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 Boat in good order around new city

5 Try gins, terribly thin

9 Volume includes battle defence

10 Sturdy pet with its own clip

12 Yawning from French record

13 Church making sailor comply? Not initially

14 Hire in Brentford

15 Several might, around noon

17 Worth shuffling cast

19 Upper class shop layout

21 Trophy has finished in whitewash (Two words, hyphenated)

22 Six joining threesome left bitterness

23 Sign to dart off for some sportswear

24 Second result unavailable for farewell (Two words, hyphenated) Down

2 Love to work with universal part of seed

3 Depressed by an empty form in advance (Two words)

4 Youngster found in cellar vault

6 Well-behaved time before, honestly

7 I will fold red paper, not ready (Two words, hyphenated)

8 Increased force, worn out

11 Stop wild boar by junction

16 Came round to answer, alert to injustice

17 Time to regret royal being more authentic

18 Disregard greeting around island

20 Sneer and eat greedily