BARE BONES

A COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY AND THESAURUS SET, AND A BRADFORD’S CROSSWORD SOLVER’S DICTIONARY

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 993, The Mail on Sunday, PO Box 3451, Norwich NR7 7NR. Entries must arrive by Friday, April 30 (photocopies not accepted). The winner’s name will be published on May 16 from the first correct entry drawn. Winner of Bare Bones No 990: Mr David Pollard, of Bradley, West Yorkshire.

POSTCODE Across

7 Bothering about some jewellery 8 Stop working and go to bed 11 Annoying smirk spread about nothing English 12 Standing sculpture is about resistance 13 Notice page has left to get drunk 15 Manufactured domestic report 16 Go mad at acrobatic manoeuvre 18 Salesman of meagre proportions

21 Flavouring behind small, gold chipolata 22 The others finding flu treatment relaxing 23 Account repeated by one next to a shrub 24 Box on right shows sign of blast Down 1 Portable food and drink lacked order inside (Two words) 2 Children remove king, a Cretan king 3 Catarina guesses source of internal complaints 4 Insignia at the top

5 Thong showing second catch 6 Wrong of true rebel to be without problems (Two words, hyphenated) 9 See aims get confused, like a twin 10 Stimulant for irrational students pursuing quiet record (Two words) 14 Honest about quantity 17 Confront Republican in fiasco 18 Impressive order for lager 19 Pressure put on grain cost 20 Huge vehicle gets an award