Daily Answers

1-across – Commercial designs go alongside flower : POPART

4-across – Sharapova’s weapon, loud noise : RACKET

9-across – At first disgusting, time to withdraw Shakespearean oath : EGAD

10-across – With starters for Bed and Breakfast, sneaked off to get tinned food : BAKEDBEANS

11-across – Cut fruit about right, then time to make wine : MERLOT

12-across – Recall curious novel’s introduction, a source of information for poet : TENNYSON

13-across – Flavoured item in farm animals, 8 say? : STOCKCUBE

15-across – Round pearl regularly seen as gem that’s white, perhaps? : OPAL

16-across – Cloth from the East includes Eastern clothing : GEAR

17-across – Touring the country, capital drained of hot African water : LAKENYASA

21-across – US president, a two-dimensional pussy : GARFIELD

22-across – Puzzle that’s full of holes? : RIDDLE

24-across – Byzantine daintiness in Paris commune : SAINTDENIS

25-across – Question, then answer — stop! : WHOA

26-across – Capital putting contents of case in order? : ATHENS

27-across – Not all there, free capital : MADRID

1-down – Male chauvinists on tele­vision initially in colour : PIGMENT

2-down – Ring around last quarter of yard — this under a foot? : PEDAL

3-down – Alumnus tucked in to Indian bread on top of chicken jerky : ROBOTIC

5-down – Forest close to desert, hot : ARDENT

6-down – Privileged youth supporting the board — that’s a footballer’s skill : KEEPYUPPY

7-down – Work to hold in food, primarily, as food wrapper : TINFOIL

8-down – Swimmer getting on in sport : SKATEBOARDING

14-down – Refuse to move slowly, as winger : CHAFFINCH

16-down – Relative almost passing round a European city : GRANADA

18-down – Extraordinary area is covering Uzbek capital — that’s a lot of land! : EURASIA

19-down – Pink Floyd’s last member standing in Scotland : SALMOND

20-down – A third of debris in tip is heavy : LEADEN

23-down – Inventor of the vacuum flask, part inside warmer? : DEWAR

1-across – See 17 : THELION

5-across – Liverpool losing poor first half dismally : ORVILLE

10-across – Received praise for Rachel’s new look : LORD

11-across – Almost ready for the table, joining the fish? : GOINGUNDER

12-across – Mug made of crude copper taking a very long time : PIGEON

13-across – Hit with blow from the side of the hand involves the start of bleeding : LAMBCHOP

14-across – What to wear to finish convention : DRESSCODE

16-across – At home French donkey is asinine : INANE

17-across – Nylon line gets tangled around some itinerant herons : LENNY

19-across – Angel lies about having godlike attributes : ALLSEEING

23-across – It can come after Michaelmas time of year : DAISYMAY

24-across – Bush’s former presidential familiar has back trouble : ABELIA

26-across – Clan gets rich on proceeds from water in the Highlands : LOCHCRINAN

27-across – Inlet loses initial smell : REEK

28-across – Formerly drab writer cut : TROLLOP

29-across – See 10 : CHARLES

2-down – Indianan mostly more difficult to please : HOOSIER

3-down – Get stuck quite often by the main gates : LODGE

4-down – Structural feature of churches I start to contemplate : ORGANIC

6-down – Elite runners shamefully emigrate after missing opening parts of athletics tournament : REGIME

7-down – 21 down cannot possibly be heard : INNOCENCE

8-down – Rest of old wine gets drunk : LIEDOWN

9-down – Stripped smart car at yard being joined together — just messing about! : DILLYDALLYING

15-down – Steward seen to clash with new order : SENESCHAL

18-down – Our name fails to gain entrance : ENAMOUR

20-down – Firm to stop the flow : STAUNCH

21-down – 7 in a foreign check point : NAIVETE

22-down – Suspect more by stage one : EMBRYO

25-down – Mistake not to introduce troublesome child : ERROR

9-across – Refusal to accept our menu turned out for the best : NUMEROUNO

10-across – Edgy psychodrama about free spirit : GYPSY

11-across – Perverse desire harboured by fragrant, funny Fleet Street fiend : SWEENEY

12-across – Strong feeling I don’t know nothing, stopping at home : PASSION

13-across – Extremely habitable address for Maria and Chuck : HEAVE

14-across – Leaves limits, l-l-l-leaving husband : TREELINES

16-across – Girl on stage reinterpreting hedonism for musical 9 : STEPHENSONDHEIM

19-across – Two idiots stripped Mini’s bumpers off : ASSASSINS

21-across – Flashback to accident provided that recurrent theme : MOTIF

22-across – Old female from West Side Story beginning to sing in revue : FOLLIES

23-across – Monkey taunting Martian : TAMARIN

24-across – Side by side in central Ongar : ALONG

25-across – Conservative getting on train : OLDSCHOOL

1-down – 16’s response to theatre administration? : ANESTHESIA

2-down – Current strength of a member, eager to perform : AMPERAGE

3-down – Record, including A Little Night Music, for clubbers : TRANCE

4-down – Garland head of Johanna : JUDY

5-down – Success seldom condem­ned in United States : COUPLEDOMS

6-down – Regularly engages fat ladies, half-cut, for lunch? : EGGSALAD

7-down – Italian way of acclaiming Pacific Overtures — not entirely quietly! : APPIAN

8-down – Fourth letter leaving Maidenhead for Jerusalem? : HYMN

14-down – Protector of the legend of Venus? : TENNISSHOE

15-down – Round, short granny in tattered flimsies : SEMIFINALS

17-down – Plan hit snags in town by the sea : HASTINGS

18-down – Superficial and needing no introduction, next queen tours city : EXTERIOR

20-down – Now finally bolting down pasty : SALLOW

21-down – Musical Bohemian knocking stuffing out of colourless imitators : MIMICS

22-down – Fight ever after for absent love : FRAY

23-down – See 11 : TODD

1-across – Dope — or another drug? : CHARLIE

5-across – Busy valley recalled, funny cutting through it : ENGAGED

9-across – Minor prophet seen by a drone on the far side of Afghanistan : NAHUM

10-across – Retired proofreader on the phone in the Treasury : EXCHEQUER

11-across – Those studying a particular book praised her novel : READERSHIP

12-across – Public school stomached, by the sound of it? : ETON

14-across – Competitive computer gamer in battle with cheery misfits? : CYBERATHLETE

18-across – Stealing kiss, mean rotter, I suspect, a Dalek? : EXTERMINATOR

21-across – Two terms on course for payment method : CHIP

22-across – A number of horses head for vegetable : STRINGBEAN

25-across – Member in container with catch in drawer : BARMAGNET

26-across – Round fruit, first to peel : PLUMP

27-across – Back edge, or middle of itself : ENDORSE

28-across – Carry along retrospective pictures in a square : ENTRAIN

1-down – Club, perhaps, filing an inaccurate report : CANARD

2-down – A fake about right for secluded building : ASHRAM

3-down – Trudge over a distance to find boarding house in America? : LUMBERYARD

4-down – Decent chance in game to wipe out lead : EVENS

5-down – Top fish ending in blini, Russian wheels in filled pancake : ENCHILADA

6-down – Butter added to pudding he eats : GHEE

7-down – Pacified sound from farmyard went first : GRUNTLED

8-down – Like a madman called into action : DERANGED

13-down – Place under 50% of this with approximate amount of processed data : THROUGHPUT

15-down – Sixteen converts to join the Church for life : EXISTENCE

16-down – Muscle on transmitter liable to error : PECCABLE

17-down – Feature on a flight as torrid when turbulent? : STAIRROD

19-down – Drag in a little princess, a whale : BELUGA

20-down – See 21 : ANDPIN

23-down – Man, perhaps, binding last of resilient fibre : ISTLE

24-down – Salmon pink roof on a posh car : PARR

7-across – To have a different view is a sin when the last shall be first : DISAGREE

9-across – Get a real return pushing the envelope to let in some air : AERATE

10-across – A sweetheart embraced by sweetheart, a soother : ALOE

11-across – Starts to know arse from elbow, gets interrupted by awful squeak, it’s like a nightmare : KAFKAESQUE

12-across – Tense and hungry? Lights out : HIGHLY

14-across – A hundred too old? That’s news! : COVERAGE

15-across – Tree can be picturesque : SPRUCE

17-across – Couple of jobs dismissed as I disapprove : TSKTSK

20-across – The palace is what’s back in nimble form : BLENHEIM

22-across – Sea states in which one finds jellyfish : MEDUSA

23-across – Make poor kind of stew to begin with mutton, potatoes, onions, vegetables easily thrown in : IMPOVERISH

24-across – See 10 : VERA

25-across – Satisfied with Richard the Fourth onwards being ignored as not imperial : METRIC

26-across – Tom’s problem is essentially the way big girls dance : HAIRBALL

1-down – Holiday home in Spain not suffering criminals : VILLAINS

2-down – Prison 14 : CAGE

3-down – My call to accommodate ex-president : CRIKEY

4-down – Skirt as worn by 6 that’s no chicken! : RARAAVIS

5-down – Some blonde tart surfer turns up disappointed : FRUSTRATED

6-down – See 12 : STRUNG

8-down – Remove all traces of caffeine — not in fashion : EFFACE

13-down – She governed with iron rod : HERINDOORS

16-down – Extremes of cultural elitism: Etonian courtesy and forgiveness : CLEMENCY

18-down – Lesser kite regularly seen flying with other birds of prey : KESTRELS

19-down – Naughty 23 : IMPISH

21-down – Muslim petition’s sticker : LIMPET

22-down – Material from second and first part of 26 : MOHAIR

24-down – Feeling brave, start to compete outside : VIBE