Daily Answers

1-across – Beat other bass drum — these too loud? : BERMUDASHORTS

10-across – Old seat almost in line : ARCHAIC

11-across – Snake something disconcerting? : RATTLER

12-across – Seek to secure a visit : HAUNT

13-across – Plant’s home oft cultivated to accommodate cow parsley, primarily : FLOWERPOT

14-across – Eye old Egyptian heading off : OPTIC

16-across – Some retro films I miss, epitomised in negativity : PESSIMISM

18-across – Logorrhea not entirely nonsense, in truth : VERBOSITY

19-across – Army after good spirit : GHOST

20-across – Container for drink, short box with purple back : COFFEECUP

23-across – Reason smoke ring beginning to loom over : LOGIC

24-across – Means of transport I’m certain, essentially based on Arctic territory for starters : ICEBOAT

25-across – Insect should take queen from behind, one feels : ANTENNA

26-across – Torticollis — or a headache? : PAININTHENECK

2-down – Come across contents of menu on bar : ENCOUNTER

3-down – Deliberate straddling of pole by flesh : MEANT

4-down – Revolutionary looked at something less stimulating? : DECAF

5-down – Very honestly? : SERIOUSLY

6-down – Flying down the touchline? : ONTHEWING

7-down – Clue covering case of unusual plant : TULIP

8-down – Tailor has info on two boys’ names, then one stuck on labels? : FASHIONVICTIM

9-down – Certain I am unsure about it, hard I reckon? : ARITHMETICIAN

15-down – Shut top of coop, then moult? : CLOSEDOWN

16-down – Harry not up for university : PRINCETON

17-down – Spray can with origin that’s artificial : INORGANIC

21-down – Goddess in prayer, fed up : FREYA

22-down – Take game or fish for cook : POACH

23-down – Words once spoken – about time rested : LATIN

8-across – Swerve to avoid this 9 25 window? : PORTHOLE

9-across – Rounds around : ABOUT

10-across – See 25 : AWAY

11-across – Blanditia in amore might be Latin for it : FLIRTATION

12-across – In the Middle East, a bleeding Arab here : STABLE

14-across – Lines in seafood 9 25 : WRINKLES

15-across – Animal’s 9 25 or bust : BREASTS

17-across – East German wealthy person not facing reality : OSTRICH

20-across – Romance 9 25 leads to chafing : FRICTION

22-across – Want the end 9 25 : DEARTH

23-across – From artists, I get art sent back — I plan ahead : STRATEGIST

24-across – Twice stole 9 25 to get resort : BORA

25-across – Rabbi bordering on homosexual — what’s wrong in that, now? : RIGHT

26-across – Shrink from touch 9 25 : CONTRACT

1-down – Trouble on tap? : HOTWATER

2-down – Keep still or wander 25 10 : STAY

3-down – Feet of jelly can be sticky : TOFFEE

4-down – Critiques on the subject of desperate wives : REVIEWS

5-down – Stores for knickers 9 25 : PANTRIES

6-down – Knock out 25 in another dodgy state : NORTHKOREA

7-down – Tried range 9 25 : STROVE

13-down – Raymond prend le dessert : BLANCMANGE

16-down – Free camping with forks? : TRIDENTS

18-down – Downpour makes it hard to see : CATARACT

19-down – China to build historic city : ANTIOCH

21-down – Delay 25, firework softly dropped : RETARD

22-down – An item rushing 25 10 : DATING

24-down – See 24 across : BORA

1-across – Beginning of spring? That should get you going : JUMPSTART

6-across – Cool — nothing to add! : NEAT

8-across – Sack of fruit with old plant : PLUMBAGO

9-across – Arctic resident maintaining temperature — that makes sense : INTUIT

10-across – Statement by filmed divorcee, retracted : REMARK

11-across – 23 in a short run features in Guardian story : ANGELINA

12-across – Wolves team surrendering lead twice, shooting high : ACKACK

15-across – Dear me, my mongrel whined! : YAMMERED

16-across – One getting fuel emptied into buttocks, blows up : INFLATES

19-across – Spirited point in wise broadcast? : YEASTY

21-across – Spillage of onanist on pioneering physician providing parts for 23 : JENNIFER

22-across – Reportedly take offence at description of female in union : BRIDAL

24-across – 23 has a wrinkly bum : HILARY

25-across – Comment as a huge amount inside volcano backfires : ANNOTATE

26-across – See 6 down : WOOD

27-across – Odd bean, say, for bootlegger : RUMRUNNER

1-down – See 11 : JOLIE

2-down – A couple of doctors like a port : MOMBASA

3-down – See 24 : SWANK

4-down – An old tree full of life originally, an exceptional thing : ANOMALY

5-down – Stick-like and sticky? But the name hasn’t stuck! : THINGUMMY

6-down – Love in contrivance of 1 down and a late 23 : NATALIE

7-down – Alliance lamenting jerks : ALIGNMENT

13-down – Formerly little money in ransom I set, necessary to rise : CENTESIMO

14-down – Toy with lift key here — helium unnecessary for toy operator : KITEFLYER

17-down – Rope in ground keeping beam up : LANYARD

18-down – Contemptuous remarks, as bones turned up in the middle of Portsmouth : SARCASM

20-down – See 21 : ANISTON

22-down – Stop a couple talking a foreign language : BANTU

23-down – One taking a part, a part that’s uninitiated : ACTOR

1-across – Crisis time — my fish supper costs less : THECHIPSAREDOWN

9-across – Set meals? : TVDINNERS

10-across – Always after street guide : STEER

11-across – English county town loses ring — one by a pottery factory : ETRURIA

12-across – Astronomer putting sign on old boat, we’re told : GALILEO

13-across – Could be rock and roll : BUN

14-across – Prevents progress of some slim pedestrians : IMPEDES

17-across – Squealed about tune for drink : SANGRIA

19-across – Insects with antenna set askew : HORNETS

22-across – Otherwise expressed — sullied : ILLUSED

24-across – Beard having a couple of points : AWN

25-across – Poor actor’s part as expressed on picnic menu : HAMROLL

26-across – Assembly’s advice overheard : COUNCIL

28-across – Less than two articles abroad : UNDER

29-across – Unresting revolutionary — certainly! : INSURGENT

30-across – Lag who wouldn’t! : ESCAPEDPRISONER

1-down – Eliot thought she edited novel : TOTHELIGHTHOUSE

2-down – Prior or Prebendary : ELDER

3-down – C for county division : HUNDRED

4-down – Low-cost homes preferred by sailors : PREFABS

5-down – Transfers a shilling to Marks : ASSIGNS

6-down – Letter from Minneapolis one man left out : EPSILON

7-down – How Father Time surveys chieftains : OVERLORDS

8-down – King of Arms moving Arnold to nursery : NORROYANDULSTER

15-down – From whom injured camper gets aid : PARAMEDIC

16-down – Amphibian with feet under earth : EFT

18-down – Fall ill, having bad weather in the East End : AIL

20-down – In Latin, I stumble over exercise that’s self-absorbed : EGOTRIP

21-down – Top soldiers joined forces and set out : SALLIED

22-down – Almost 2.54cm, bit of iron’s on gold tooth : INCISOR

23-down – Types of window allowing smoke to escape : LOUVRES

27-down – The Macnabs, say, taking ecstasy. No! : CLEAN

1-across – Theme of one book ignored by cheap BBC production : CPEBACH

5-across – Where death was from fast food? No hesitation there : HAMBURG

9-across – Teacher training via the internet during March? : INSET

10-across – See 19 : SEBASTIAN

11-across – Those making arrangements of rare songs, I suspect : ORGANISERS

12-across – Final passage of concerto lacking content father cut : CODA

14-across – A flashy black market hawker not against thinking of lofty aims and hopes : ASPIRATIONAL

18-across – Well-known piece of T.S. Eliot play about breakfast food : SOLFEGGIETTO

21-across – Work that is written for a collector of nursery rhymes : OPIE

22-across – Popped along to the pub with single English speaker : ANGLOPHONE

25-across – Works with wrong fellow, working with one adult son : SINFONIAS

26-across – Territorial Army’s warning device : ALARM

27-across – Cook sea fish : DEEPFRY

28-across – Type of school that’s arranged 9 mid-term : STEINER

1-down – 18’s key gets car to start — about to leave the Isle of Mahon : CMINOR

2-down – Officer standard : ENSIGN

3-down – Very surprised concerning name taken by one setter : ASTONISHED

4-down – Composer’s avoiding Liberal party givers : HOSTS

5-down – Drug in the brain produced sleep over a long period : HIBERNATE

6-down – Work for church and state, briefly : MASS

7-down – Horny beasts implying trouble afoot for third-level students? : UNICORNS

8-down – Good to note Yankee embracing Irishman in cheerful, friendly manner : GENIALLY

13-down – Auntie’s former boss rebuilt chapel in 20 : BIRTHPLACE

15-down – Great inventiveness, fashionable, good menu — pity no starters! : INGENUITY

16-down – Backed by electronic piano got hold of by drunk : ESPOUSED

17-down – Brad looked just a little upset during one marriage : ALLIANCE

19-down – Father uses one to get into can before wine is added into baked beans : JOHANN

20-down – City of former republic in Italy, with millions into sport : WEIMAR

23-down – Catalogues composer’s broadcast : LISTS

24-down – Remove dead composer right away : DOFF