Daily Answers

1-across – Getting ready for the start of punitive damages : PREPARATION

9-across – Drink and party endlessly wearing skirt : MARTINI

10-across – Chocolate confections which are usually eaten about midday : TIFFINS

11-across – Plank 8? : TWOBYFOUR

12-across – Little picture of poinsettias : INSET

13-across – Your money’s worth giving for tea clue? : RATE

14-across – See 13 : OFEXCHANGE

16-across – Fastidiousness of society rip-off : PRECIOSITY

19-across – Extremely ambitious politicians: one of them killed Shakespeare’s Cleopatra : ASPS

21-across – Singers reported in the paper : CHOIR

22-across – Current conductor left inside motor starter : MAELSTROM

24-across – Rubbish surface turned into something suitable for lawn : AERATOR

25-across – Height of sculpture is about right : STATURE

26-across – Sea essentially still and flat : EMOTIONLESS

1-down – As expected in what you do, keep hearing you are to follow strange echo : PARFORTHECOURSE

2-down – Provide enlightenment and exalt leader stepping down : EDIFY

3-down – An aristocrat who swings both ways is not quite right : ABITOFF

4-down – All NHS leaders have duty to pro­tect personnel from infectious disease : ANTHRAX

5-down – Nightlife mostly turns into a type of entertainment for high flyers : INFLIGHT

6-down – Without a doubt, transfusions with blood regularly administered : NOIFSANDSORBUTS

7-down – Buyer’s pro tem infractus est : EMPTOR

8-down – Parasite seen in experimental test tubes : TSETSE

15-down – Script of bodice ripper originally found in abandoned toilet : LIBRETTO

16-down – Rejected in Vietnam: capitalist game of greed : PACMAN

17-down – Dumas’ second character Aramis could be a swordsman : SAMURAI

18-down – Ultimately just cause for betrayal : TREASON

20-down – Hermits occasionally getting into sex that’s explosive : SEMTEX

23-down – Notes on a fish? : SCALE

1-across – Meet female model travelling west in state : SATISFY

5-across – Help with technique identifying face on boy : BENEFIT

9-across – Increase sunlight, did you say? : RAISE

10-across – Rebel was shown affection by Ms Pavlova, we hear? : ANARCHIST

11-across – Lost in thought in having escaped Titanic: going to break up : COGITATING

12-across – Incentive required, team failing to finish : SPUR

14-across – Athenian’s dip in defeat, alas, a marathon backfiring : TARAMASALATA

18-across – Creating distortion, shapes triangulated : ADULTERATING

21-across – Potty rough, nipper’s rear pulled out : DAFT

22-across – Dog-ear she embroidered, holding end of cotton that’s wound on a reel : GARDENHOSE

25-across – Second person from Paris inform­ally dressed by runner for Chanel, say? : COUTURIER

26-across – See 28 : ANEND

27-across – Stop from trembling in fear behind king : REFRAIN

28-across – Why tapering items are best? : ALLGOOD

1-down – Auditor’s dressed Natalie Wood : SPRUCE

2-down – See 28 : THINGS

3-down – Cryptically waste garment? : SWEATPANTS

4-down – Fungus by the sea gets wet, finally : YEAST

5-down – Cups in large boxes right? That’s a mental lapse : BRAINFART

6-down – Prison appropriate : NICK

7-down – Mountain ascended in spirit, you’ve done well : FAIRPLAY

8-down – One entering test after old king in lesson : TUTORIAL

13-down – Party supporting Johnson ultimately, in principle — this heavyweight must be fired : CANNONBALL

15-down – Coming from both Dakar and Dhaka? A rogue on safari : AFROASIAN

16-down – Vehicle that’s standard, with a criminal initially inside : PANDACAR

17-down – Adolescent growth, terrible mistake : BUMFLUFF

19-down – See 28 : COMETO

20-down – As is woman with Man United? : WEDDED

23-down – More than one back in demand, or saleable : DORSA

24-down – Island where a dollar cut up : CUBA

1-across – Swipe right : APPROPRIATE

9-across – Put link next to a contract : ABRIDGE

10-across – Sleep with looker after bar : SHUTEYE

11-across – Sticky label near thing : CLOSECALL

12-across – Teams on radio? They think out of box, primarily : RAINS

13-across – Adds with fingers : TOTS

14-across – Shortly have meals for one sent back? Let me see food with no meat : VEGEBURGER

16-across – Start to pick on barmaids? Perhaps they can : PRESERVERS

19-across – Small label to stick : STAB

21-across – Watch when bank grabs money! : TIMER

22-across – Wrong nebuliser? Possibly do for granny? : BLUERINSE

24-across – Players holding an ace in this? : CANASTA

25-across – Float with a marine crew : ARMBAND

26-across – Head and governors round table, of course : LEADERBOARD

1-down – Territorial map is wrong to inc­lude northern land near this? : AIRPORTTERMINAL

2-down – Fat dog is knackered during exercise : PODGE

3-down – Left date that’s too old : OVERAGE

4-down – Determination of kinky lovers to get endless sex : RESOLVE

5-down – Sign male put over top of septic tank … : AQUARIUM

6-down – … getting flush with usual paper : EVENINGSTANDARD

7-down – Maiden meeting one that’s lucky : MASCOT

8-down – Stunner squeezing fiance’s bottom is a poser : TEASER

15-down – Harry Kane to describe cup holder’s state : NEBRASKA

16-down – Matter over central heating, accepting temperature’s rising : PUTSCH

17-down – Very annoyed over British pound? : VIBRATE

18-down – Bull with stick through heart after matador’s finale : RHUBARB

20-down – Bale occasionally finishes matches : BLENDS

23-down – Massage area around member: you need a partner to do this : RUMBA

1-across – Crowd ended exercise : PRESSUP

5-across – Live in retreat — most mean : DEAREST

9-across – Industrialist’s housing experiment : ERROR

10-across – Throw-out before a score? Attempt might pay off : WORTHATRY

11-across – Rapture! Fig cultivated as a possible basis for a fad diet : GRAPEFRUIT

12-across – Underwear ultimately unsuitable for a northern hillside : BRAE

14-across – Turn right, then Green St and stay? : STRENGTHENER

18-across – Go out of one’s way to look after knotted hair on calves : LAVISHCAREON

21-across – Religious pictures one disregarded as frauds : PROS

22-across – Ubiquitous wife has the lot: two cooks — everything : WALLTOWALL

25-across – Seal accepted a lot of money for getting close and personal : CLINCHING

26-across – Sea snail is more fresh by river : ORMER

27-across – Try to be a loveless, awful source of power : ASSAULT

28-across – France’s doomed people carrier? : TUMBRIL

1-down – Guarantee place advantage : PLEDGE

2-down – Each year end increase is an obstacle for auditors : EARWAX

3-down – Protect game — it could get you on film : SCREENTEST

4-down – Grand parrot is celebrity : POWER

5-down – Cardinal possibly raised double gun : DERRINGER

6-down – Bachelors hurt inside : ACHE

7-down – Going to pieces on getting into cooking : ENTERING

8-down – Playing by ear? Try hybrid fruit : TAYBERRY

13-down – Knockout stuff from loch or ground : CHLOROFORM

15-down – Use it for a change to cover burn in a religious ceremony : EUCHARIST

16-down – A way of progressing agents’ lack of cover : ALOPECIA

17-down – High-flying electronic equipment icon with visa difficulty : AVIONICS

19-down – Rough up the Spanish implement : HAMMER

20-down – More than one artist in pull-out : PLURAL

23-down – Hell with back to front relative darkness : LIGHT

24-down – Odd cure for linen that’s unbleached : ECRU

7-across – British cooking takes a bit of skill with containers : BASKETS

8-across – Officer getting memory back with small 2001 computer? : MARSHAL

9-across – In Madrid, sick after doctor left : AMID

10-across – Impervious to nastiest crook stalking queen : RESISTANT

12-across – Will, the writer touring Italy, recalled travels : FLIES

13-across – Arrested over kind of tyres : RETREADS

15-across – Excited? Silver-plated goblet, two thirds off! : AGOG

16-across – Remember to catch fish : PLACE

17-across – Bowl over after over, then departed following wicket : WOOD

18-across – Sets of offices : STATIONS

20-across – Goes for recipe in pans : WORKS

21-across – Sport’s comeback following change passed on : SNUFFEDIT

22-across – Polish shoe with stockings : HOSE

24-across – Base of guerrilla den in Ecuador revealed : ADENINE

25-across – Swinger’s bar? : TRAPEZE

1-down – Cultivate distant surface of Mars : FARM

2-down – Confess to framing model Jodie, being out of control on the runway : SKIDDING

3-down – Attacks small hill with 1,000 soldiers at the rear : STORMS

4-down – Tape 100 like me, endlessly : CASSETTE

5-down – Break free, when she gets rid of husband over headland : ESCAPE

6-down – Gasp as bottom removed from trousers in New York : PANT

11-down – Journalist completes review as Spurs get beaten : SURPASSED

12-down – Battle — scared? 60% run away : FIGHT

14-down – Openings for medics to inhale O₂ : DOORS

16-down – Testing parking shelter : PROOFING

17-down – Adores wife’s gold vessels : WORSHIPS

19-down – Former US president loses millions, primarily tax dodger : TRUANT

20-down – Stew — raw, yet tasteless : WATERY

21-down – Face snooker revolution : SIDE

23-down – Measure of bridge in Venice announced : SIZE