Daily Answers

1-across – 25 in balance : SCALES

5-across – See 13 : OPENED

8-across – Ring for fat emperor? Ring off : LARDNER

9-across – Fruit for wader : AVOCADO

11-across – South American stand-off at party in rough clothing to 12 : RAINCATSANDDOGS

12-across – Page of the Guardian — will you do it or shall I? : POUR

13-across – Pull in later: like this writer to the editor, it 12-ed : THEHEAVENS

17-across – Corporal punishment for swigging ale at opera : LEATHERING

18-across – Backing provided for American holy man : SUFI

20-across – Broadcaster about narcissus, it may be, when bands are out : MUSICIANSSTRIKE

23-across – Monument as honour for potential silk : OBELISK

24-across – Honour great leader if parrot’s about : GLORIFY

25-across – Deer with royal putting on performance : STAGER

26-across – Number for insect in residence : TENANT

2-down – Courses of hot food getting cooler, one might say : CURRICULA

3-down – Girl swallowing sodium — it’s madness : LUNACY

4-down – People carrier adding to tension? : STRETCHER

5-down – Scarlet woman said she’s surprised at losing roof of her house : OHARA

6-down – Old gold face is introductory : EXORDIAL

7-down – Inspirer of number at Oxford : ERATO

8-down – See about alternative to saying nothing about friend to developer : LORDPALUMBO

10-down – Bad vibes? Yes, so left off having fanatical concentration : OBSESSIVELY

14-down – Alleged location of deer in retrospect : HINDSIGHT

15-down – Learning the 15-a-side game in book form : ERUDITION

16-down – 12-ing caught Finn in academic dress keeping up government department : CHUCKING

19-down – See 16 : ITDOWN

21-down – Piece of linen, one of those that are 12-ing? : SHEET

22-down – Bilk of singular amount of money : ACKER

1-across – US tip: party is at hotel over the weekend : BAKSHISH

5-across – Having grown attached, had a meal : ADNATE

9-across – Artillery formerly suppressed resistance : ORDNANCE

10-across – Literary doctor’s agenda ignores hospital : WATSON

12-across – After tea, engineer got on at a station in Tennessee : CHATTANOOGA

15-across – Kick out expert right away, then lecturer : EXPEL

17-across – Run into it in need of refreshing food : NUTRITION

18-across – Philip, say, gets excellent backing for business groups : CONSORTIA

19-across – Dame Elisabeth started with indistinct sound : SCHWA

20-across – Irish socialist usurps my credit? It couldn’t be simpler : IRREDUCIBLE

24-across – Challenge inconclusive victory somewhere in Australia : DARWIN

25-across – Jaws writer clutches armpit : MAXILLAE

26-across – On holiday, say, and just up out of bed : AWEIGH

27-across – Least reliable butcher likes wrapping article in paper : FLAKIEST

1-down – 10 and 21’s field, where being concise is silly, when no good comes from it : BIOSCIENCE

2-down – Taking a snooze after a ransom? : KIDNAPPING

3-down – Where deer stores energy? : HEART

4-down – One’s bent perhaps, not broken, kept in safe : SECONDNATURE

6-down – Drastic changes suppress mother’s tantrums : DRAMATICS

7-down – Part of church a priest should enter first : APSE

8-down – Wise to avoid independent Irish banker : ERNE

11-down – Furiously parp to call over last of taximen : TOOTHANDNAIL

13-down – State of beauty with power to captivate the Italian? : DISHABILLE

14-down – English males get sandwiches after a fight : ENGAGEMENT

16-down – Treatment of celeb left clearing the air? : LIONISING

21-down – Neck problem — Kent’s regulars don’t finish game : CRICK

22-down – Dame’s premature end : EDNA

23-down – Slow down bypassing Kelvin Hill in Glasgow : BRAE

1-across – 27 of 6s? : SETTERS

5-across – Oath to the French king, one interrupting speech : HECKLER

9-across – Free love — have no success without it : LOOSE

10-across – You snivel unpleasantly, wishing you were me? : ENVIOUSLY

11-across – Put in letters for ice-breaker keeping weapon : EPISTOLIC

12-across – Do this to cite this for 11 : SPOIL

13-across – Make music, including Western music : SWING

15-across – Coster from Furness : BARROWBOY

18-across – Ship’s first come into old one’s bell and pursued it with vigour : LUSTINESS

19-across – Get rid of land on sea : DITCH

21-across – See 20 : YEARS

23-across – Supply lamps the ginnel needed … : ENLIGHTEN

25-across – … needed again with heater fitted in Soviet city : LENINGRAD

26-across – See 27 : OFWAR

27-across – Caesar’s bulls forged? So what? : THEDOGS

28-across – Did the 6 — or was unable to? : PUZZLED

1-down – You translated poetry on the Sun : SOLVERS

2-down – Fwightful cwimes without a subject of novel tale : TWOCITIES

3-down – What happened to regular model? : EVENT

4-down – Pole, old expert with ball, keeping it up, having an easy name? : SPELLABLE

5-down – Hard part of wader’s cry to 9 27 26 : HAVOC

6-down – This could bar you from the Dunmow flitch : CROSSWORD

7-down – Girl to love catcher? : LASSO

8-down – Tory shambles containing rising of the people — top people : ROYALTY

14-down – Dormouse gets sulphur and oxygen on a sliding scale, perhaps : GLISSANDO

16-down – Quickly collected red coat and organised duel quietly : RUSTLEDUP

17-down – From abbey to cathedral : BATHTOWEL

18-down – Was stretched out on the ground, fatally wounded : LAYFLAT

20-down – German one of 27 brings up, without colouring, time 26 between 1s : HUNDRED

22-down – Musical gunner in a pub raised a point : ANNIE

23-down – Wind once blowing from Europe to America? : EURUS

24-down – German/American artist given a little Polish money : GROSZ

1-across – Kind heart of Malaysian getting warmer? : BRANDY

4-across – Seal broken by force at first, before I look : SHUFTI

9-across – See 16 : PLAY

10-across – Criminal prevailed before ending in slammer, one going down for a long time : PEARLDIVER

11-across – Take gold and go cold : WINTRY

12-across – Annus mirabilis for the rubber man : GOODYEAR

13-across – 6’s pretty flaky character? : SNOWWHITE

15-across – Comedian, one in a suit? : CARD

16-across – Bit of fun with possible role to impress partner, initially — later a 23 26? : FORE

17-across – How often what needs translating into another language not entirely okay in the end : FREQUENCY

21-across – With sound method pack it in roof : HOUSETOP

22-across – In a book, heroic opening captured : ATHOME

24-across – Creator of life inspiring Irishman in assembly : PARLIAMENT

25-across – Hot stuff seen in photograph album : PHAL

26-across – See 23 : ENDING

27-across – Remained proper, by the sound of it : STAYED

1-down – Sax was being almost all jazzy? : BELGIAN

2-down – So far away several yetis entering Tibet’s most westerly extremes : ASYET

3-down – Drop tray, emptied onto church’s work of art : DIPTYCH

5-down – Earth: then what rises? The Sun! : HELIOS

6-down – This in fact not half a distortion of reality? : FAIRYTALE

7-down – Where you may see reindeer I see antelope : ICELAND

8-down – Upset tabloid concealing dread, rubbished paper as aggressive performer : GANGSTARAPPER

14-down – Incoherent speech, so a drawl collapsed and died : WORDSALAD

16-down – Pay on time for some film : FOOTAGE

18-down – In which 16 9, say? : QUARTET

19-down – Order, no doubt for starters : COMMAND

20-down – Tension in the air : STRAIN

23-down – 13 has one, as a friend of hers is dying : HAPPY

8-across – Abundance of crystals treating ailments : SALTMINE

9-across – 14 for weak old lions, perhaps? : SENILE

10-across – Mother leaves African country via an African native : LIBYAN

11-across – Urgent: couple of Latins getting frisky in clandestine love affair : INTRIGUE

12-across – See 19 : PART

13-across – Recall wee teddy’s head cuddled by minor, producing comforting words : SLEEPTIGHT

15-across – Ride through change in Oxford or Cambridge, possibly? : VARSITY

16-across – Describing lung membranes, soft with questionable allure : PLEURAL

18-across – Strain, say, behind party rivalry : CONTENTION

19-across – Start lap dancing, showing tail? : LAST

20-across – Elegant, idly swimming in water : LADYLIKE

22-across – Deliver key to open road in Paris : RESCUE

23-across – Endless siren in sacred chant : MANTRA

24-across – A fish going backwards around little island in the Caribbean : DOMINICA

1-down – It’s one of my 14s, but did I perceive something of the others? : WASITACARORACAT

2-down – 14 — Japanese model is what it is? : ATOYOTASATOYOTA

3-down – Saint Paul’s man, perhaps, finding one with Saint Martin extremely unreliable : MINNESOTAN

4-down – See 9 : FELINES

5-down – Two articles taken from a Volkswagen, over here! : PSST

6-down – One of two is introduced to popular water sport, making one distinctive : INDIVIDUALISING

7-down – Drink containing Irish water servant’s left for traditional food : PLOUGHMANSLUNCH

14-down – One is drawn onward : PALINDROME

17-down – Fib about alcoholic drink being one that’s non-alcoholic? : LIMEADE

21-down – See 1 : ISAW