7-across – Performing great act of wickedness, one is expelled from halls : SINATRA

8-across – Nancy’s the marriage partner and source of comfort when travelling : LEGROOM

9-across – Loud commotion and blue air in Lisbon? : FADO

10-across – Farah competes with sailor to be 7? : MOVIESTAR

12-across – Italian barman slipping drug into spirit : BERIO

13-across – Cultivating hybrid at present time : BIRTHDAY

15-across – Let it snow, blanketing little birds : TITS

16-across – Catty utterance of 20 down, extremely ungraceful : MIAUL

17-across – Retired wimps fret : STEW

18-across – Grace Kelly after marriage forbidding and discounting Germans : GRIMALDI

20-across – Plain-speaking 7 : FRANK

21-across – Unexpectedly sing Moon River for somebody in church : MONSIGNOR

22-across – Miss Gardner, going on 50, is hot stuff! : LAVA

24-across – She’s skilled at working 17 across of 7 : ARTISAN

25-across – Expression of excitement about single 7’s sausage : BOLONEY

1-down – Girl, a 7, can answer : TINA

2-down – Mafiosi ram Oscar in unusual places : CAMORRAS

3-down – Rhyming game and jam with hum? : CRAMBO

4-down – Perhaps rye drinking leads to blindness and rotting of the brain : CEREBRAL

5-down – Tedious routine in cold church is something that sustains one : CRUTCH

6-down – Lead in Pal Joey perhaps turning up in Sorry! : POOR

11-down – Bishop and Rat Pack 7 with touching resonance : VIBRATION

12-down – Pipeline between Britain and Arabia : BRIAR

14-down – Smart guy downing cake regularly after beer : ALECK

16-down – 17 across for 7 in mug, all 17 across-ed : MULLIGAN

17-down – Male with parts in High Society going ahead with one leg : STALLION

19-down – Married people opposed to prayer? : MANTIS

20-down – Have multiple offspring to argue greatly over : FARROW

21-down – Capital fellow is hurt and cross : MARX

23-down – Gerry, Chester or Humphrey? : VEEP

1-across – Blue clothes first, perhaps? : LOWGEAR

5-across – One with special advantage is in the drink, they say? : INSIDER

9-across – Currency of Iceland in a rut : DINAR

10-across – Lottery in hand, oddly, after card removed : WITHDRAWN

11-across – Just eastern Chinese dynasty sold houses : EVENHANDED

12-across – Goodwood’s cut : GASH

14-across – Tell to seal mouth after Beethoven’s Ninth, a line combining different tunes : CONTRAPUNTAL

18-across – Blank cheque cashed with random initials, the balance imbalanced! : CARTEBLANCHE

21-across – Unhealthy to ignore strong heart, for one thing : UNIT

22-across – A robust, rough and unfashionable, unskilled worker : ROUSTABOUT

25-across – Line retracted about idiot, with woman never believed : CASSANDRA

26-across – Pedagogue recalled hiding, having shackled student finally : TUTOR

27-across – 23, disconcerting thing? : RATTLER

28-across – Sovereign ruled country gutlessly, tending to make mistakes : ERRANCY

1-down – Run from 23 under opening in lederhosen : LADDER

2-down – See 6 : WINDER

3-down – Bulldozer great sex? : EARTHMOVER

4-down – Canopy of willow overshadowed by bay tree : ROWAN

5-down – Chiefly wet? : INTHEMAIN

6-down – Crushing victory desired, unfortunately, as 23 : SIDE

7-down – Italian mount girl has reared, glittering stuff! : DIAMANTE

8-down – Call Dutch artist a 23 : RINGHALS

13-down – 23 gets to transport rodent after getting up in the morning : BUSHMASTER

15-down – I’m grateful wine and bread have turned up — too much to ask? : TALLORDER

16-down – Reconnaissance vehicle out cold in evidence of battle : SCOUTCAR

17-down – Ultimately violent, nastier sort of toys for boys? : TRAINSET

19-down – Feeding kid, too much material : COTTON

20-down – Hardy one of seven writing off two articles? : STURDY

23-down – Benefit circling north wind : SNAKE

24-down – Uncle Sam’s zip pinches a hard object : NAIL

1-across – Force a writer to absorb Republican material : FABRIC

5-across – Attempts to stifle objection : TRIBUTES

9-across – Long sleeper put out, spanning old room : DORMOUSE

10-across – Broadcaster hosts current politician, revealing lots : SKIMPY

11-across – He’s fascinated by dates, or miso, cooked with gluten : NUMEROLOGIST

13-across – Heartless deeds : DOGS

14-across – Resolve what cross may mean at a financial centre : TENACITY

17-across – Shots from short distances don’t win in competitions : CLOSEUPS

18-across – Small animal refuge : SARK

20-across – Priest boxed here, for instead of against : PROFESSIONAL

23-across – African country rings airline to find island : TOBAGO

24-across – Left a hotel and swindled a second one that’s snooty : LAHDIDAH

25-across – Mostly train a bird in film to make buns : TEACAKES

26-across – Southern county : SKERRY

2-down – A cyclist : AHOY

3-down – Gulf citizens infringe rights : ROMANISTS

4-down – Start to chase game : CRUMMY

5-down – : THEBRITISHISLES

6-down – Audacious place to sail off Cowes : INSOLENT

7-down – Consuming funny bar in the morning : USING

8-down – Describing display is up to politician : EXPOSITORY

12-down – Arrest bishop taking drug : COLLARBONE

15-down – Thus was Caesar’s Gaul in special novel : CISALPINE

16-down – Scot ordered to stop dirty stuff : GUNSTOCK

19-down – Popular board game finishes early : INCHES

21-down – Nice money once smuggled into football club : FRANC

22-down – Loud song : FAIR

1-across – Poet, to right of centre, founder of cult : HUBBARD

5-across – Demanding university hospital admit prince in poor health : UPHILL

9-across – Plod round Luton with one of the underworld : PLUTONIC

10-across – Charlie recollecting words of hippo­potamus? : DUMDUM

12-across – A number of marriages? : WEDDINGMARCH

15-across – Gee, Sinatra excited these Republicans! : REAGANITES

17-across – Twitch regularly observed : TIC

19-across – Female in the nude : HEN

20-across – Methuselah, perhaps, voiced misgiving and lost nerve : BOTTLEDOUT

22-across – Head waiter tolerated him behaving badly : MAITREDHOTEL

26-across – Random old people in megalithic tomb : DOLMEN

27-across – Groups of cyclists pootle around Nova Scotia : PELOTONS

28-across – Son heard audible step : STRIDE

29-across – I used to be stupid and boring : TEDIOUS

1-down – Hard work, energy and optimism : HOPE

2-down – Melancholy, rude Conservative sportsman : BLUE

3-down – Better than expected, though not on course : ABOVEPAR

4-down – Airdrie district nurses like prunes? : DRIED

6-down – Posh, like Victoria? : PLUMMY

7-down – Becoming callous and cool over time : INDURATION

8-down – They comply, duffed up in cell : LYMPHOCYTE

11-down – Sexually excited male inhibited by nagging : ONHEAT

13-down – Principled Greek, close to Syriza, agreed to be bound by resolution : ARCHIMEDES

14-down – It lessens suffering of old man held by assassin : PAINKILLER

16-down – Arachne broke drugs law — she took love potion : ISOLDE

18-down – Lower limits removed, therefore start to dawdle : HEREFORD

21-down – Greasy sandwiches start to nauseate mate : FRIEND

23-down – Public poverty after banks fail : OVERT

24-down – Ma clipping lout twice : YOYO

25-down – Employs European aboard American naval vessel : USES

1-across – Motive in man of letters, an anticipatory act : FORESTALMENT

8-across – Where Britain and China are as one, in a way backward as France would have it? : EURASIA

9-across – Inland instrument not half listless : LANGUID

11-across – Rail taking popular figure briefly beyond Venezuelan capital : INVEIGH

12-across – Metal bolts ingested for starters by the Queen, entering stomach : TERBIUM

13-across – March off then ___ , to get protective garment : APRON

14-across – Gripping device holds stream : THRILLING

16-across – Rise in New York building, dropping right : INFLATION

19-across – Beak of gannet’s opening in book : JUDGE

21-across – Seen during sunset in Gibraltar, westward lights : IGNITES

23-across – A short story about country detailed in language : AFGHANI

24-across – One having a yen for money ultimately, someone bringing in cash : YEARNER

25-across – Where a stud may be noble, having love to endure : EARLOBE

26-across – Adulterating plastic, it’s adapted to a particular form : TRIANGULATED

1-down – Temperature outside over limits always : FOREVER

2-down – Putin perhaps hurried to embrace America — certainly requiring translation? : RUSSIAN

3-down – That woman has hole to fill up, one after dry pasta : SPAGHETTI

4-down – A fee going up to get parcel out : ALLOT

5-down – Possibly, rock goddess not very ladylike at first : MINERAL

6-down – Molluscs caught in marina utilised : NAUTILI

7-down – Capacity to be described as identifiably toxic : DEFINABILITY

10-down – Device removing the attraction from contentious disagreement : DEMAGNETISER

15-down – Calls to pen article sound familiar : RINGABELL

17-down – Foolish primarily and a bit thick, where one’s been taken for a ride? : FUNFAIR

18-down – One picks up signals as an amount of cash mentioned : ANTENNA

19-down – One pace — or two? : JOGTROT

20-down – Having to tidy one’s own hotel room up before beginning of day, one sparkles : DIAMOND

22-down – Shoot gun in rather packed saloon, every head looking up : SPRIG