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 Poet hasn’t registered points in unwelcome report (Two words)

5 Shift first half of bird

7 Crime is the solution 10 Alternatively can be

heard in wonder

11 Remedy includes

small oath

12 Parking on thin piece

of timber

13 Article on rate review

produces drama

15 Second actor is a fake 16 Brigade hides capital 17 Precis involved having

name for implement 21 Reason iodine, nitrogen

and iron are found by river 22 Have faith in a managed

company

23 Hairpiece is a mouthful,

but not initially

24 Jokes about new groups 25 Obvious it’s not in code

26 Use a straw, taking wrong end in bathing area (Two words)

Down

1 Wager included about

French item of fashion

2 Rapper gets the bird

3 Choose from selection

4 Woman accepts a

peerage – top form 5 Golfing approach

supports attacking player 6 Bit of fish cooked for

island (Two words)

8 Ian’s composition gets tiny very soon

(Three words)

9 Resemble arrest, following

behind (Two words)

14 Marched around

the bend

17 Reporters apply an

amount of force

18 Hopeless present at home

(Two words, hyphenated) 19 Good score, for a bird

20 Small lorry has no right

to get jammed