Daily Answers

8-across – 1 holding back comedian’s initial investment : SEEDCORN

9-across – Pops right in to infernal outfitters? : PRADA

10-across – Soldier given paper to present : GIFT

11-across – Clouds excited artist a lot : ALTOSTRATI

12-across – Slight protuberance of peony heads in flower : NIPPLE

14-across – Fire-power first-born turned on type of gum : AMMONIAC

15-across – Poles quite confused by examination : INQUEST

17-across – ‘appy guess secures success of divorce : UNHITCH

20-across – Tree by river in Germany : TAMARIND

22-across – Plant medics in back end : MIMOSA

23-across – Realise spy treated medical condition : ERYSIPELAS

24-across – Joint basis for proposal? : KNEE

25-across – Woody’s about to split 10 : TREEN

26-across – Ill-meant bits of advice about processing fuel : SPITEFUL

1-down – Spread rumours about Irish getting wound up by mockery : DERISION

2-down – Access secured by mad Italian : ADIT

3-down – Score with Louvre or Prado, perhaps, but ___ : NOTATE

4-down – Sent off? Welshman comes back round as substitute : INSTEAD

5-down – Badge given for composing poems in English : EPISEMON

6-down – Element of ruling on booze nice drunk’s drunk : LAWRENCIUM

7-down – Male solver in France going to a city in Italy : MANTUA

13-down – One who sold feathers and fruit to fool? That’s right : PLUMASSIER

16-down – Missing exercise : SKIPPING

18-down – Verifies turnover from trophy containing sporting spoils : CASHESUP

19-down – Painter’s interrupting passable sex slave : ODALISK

21-down – Upset if terrorists are held up : AERATE

22-down – Other-worldly setter’s jam’s unfinished : MYSTIC

24-down – Point beast raised with artist : KLEE

1-across – Tom and Jerry perform to tease the 10 : CATANDMOUSEACT

8-across – Ancient relative in China until recently : NAUNT

9-across – Where Midlanders are broaching the Solent, not with a catamaran? : SOLIHULL

11-across – Man with neck broken for introducing 1 across : MCKENNA

12-across – Reindeer’s vehicle one nearly has a fight with : CARIBOU

13-across – Name of explorer No 5 when with company : VASCO

15-across – Evidence of the French saint, first to be hermetically sealed? : DUSTPROOF

17-across – Gain order in order with border : RIOGRANDE

20-across – Russian girl of Grenadian extraction : NADIA

21-across – A huge loss : TITANIC

23-across – Find new home for the lady back on river : REHOUSE

25-across – Enough about the sick being sent back by catapult : BALLISTA

26-across – Nonsense about Russian river by unthinking functionary : ROBOT

27-across – Drama of justice minister having to remove slips from pile : PLAYJACKSTRAWS

1-down – Entice director to include maverick’s part in realistic style : CINEMAVERITE

2-down – Call in case : TRUNK

3-down – Ban on Blair’s journey – can’t start without plates – an absolute refusal : NOTONYOUR

4-down – Bad name envelops celebrity that’s keen : MUSTARD

5-down – Discloses international body’s overheads : UNLOCKS

6-down – I don’t feature in either solvent or anaesthetic : ETHER

7-down – Fish outside ancient British student circle and what circulates in it : COLDBLOOD

10-down – Would-be electors of small county fashion upstanding animals’ home : SUFFRAGETTES

14-down – A little drop of make-up required? : SHORTFALL

16-down – Leader of 10 went to prison, exchanging knight for rook in one : PANKHURST

18-down – Six counties thus : NICOSIA

19-down – Specify application by listener to gospel : EARMARK

22-down – See 3 : NELLY

24-down – Shadow leader missing, unable to talk to the Sun : UMBRA

8-across – Strong short, a drink : HARAKIRI

9-across – Pressure on China? 13 20 …? : CHUMP

10-across – Possession of learner driver? 13 20 …? : NERD

11-across – Father of mouse drawn to experiment with newts daily : WALTDISNEY

12-across – 1, perhaps, maintaining one is flexible : PLIANT

14-across – Male and female into selective killing, stuffed : CRAMFULL

15-across – As in game? 13 20 …? : JACKASS

17-across – Man, it’s stimulating? 13 20 …? : CHARLIE

20-across – See 13 : QUESTION

22-across – Man in top command : BEHEST

23-across – Film director Sidney runs into opinion not entirely concerned with how much space available : VOLUMETRIC

24-across – Right in touch? 13 20 …? : PRAT

25-across – Vowel: what’s over it surrounding it? 13 20 …? : IDIOT

26-across – Rod graduated? 13 20 …? : DIPSTICK

1-down – Animal, lion, doesn’t get on with a blooming thing : CAMELLIA

2-down – Poet so dull in need of a lift : BARD

3-down – In rising, 13 20 …? 13 20 …? : NITWIT

4-down – This having little inclination, requiring head transplant? 13 20 …? : PILLOCK

5-down – City must support a group of detectives to find where Haigh disposed of his victims : ACIDBATH

6-down – Shattered having contained river, another suddenly emerged : BURSTFORTH

7-down – Charm with a ring, say : APPEAL

13-down – State : ASKASTUPID

16-down – Argument about dog having dropped a long thing that might spoil the carpet? : STILETTO

18-down – Popular viewpoint, for example : INSTANCE

19-down – Poke one’s nose in rotten tin, without manners : INTRUDE

21-down – Turning out good, a perfect situation : UTOPIA

22-down – Company of writers records what Schwarzenegger has exaggerated : BICEPS

24-down – Lay down what’s worth 10 in Scrabble? 13 20 …? : PUTZ

9-across – Better example for capital : UPPERCASE

10-across – Lines coming in through house : VILLA

11-across – Vegetable cooked on ice with some nettles for me, as 22 23 4 said : PEACEIN

12-across – See 11 : OURTIME

13-across – Very small beast – I am surprised : PIGMY

14-across – They happen to female getting round males in US state : PHENOMENA

16-across – Reach, for example, improperly into title deed that was signed by 22 23 4 … : MUNICHAGREEMENT

19-across – … : YORKSHIRE

21-across – Hardbitten type fits into diplomacy nicely : CYNIC

22-across – PM from town in northeast France, companion in the morning to one in German capital : NEVILLE

23-across – See 22 : CHAMBER

24-across – Love our neighbour? : VENUS

25-across – Pints seem to cure that feeling of futility : EMPTINESS

1-down – How’s your father’s odd little dog with exchange of PM? : RUMPYPUMPY

2-down – Apply to God – put in heater to apply paint : SPRAYGUN

3-down – Wanting too much colour to catch editor : GREEDY

4-down – See 22 across : LAIN

5-down – Make a single purchase, then liberate a person : GETONEFREE

6-down – More than a hundred worthy fellows with energy say we shall : OVERCOME

7-down – Crippled by guilt, cease to be a water regulator : SLUICE

8-down – See 7 : GATE

14-down – Old sculptor’s realisation of theory outside the box : PRAXITELES

15-down – Hate figure’s old old shirt mended : ANTICHRIST

17-down – Eliminate desire to see who’s who dramatically : CASTLIST

18-down – Got title, none other, and was hurt : ENNOBLED

20-down – Gorge at home, gate-crashing party : RAVINE

21-down – Animals covering islands formed from land … : COATIS

22-down – … following star up river : NOVA

23-down – Head and shoulders cover : CAPE

1-across – Gents leading light, Marsh : BOGLAND

5-across – Local funny papers drop : CALLOFF

9-across – Hit required outside temperature for animals : STOCK

10-across – Club with hot and cold shock device for those unfit to walk : BATHCHAIR

11-across – Appealing about Penny and Grant’s 12 24 and 19 as well as 6 9 and 20 : COMPLETELY

12-across – Peg wobbled, being topless : HOOK

14-across – Not the sort of operation Hitler went in for? : NONINVASIVE

18-across – Well just like a fall : RIGHTASRAIN

21-across – Monarch’s stage : PUPA

22-across – Fly, ship or load bananas : DROSOPHILA

25-across – Base King Edward, a source of material for writers : STATIONER

26-across – No time for old repair man to become print worker : INKER

27-across – Unusual origins of Newcastle United-style English scorer : LUTYENS

28-across – Predicting the month by a range name : AUGURAL

1-down – Midge possibly lacks nitrogen, having started with topping of banana split : BISECT

2-down – Sombre, grand – like something from a cotton mill! : GLOOMY

3-down – Catwalk Al in IT yearly renders lime property : ALKALINITY

4-down – Obligation to accept independent book entry : DEBIT

5-down – Jaguar, say, almost without assistance on back road somewhere in Europe : CATALONIA

6-down – Hank’s vulgar face about to go : LOCK

7-down – Vocal work or a chamber work incorporating a round : ORATORIO

8-down – Had advance knowledge of elevated king in start again : FOREKNEW

13-down – Prime motivator uses electric source with high-pitched sound to stifle resistance : MAINSPRING

15-down – Unrestricted sign banning bands on public highway? : NOSTRINGS

16-down – Offer to form a union? : PROPOSAL

17-down – Say good works producing fruit : EGGPLANT

19-down – Rogue trader at first lost weight : SINKER

20-down – Blunder into party, turning over drum : BARREL

23-down – Groovy thing looks back : STRIA

24-down – Chinese distance, bearing and course : LINE