Daily Answers

5-across – Couple of gifts not closed in error : BOOBOO

6-across – See 12 : FOREST

9-across – Team having odd fixture? No problem : OXFORD

10-across – Boy in a big boy like Uncle Sam : AMERICAN

11-across – Blade cutting through thick rissole : KRIS

12-across – Side of meat, strong and thin, perhaps? : NOTTINGHAM

13-across – Big old arm beginning to sweat after trip on public transport : BLUNDERBUSS

18-across – H for Headmaster and Headmistress, but not at Harrow? : RUGBYPOSTS

21-across – See 22 : DUCK

22-across – Find me in a pond catching cold, I am drunk and disorderly! : MANDARIN

23-across – An owl that smells! : HOOTER

24-across – Queen, one in outrage, flipping : REGINA

25-across – See 9 : UNITED

1-down – Big drop into the black stuff : COLOSSAL

2-down – A model state? : JORDAN

3-down – First leg, perhaps, runner-up in pocket : FORELIMB

4-down – Hang loose, injecting drug using a needle : SEWING

5-down – More than one dog pants : BOXERS

7-down – Baa surprisingly stifled by sheep that’s going to pot? : TEABAG

8-down – I was resting in a lazy manner, having a job taking orders : WAITRESSING

14-down – Person wandering around hospital after medication, ultim­ately, for parts of the kidney : NEPHRONS

15-down – Devon town in one direction, mid resorts : SIDMOUTH

16-down – Live-in worker is in to food and booze, might you say? : AUPAIR

17-down – Long speech where credit is in issue : SCREED

19-down – Wine cellar from which mature old Burgundy initially brought up : BODEGA

20-down – Setter of a puzzle hard to see in twist then that’s wrong : SPHINX

9-across – Team in a mixed state that lacks its leader : PIXIE

10-across – One taken in on 1/4 : APRILFOOL

11-across – Beat about the bush, as persuasive speakers do : TALKROUND

12-across – Ultimate destination? Retreat over Everest’s summit : BLISS

13-across – Potter’s western Pyrenean chamois? : WARLOCK

15-across – They’re lacking energy, having large body — such nuts! : EUNUCHS

17-across – Wish it wasn’t so, but no river bird : EGRET

18-across – See 9 : HAT

20-across – Singer has line cut in musical : GIGLI

22-across – A lot of drink, over limit : PACIFIC

25-across – Laughter right to the end, like a god : MITHRAS

26-across – Swerve, failing to keep left : PARRY

27-across – No volunteer internee text : CONSCRIPT

30-across – Most tasteful cryptic clue is I do : DELICIOUS

31-across – Pigeon that’s used to release a bolt : GLASS

1-down – See 24 : SPIT

2-down – Once standard incorporates learning, one goes for a Burton? : EXPLORER

3-down – Mother’s cross raised : WEIR

4-down – Festival of Chinese people, Britain and Ford model H : HANUKKAH

5-down – A tool of southern vitriolic critic : BRIDGE

6-down – Unreliable description of bats? : FLYBYNIGHT

7-down – Belt from state ceremonial declaration by unknown character on the rebound : ZODIAC

8-down – See 16 : ALPS

13-down – A youth derided western aid : WHELP

14-down – South of NYC ground showing a different time? : OUTOFSYNCH

16-down – Skiing etc here : SWISS

19-down – Subdued quality of monotony — fresh start needed : TAMENESS

21-down – Ran half mile, stumbling in leg movement by Zola : GERMINAL

23-down – Clot’s way to penetrate devious clue : CURDLE

24-down – Loopy strip of land that protects some larvae : CUCKOO

26-down – Power plug’s protection : PADS

28-down – Insert clue’s Nero fiddled : CAGE

29-down – Seen emerging from a jumbo? : TUSK

1-across – Tailless fish and a tailless baby feline : CARACAL

5-across – Drifting in front of juggernaut finally, lady perhaps exceeding 70 on the motorway : MIGRANT

9-across – Victory in bye for opener : VALVE

10-across – One defending a possible clue for raft? : RIGHTBACK

11-across – Politician — her purpose ultimately to go after Tory leadership, as about time for a general election? : THERESAMAY

12-across – Text with the other illustrations : KAMA

14-across – Turn forward, getting home in time for broadcast : DISSEMINATE

18-across – Where one finds only the cream consumed, say, with joint wrapped in cabbage : ETONCOLLEGE

21-across – Wearing Y-fronts, I kneel befuddled in front of pub, a beastly drunken vision : PINK

22-across – Lack of advancement, country in rut, perhaps? : STAGNATION

25-across – See 21 : ELEPHANTS

26-across – See 12 : SUTRA

27-across – Results in conclusion not entirely the reverse : ENTAILS

28-across – Coral snakes in reasonable fixture on boat : OARLOCK

1-down – Hole where rodent stores it : CAVITY

2-down – Car wheel? : ROLLER

3-down – Smart aleck fit to embrace daughter? Always going over the top : CLEVERDICK

4-down – Little wriggler runs inside red flower : LARVA

5-down – Publication with French article in European institution in Cambridge : MAGDALENE

6-down – Entrails in bottle : GUTS

7-down – Setter lifting a couple of Hindu melodies : AGARAGAR

8-down – Sit with chimp in garden under the arbour, initially : TAKEAPEW

13-down – Tree higher than one covered in rubber, that’s lighter : FIRERAISER

15-down – Possible reason for hair salon visit, as reconciliation occurs? : SPLITENDS

16-down – Cheese spread please after bacon and egg starters : BELPAESE

17-down – Private tucked into bed, quaking at a stroke of the baton : DOWNBEAT

19-down – Restaurant writer munching spelt crusts : BISTRO

20-down – Lid held up by topless Adonis to remove clothes from suitcase : UNPACK

23-down – Device inserted into frog is modern : GISMO

24-down – National draw announced : THAI

1-across – Surrogate father’s admitting obligation : VICARIOUS

6-across – Task for secretary, one retiring and shy : FLING

9-across – Overheard Blair struggling with a compulsion to hold forth : VERBALDIARRHOEA

10-across – Trade in Kentish Town : DEAL

11-across – Lumber covers frame of timber for bridge : STRADDLE

14-across – Reporter’s second witness quiet about hot tip from Egypt : BAKSHEESH

15-across – Tango roughly, revealing chest : TORSO

16-across – Look green, nursed by physician : DECOR

18-across – Frenchman’s fondness for robe wayward teen’s put on : TENDRESSE

20-across – Picaroon knocked back drink in anger : EMBITTER

21-across – Double First from Susie Dent : SPIT

25-across – Hum discordant note, one interrupting Cliff Richard’s opening song : SCARBOROUGHFAIR

26-across – Old local official respecting vigil : REEVE

27-across – Philosopher’s style is something hard to bear : MILLSTONE

1-down – 6 x 2 + 500 — clear? : VIVID

2-down – A lot in America fish on boat : CARPARK

3-down – Taking top off, what you might do in bed sheets : REAM

4-down – Democratic Party rejected second chances : ODDS

5-down – Apple produce this month, with pears rotting : SMARTPHONE

6-down – Maybe Thai food, first of all, back in steamer : FAREASTERN

7-down – Nun may be tidy : INORDER

8-down – Extra embellishment lit up once in fireplace : GRACENOTE

12-down – Liberal with two pieces of furniture, dropping one : CHARITABLE

13-down – Constrained by police, suspect is one getting beaten : KETTLEDRUM

14-down – China sensible to adopt English recipe for beer : BUDWEISER

17-down – Mathematician losing head after first glimpse of Cheryl Cole : CABBAGE

19-down – Treble on rocks a pro’s drunk at first : SOPRANO

22-down – Church service is brief for the audience : TERCE

23-down – Menander’s leading character has lines for muse : MULL

24-down – Syrian city’s head put down resistance : OHMS

1-across – Most cherished US state, where gun crime and drug trafficking are rife : FAVELA

4-across – County takes on workers : STAFFS

9-across – Song her partner picked up : HYMN

10-across – Don’t tell me! A modern composer in an old bowler? : SHANEWARNE

11-across – Rubber tree nearer India, across the river by all conclusions : ERASER

12-across – See 23 : PETERSON

13-across – Herb used to bandage limb, iodine then applied : SPEARMINT

15-across – Inscription in novella, no name? : ANON

16-across – Early man, firm and hard : SETH

17-across – Slimy scum in blaze, taking ages to put out : SLEAZEBAG

21-across – Confounded book imminent : BLOOMING

22-across – Take great pleasure in routine : GROOVE

24-across – Country garden ultimately covered in flowers — strong features? : ROMANNOSES

25-across – Yellow food, cheesy stuff : CORN

26-across – Vacillate, toying with third and fourth of December : DITHER

27-across – Scottish author railing endlessly : BARRIE

1-down – See 2 : FLYTRAP

2-down – Plant, a vision on the web? : VENUS

3-down – Combine passion and spirit for a number of years : LUSTRUM

5-down – Figure in time passed slowly in the end : TWENTY

6-down – Nice location to get over torment — Cologne? : FRAGRANCE

7-down – Organ whose top is red and blue, at the end of the day : SUNDOWN

8-down – Plot coming as a surprise in For Whom The Bell Tolls : CAMPANOLOGIST

14-down – Moving to Saturn, a space traveller : ASTRONAUT

16-down – Politician in Scottish leader, a nut? : SALMOND

18-down – Noble gas unlimited in US city : AUGUSTA

19-down – Unfortunate jingle, perhaps? : ADVERSE

20-down – Intended result of ex­tracting first of needles from back : FIANCE

23-down – Nothing matters, might you say, in issue for old musician : OSCAR