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 Crikey, fine moulding! 5 Object for examination 9 Crime boss in Africa,

possibly

10 All the birds on a key part

of a roof

12 A minor Dutch pirate 13 Cook bulking starter up 14 Spirits sometimes bottled 16 Girl breaking a strap rule 17 French girl left in charge 20 Confused extra given line 23 Nervous energy draining

extremely young leader 24 Arabian chap interrupts

rude attention-grabber 25 Hunchback in great pain 26 Detention about a

thousand support

27 The opposite of popular

poetry

DOWN

2 Live band rain put out 3 She’s 24, put another way 4 Smart footwear?

6 This could be career-ending 7 Thanks a man accepted 8 Plant closer to herbaceous

border

11 A plant pruned and brought

into a house

13 Black and silver container 15 Low area in South Dakota 18 Snake put in front of

enraged king

19 Film set evacuated earlier 21 An explorer died a

dissolute man

22 Those back to face a spirit