BARE BONES

WIN 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.

Across

1 Beginning to obstruct a launch pad (Two words) 10 Promised to be put on the payroll 11 A French idea about daughter not getting help 12 Deploy stratagem, but not initially 13 She’s excited about a navy saddle 15 Long to send Glen your old form 17 Relying on financial business 21 Being spoilt may get one hitched 25 Behold European inclusion as a sign 26 Wine about to get saint drunk 27 Turn new flute composition out for musical 28 Recent moves by brazen footballer (Two words)

Down

2 Row about menagerie’s fifth animal 3 Rascal took front off shoe 4 Hard work, losing sample flower 5 Gourmands initially rule out unappetising food 6 Memorise renal layout 7 Trainee acted in a strange way 8 Network finds this writer quiet 9 He’s in a whirl 14 The offence of losing 16 Time of underachievement 17 Pub next to new outbuilding 18 Rent out with one explosive ingredient 19 Fool gets dictator to return 20 Clearing a leg treatment with head doctor 21 Saying Frenchman joined German 22 Renovate reading – start with English novel 23 Reason iodine, nitrogen and iron get registered 24 Durham’s first university students are boring