THE SKELETON

CROSSWORD – £325 in prizes

There is a £100 prize for the first correct solution drawn; nine runners-up receive £25.

Send your completed crossword to the address shown in the box below left. In the skeleton crossword, the black squares and clue numbers have to be filled in as well as the words. Four black squares and four clue numbers have been inserted to give you a start. The black squares form a symmetrical pattern; the top half matches the bottom, and the two sides correspond. You can fill in 12 more squares at once to correspond with those given.

Send to: Skeleton Crossword, PO Box 12578, Sutton Coldfield B73 9BT. The winners will be the first correct entries drawn after the closing date of noon on Friday. Please allow 30 days for prizes to arrive.

POSTCODE:

ACROSS

1

Thought negative players share

10 Fastener attached to twig

(2 words)

11 Slip road followed by Pole 12 A flyer from Hull or York? 13 Plants further back in marshy areas

Snakes like pythons, but less content

Long answer from watchers in trouble

No clothes suit extremists - it’s awful!

Fright almost resulting in trauma

Yen admitted by a swimmer with kind of blonde hair

Statesman wanting locks to secure...

...earbuds yeomen misuse endlessly (2 words)

15

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18

21

25

26

27

DOWN

2 Too much, said a swimmer 3 4

5

6 7

8

9

13

14

17

19

20 22

23 24

This should part in London Poet finished with ran back in

Dish modelling top in close-up

Hard drinker upset cobblers Gemstones a friend set in rings

Popular pair of vitamins taken

Cheeky opening guaranteeing rebuke Beginner in front not diverting

Second and third bits of quartz crystal, perhaps Native American housing closer to desert island Insect concealed beneath a piece of paper

Food lie taking a follower in Shrink a little firm with a leading lady

A villain in play cut it back Single girl not all there, sadly