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 four-way symmetry: both top and bottom and left and right match, so you can fill in 12 more squares straight away.

Across

1 Hostile at a party

5 Against work, sat

9 Tidy up intelligent

directions

10 Model crept off,

holding iron

12 Harold has nothing

but a sign of holiness 13 Most overtures

include a range

14 In Newcastle area,

round number

15 Reach a trade-off

with talk

17 Opening of composition, noisy and obscure 19 Continuing like this

before long

21 Point danger out and prepare for attack (Two words)

22 Humorous to arrive,

turning detectives

23 Encountered deer,

oddly regulated

24 Twisting boss’s first

conclusion

Down

2 As ordered by

doctor, a dance

3 Solo cabaret performed at outdoor event (Three words) 4 Share a secret about

regions

6 Section of tranquillity

we can hear

7 Mad, no longer liking

the chief (Three words) 8 Old firm, new parolee (Two words, hyphenated)

11 Godsend, having right

element

16 Reaching extremes,

having to depend

17 Sponge and five keys 18 Go on about a remote

control device

20 Group of stars

performing around city