This crossword No. 24761 clues and answers were published on Sat 25 Jul 2009 and the puzzle can be visited by following The Guardian Prize Crossword No. 24761 link.
All Across Clues and Answers:
1-across – 5 down player and American writer, name of Lee : HARPER
5-across – Scotsman’s far away river for all in 21 letters : MURRAY
8-across – It’s sporting an animated conscience : CRICKET
9-across – Start of Strauss opera with no middle and no top part : SOPRANO
11-across – Cambridge’s latest birds find study of cancer largely — two thirds myth : ROBINSONCOLLEGE
12-across – I’m very busy so I wear the burka : UPTO
13-across – Little birds here should be feature of wedding — Euan Blair’s? : HATCHERIES
17-across – Fairy before returning sweet is ready to be kissed : PUCKEREDUP
18-across – Mark beginning, not ending : STAR
20-across – A lot of 5 down, or my Scotch penny is counterfeit : SYMPHONYCONCERT
23-across – Repair to meadow with the man who contrived to 21 its clue : DARNLEY
24-across – 21 inversely bein’ emollient : INSOOTH
25-across – See 12 : MYEYES
26-across – One desiring to be extended? : LONGER
All Down Clues and Answers:
2-down – Thermodynamic formula, one possibly a bit acid : ADIABATIC
3-down – Girl entertaining family in city, formerly : PEKING
4-down – Why not let everyone have as much beer as they want? : RATIONALE
5-down – Sound of cat? Yes, that’s correct : MUSIC
6-down – Beans, say, in scarlet are rejected : REPULSED
7-down – Humiliate a singer, say? : ABASE
8-down – Teacher wrote 5 down — report is put around : CIRCUMPOSED
10-down – Apply too much pressure to passages of 8 across — time to go back to church : OVERSTRETCH
14-down – Curmudgeon embracing offspring nearly 19 years older than 11 : CHURCHILL
15-down – Zenith possible for one mentally ready to achieve it : INTHEZONE
16-down – Permit astronomer to drop drug with fatal effect : LETHALLY
19-down – Public servants at one in 5 down : UNISON
21-down – Scottish queen — imprisoned queen indeed! : MARRY
22-down – Couldn’t Alfred make up his mind? : NOYES
This crossword has in total 28 where 14 are across and 14 are down.