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.

ACROSS

1

Sunblock occasions? (2 words)

10 Babes wearing cooler shirts 11 Goddess encountered in

grass going the other way 12 Recruit hard on island

soldiers

13 Convert later switching

leads

15 Beast not keeping its tail

dry

16 Grey interior and borders,

say

18 Talk about prestidigitator’s

third trick

21 Starter of course like hot

bread

25 A Belgian balloon white

instead of black

26 Petty model competing with

one inside

27 A rich nude sort always a

failure

DOWN

2 Bid cancelled by a leading

lady

3 Relative not breaking date’s

heart

4 Moderate lady painting

supporter

5 Long poem about grand

dwelling

6 A cat turned over odd bits of

meat

7 Key in front of exercise books

starts to elicit responses 8 Uncommunicative, having

pulled?

9 Former wrist and heel

treatment

13 The edges of another cent

bend

14 Grass verge approaching

weather centres

17 Beat none out,

perhaps (2 words)

19 Dye layer not adequate

initially

20 First part of alarmingly long

letter

22 Take against leader not quite

a president

23 A harness acceptable in the

past

24 Anger about round idol

disheartened