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.

ACROSS 1 Sit awkwardly with little person – the very thing 5 Old woman getting soldiers some Scottish food 8 Zero rate negotiated for one inspiring poetry 10 Sixty seconds for good description of pottery 11 Repetitive chore provides a bit of sound reflection 12 Translated Italian including a hesitation among others (two words) 13 Duck noise made by divine chap 14 Just a little lake 15 Gambling on daughter’s removal of footpath hazard 16 Novel temperature for an amphibian 18 Capital – it’s found in Cyprus 19 Umpire with power to take name of a large number 20 Horse one’s given to Robert in Scotland 21 Spots name taken by champion 22 Letters, only N& W pointedly 23 Afterthought involving nobleman’s jewels 24 Winter transport east of Michigan is wrongly directed

DOWN 2 Interrogation regarding what PhD student did next (two words) 3 Nigel playing with some marbles 4 Experienced getting extra cash providing jails with writing equipment (three words, hyphenated) 5 Maligns Ohio unfairly for boisterous criminal acts 6 Make light of broken leg by American 7 Catherine in trouble as a result of exercising will 9 Most ingenious commercial given Republic of Ireland trial 17 Potato in barrel presented to the Queen 18 Giving Charles a ring results in confusion