Daily Answers

7-across – Conclude with army’s opening invasion of Holland — hellish : INFERNAL

9-across – Atmospheric phenomenon or boomer sound? : AURORA

10-across – See 22 : BOAT

11-across – Given the law about dropping electric current, it might span two peaks : WAVELENGTH

12-across – Phone a spendthrift : BLOWER

14-across – Bird from Brazil? Mark with fine lines : NUTHATCH

15-across – Sort of dash into Ring dismissal : DENIAL

17-across – Small creature has cold, rather than hot, stint : SCRIMP

20-across – United, Poulenc incited divorce : UNCOUPLE

22-across – Bar with two articles by tramp? It bears fruit : BANANA

23-across – Agent’s message, maybe: Try to come back between chapel and drive : CRYPTOGRAM

24-across – See 2 : WITH

25-across – Laurel’s sound, having a few lines? : STANZA

26-across – Supervise rag lion housing for Muslim quarters : SERAGLIO

1-down – Dignified death, hoarding old money : ENNOBLED

2-down – Junk TV harm: people wait to gain acceptance : MEET

3-down – Solution offered by Australian state: cutting a rate of interest : ANSWER

4-down – Writer takes every blockbuster film as movingly graceful : BALLETIC

5-down – Shortening time before work on ground action : TRUNCATION

6-down – Extremely cold chest, Mark said : ARCTIC

8-down – Which should keep a worker from leaving wig off : LIVING

13-down – Light weapon exploded after blast : WINDOWPANE

16-down – See 2 : APPROVAL

18-down – £25 tip that could go to one’s head : PONYTAIL

19-down – Teacher Patch turned over remains : DEBRIS

21-down – Retina mistaken for group of sea snails : NERITA

22-down – Insect straddling overturned border soil : BEMIRE

24-down – See 8 : WAGE

1-across – Saw what Kate Moss was doing on the runway : SASHAYING

6-across – Second room key : BACK

8-across – Cut dead : LACERATE

9-across – Compound houses extremely seedy institution : ASYLUM

10-across – Stroke Rod’s fringe? : PELMET

11-across – Litanies composed for a mind-reader? : ALIENIST

12-across – Spent cash in Irish party : USEDUP

15-across – Let spies disrupt lines of communication : EPISTLES

16-across – Sedate patient? He might need it : FIRSTAID

19-across – Appear to knock down tools : STRIKE

21-across – Declining to create an impression : DECADENT

22-across – Photos regularly produce disputes : FIGHTS

24-across – Where punters are embroiled in fracas in Oxford : CASINO

25-across – Controversy about cleavage : ARGUMENT

26-across – Stop swallow flying west : PLUG

27-across – New resident broke the crockery : DINNERSET

1-down – See 6 across : SPACE

2-down – Moved quickly with Bonxie instead : STEAMED

3-down – Expect a clout on the ear : AWAIT

4-down – Repeat: uneducated but not unhealthy : ITERATE

5-down – Indulges with £1,000 signs : GRATIFIES

6-down – Run through United first team : BAYONET

7-down – Cut part of deck : CLUBSTEAK

13-down – Before formal party, start to slowly degenerate : SLIMEBALL

14-down – Fool scratches head when looking up at space traveller : PLANETOID

17-down – Very wet grass : SOAKING

18-down – Get off? I daren’t move! : DETRAIN

20-down – She forecasts when fighter infiltrates revolutionary governments : REGIMES

22-down – A piece of music, which transports mind and body? : FUGUE

23-down – It’s believed soldiers have left the block of flats : TENET

1-across – Almost no sign of hell in barracks? : HECKLES

5-across – Depression admitted by nipper after contracting disease : CHOLERA

9-across – Don’t plan a German paperback : ADLIB

10-across – Paris cool about attraction of Athens : ACROPOLIS

11-across – L’Ogre by Parisian solver? It’s panned! : TOILETROLL

12-across – Meat cut for queen, say : BEE

14-across – End of match lit items, including first leaf : STOPPAGETIME

18-across – Icon that’s silvery peels off : ELVISPRESLEY

21-across – Brown finished, reportedly : DUN

22-across – Potentially fine to poke nameless cat? That’s immature in a bird : PINFEATHER

25-across – Classic wrong to fear anything from the right : TEAFORTWO

26-across – Father having dropped from tree, cutting head on hard wood : LARCH

27-across – Even bits of blubber caught by tough old weapon : HALBERD

28-across – In further tests son fights back : RESISTS

1-down – Warm about right and friendly, ultimately? : HEARTY

2-down – Gunman’s short story for herder : COLLIE

3-down – Burning to collar first of bullies, one not standing up for Da Ponte, say? : LIBRETTIST

4-down – Case dismissed for dancer’s step : STAIR

5-down – Large amounts, a lot moving in pack : CARTLOADS

6-down – Spirit not entirely lifted, oh no! : OOPS

7-down – Illiterate’s mark in grotesquely risible book’s inscription : EXLIBRIS

8-down – Returned with outstanding change of direction, volley initially out : ANSWERED

13-down – 19 16, 5 across 12, 1 down 24 and 2 23, loosely speaking? : VEGETABLES

15-down – Legal term tied up in knots, non-U : PERMITTED

16-down – Worcestershire town, flaming dump : REDDITCH

17-down – Uniform on female, the whole thing in twilight : EVENFALL

19-down – Old pros who never tickle colleagues’ bottoms : WHORES

20-down – Cups with vessel, one of a pair in one’s cups : BRAHMS

23-down – 0.08 cryptically? That’s fine, perhaps : FLOUR

24-down – Uncle Stalin pinching king’s butt : JOKE

9-across – Abusive remark getting clubs plenty excited : CHEAPSHOT

10-across – Money raised orally : BREAD

11-across – 24 across player, joining 2, 16, 22 down and 27 : DYLAN

12-across – Mention as altered state 11 was in initially : MINNESOTA

13-across – How too many people have died — sad words finally taken to heart : INWARDS

14-across – Member of rock group, like one of which 11 performed : ROLLING

17-across – Issues in changing times : EMITS

19-across – Withdrawn from famous Swedish ceremony, ultimately : SHY

20-across – Backed a time and place for big event : ARENA

21-across – Awful act, a sin that’s diabolical : SATANIC

22-across – Energy put into hit since holidays : FIESTAS

24-across – Saintly female on instrument, not piano — much smaller one : HARMONICA

26-across – Play guitar in odd way? Just the opposite : STRUM

28-across – See 14 : STONE

29-across – Diplomacy I preserve, hiding one master of war? : TACTICIAN

1-down – A record I included in stuff for trip : ACID

2-down – Shout in line put in further down : BELLOW

3-down – Work composed in person, wherein sentences aren’t rigidly controlled : OPENPRISON

4-down – One writer after 11, another before 27 : THOMAS

5-down – Artist tucked into cheap fish : STINGRAY

6-down – Band, live, including old instrument for blowing in the wind : OBOE

7-down – Writer is brought into rock band to make music : MELODISE

8-down – Mixed-up confusion of aide’s plan : IDEA

13-down – Times changing articles : ITEMS

15-down – Management has numbers of Germans reportedly on board? : LEADERSHIP

16-down – Collaborator with the law, possibly bent : GRASS

18-down – Middle part of winter I originally selected : INTERIOR

19-down – Place for minister it’s scary to switch : SACRISTY

22-down – State of departments dictator cut, note : FRANCE

23-down – High point of rock, clear and passionate : TORRID

24-down – Crowd entertainer : HOST

25-down – Eg sound of a thunder heard in moment : OMEN

27-down – Part of literary award, we hear, for novelist : MANN

8-across – Bird, passionate duck : FLAMINGO

9-across – Cardinal from Brisbane perhaps, a gas : OZONE

10-across – Not many to speak of, what a relief! : PHEW

11-across – Respond to baroque around entrance to manor, reflecting the very latest styles : POSTMODERN

12-across – Lark catching worm, finally — being intent, did you say? : CAMPER

14-across – Disheartened lady behind queen in Mary, oddly courteous : MANNERLY

15-across – Shag caught countless oysters, initially behind boat at sea : TOBACCO

17-across – Cuckoo shaggers : BONKERS

20-across – Excessively large priest in decline, unfortun­ately born for eating? : ABNORMAL

22-across – Well-groomed tree : SPRUCE

23-across – Coffee-maker doctoring report about drink : PERCOLATOR

24-across – Swift feeding off a starling : FAST

25-across – Modern imagery around gold, a royal favourite? : CORGI

26-across – Embarrassing slips, as endless agony compounded among birds : OWNGOALS

1-down – Chapel organ eventually starts after arrangement for a song : ELCHEAPO

2-down – Seagull’s after small duck : SMEW

3-down – Bird first to reveal concealed assailant : SNIPER

4-down – Swallow, bird coming up after rook and gull, say? : CONSUME

5-down – Mark here, Don elsewhere, as soldier : COMMANDO

6-down – Bird, one kissing the driver? : WOODPECKER

7-down – Parrot possibly genuine, though not a bird : PETREL

13-down – Piece of music, prosaic one jazzed up : PIANOSCORE

16-down – Change around a switch in lamp to see rail or grouse? : COMPLAIN

18-down – Mythical bird talks outrageously, coarse stuff : ROCKSALT

19-down – Gannet left to fill stomach with a lot : GLUTTON

21-down – Fracture in bone, one’s not required to stretch : BREACH

22-down – Quail bone adorning one king and another : SHRINK

24-down – Turkey farm’s prime cut : FLOP