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 fourway 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 English Dictionary and Thesaurus set, and a Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s Dictionary. Send your solution to: Bare Bones Puzzle No 947, The Mail on Sunday, PO Box 3451, Norwich NR7 7NR. Entries must arrive by Friday, June 12 (photocopies not accepted). The winner’s name will be published on June 28 from the first correct entry drawn. Winner of Bare Bones No 944: Simon Collier, of High Peak, Derbyshire.

Across 1 Futuristic condition painting finds itself in (Four words) 10 Broadcast Republican assistance in attack from above (Two words) 11 Blame working with nothing – victory is not fixed 12 Impudence, a mistake? Not initially 13 In favour of information on your first issue 15 Hearing small noises going around 17 Drink, a feature of rugby – pity it’s missing 21 Stand up, drunk, seeing cleaner 25 Gorgon with no sea, but a country 26 Living cargo in disarray 27 Cultured engineers get punished 28 Brood dreaming about a happy couple (Three words)

Down 2 Developing roots or trunk 3 Angry speech, having lost one deal 4 Like one, in a strange way 5 Persuades to take time out for office workers 6 Abandons front, missing part of the roof 7 Religious leader finds animal without a tail 8 Complain, parking behind vehicle 9 Heart of infernal plant 14 Ruin a performance with forty winks 16 The music is about a bird 17 Second record is hard work 18 OK bloke 19 Worry about energy being dug up 20 Plant starts to yield under constant coercion, actually 21 Challenged socialist attorney first 22 Settee right, up to now (Two words) 23 Father not arranging entertainment 24 Uncovered a painting