 14 Consult with prisoner before judge returns 17 Royal cost takes in knight 21 A great deal of flotsam 22 See gins mixed for a start 23 Draw a digit, by the sound of it 24 Extend a term at Her Majesty’s pleasure 25 Time every queen became an educator Down 1 Tire of a national symbol 2 I will be heard in the passageway 3 Struggle to make use of soft furnishings (Two words) 4 Girl grabs George’s head for sport 5 Put keys back into arrangement 6 A racist idea about part of the Med (Two words) 7 Head in charge of subject 8 High position that’s very unpleasant 15 Semi-aquatic mammal that’s less cold in the East End 16 Managed to put church behind farm 17 Put forward that I stop moving 18 Overhear amount of fish brought back 19 Pals are out of range 20 We’re off to get a jug