BARE BONES

no.626

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.626, 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.625 is Maisie Liston, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.

Across

1 Ghost even has a carpenter’s tool (Two words) 9 Ask hoarsely for a file 10 Dorothy holds record in warehouse 11 Poke quietly with a stick 12 A loud appearance gets an insult 13 Pen ran out – incorporated a lot of killing 14 Fundamental character of a perfume 17 Public schoolboy sent note to Scot 21 Loud record to offer for sale 22 Own maid improved with time 23 Lied about avoiding work 24 Law puts the French way before English distance (Two words)

Down

2 Daily importance of a desk ornament 3 Artist finds professor in his element 4 The kind to use a machine to write 5 Run from a spear carrier 6 Supporter to ail assembly, getting more and more fast 7 Local fellow has a youngster 8 Yearn to be stretched out 15 Small kind of lustrous fibre 16 Price includes a place by the sea 18 Met to design a symbol 19 Hatchet gets left inside shaft 20 Must deal with a bit of soot