1-across – Where Spooner studied : KEWKNOWLEDGE

7-across – Wader forsook his status : SHEDRANK

12-across – Tadpoles will one day be causing cardiac arrest : STARTHOPPING

13-across – Exaggerated claims for obscenity in dance music : PORNHYPE

14-across – Tolerant worshipper needing doctor? No, not yet : MONOLATER

15-across – See 8 : ROME

17-across – The dog was on the catwalk, wrapped in cotton wool : COLLIE

19-across – Values or criticises the old way of tax-raising … : RATES

20-across – … which includes time left for use by noisy fans : RATTLES

21-across – God suffering from cavalier style : PANACHE

23-across – The perfect puzzler is a businessman : IDEAL

26-across – I leave maiden’s virtue corrupted: it shouldn’t have happened : MISADVENTURE

30-across – Seemed pleased to have some good local colour outside : GRINNED

31-across – Exciting and wicked puzzle completed in 1453? : HEADY

32-across – I despise you! You disgust me! Make it with anchovy sauce! : PISHFIE

33-across – Singer with stout frame : BURLYCHASSIS

35-across – An excursion gets aweigh : ATRIP

38-across – Fish don’t rise for a fool : CHARLIE

39-across – Acquires information without backing and money in the bank? : NESTEGG

42-across – I’m agreeably surprised about record of leading character : ALPHA

44-across – Yellow Bird next century : CRAVEN

46-across – Bird that says words such as unimportant : MYNA

47-across – Comedy, maybe, one extended to humour? : PLAYALONG

49-across – Restrain the daring dogsbody : BOLDHACK

50-across – Equestrienne’s cover, like Peter from Mr McGregor? : HIDINGRABBIT

51-across – The only nail to catch something for the salad : SOLECLAW

52-across – The right sort of day for a battle given to a 44? : FIGHTWEATHER

1-down – A bit of spooning leads to a wedding, but no baby : KISSMARRIAGE

2-down – Anything for bric-a-brac : WHATNOT

3-down – Digital excrescences extracted from corpses? : NOTALES

4-down – Hero of comedy, the cock that cwowed? : WOOSTER

5-down – River reaches sea – up the river the wrong way : EUPHRATES

6-down – Officer, not private : GENERAL

8-down – Sound horn at city on the way back : HOOT

9-down – Dog with job of silencer? : DINGO

10-down – A yelp can work, no matter where : ANYPLACE

11-down – Lamented about solvers being like eagles : KEENEYED

16-down – See 31 across : MYSTERY

18-down – The ultimate comments could be the happiest : EPITAPHS

22-down – Shakespearean maid got up as vamp : NERISSA

24-down – See 31 across : EVIL

25-down – Gull in a twist of a tongue : LINGUAL

26-down – See 17 : MODELLED

27-down – Comedy, maybe – have a drink first : DRAMA

28-down – Article that’s extremely remote : AFAR

29-down – Shed tears, my child, enough to drown people? : WEEPDAUGHTER

31-down – Wine aroused craving in painter : HOCKNEY

34-down – Taking steel whip, repaired to bed : SLEEPWITH

36-down – Young thing in the ‘igh seas reportedly strikes the rocks : ICECUBES

37-down – Reduce about everything by a line to show latitude : PARALLEL

40-down – Language was difficult, said Denis : SWAHILI

41-down – City getting radiant heat from Spooner? : GLASGOW

42-down – A place of work for the wrong sort of graduate around Birmingham : ALABAMA

43-down – Bear expressed contempt for pluralist : POOHBAH

45-down – Code – and this isn’t English : ETHIC

48-down – Lactation takes minutes : ACTA

1-across – birds live outside : BEMUSE

4-across – Provide temporary accommo-dation for Mencap? : ENCAMP

9-across – Obtain acceleration from 21s : WING

10-across – Gave me authority to enter fuel for proper feed : COOKEDMEAL

11-across – Footballers in costume after game? : SAFARI

12-across – Tautological bird, ill-clad, in footwear : BALDCOOT

13-across – Amphibian embracing French maid in the hat that altered Dobson’s poem : NEWBONNET

15-across – Smile is right when in liquor : TRIN

16-across – Used a pen when talking like a parrot? : ROTE

17-across – Deferment of hope providing sad clue to earth? : HEARTSICK

21-across – Some fleet flying horse? : SQUADRON

22-across – Explorer Hammarskjold gets a degree : DAGAMA

24-across – What’s the use of eyes in the face in relation to a 23 of 1 downs? : DIVISIONAL

25-across – Exam in which a student gets gold : ORAL

26-across – Half grand clue of the day? : MONKEY

27-across – Prize for solver’s keeping the right to work : TROPHY

1-down – 14s for Georgia in the course of being married? : BRIGADE

2-down – Periodical parts of which are hot stuff : MAGMA

3-down – Part, maybe of 7, getting bad notices : SECTION

5-down – Rivalry in handicrafts? : NEEDLE

6-down – The largest 23, ‘aving put my ‘orn among the strings? : ARMYCORPS

7-down – Philosopher continuing with 23 : PLATOON

8-down – Itês ignominious when some of the French forget to come in ã but you could interpret it differently : DOUBLEMEANING

14-down – 19s are in, with acknowledgment to the king : BATTALION

16-down – Demand one right away before M-Mass : REQUIEM

18-down – Enigmatist separates the men from the boys : RIDDLER

19-down – 2 7s? : COMPANY

20-down – Ships’ 19s reported journey : CRUISE

23-down – 9s come to maturity when the West leaves : GROUP

1-across – Islander asks for a bit of his money back in jest : JAPANESE

5-across – See 10 : KEATON

9-across – Hanging in a 23? : SUSPENSE

10-across – Silent film star’s scene at Little Bighorn, as delivered by Spooner : BUSTER

11-across – Story featuring in soap – EastEnders : PEARLIES

12-across – Indian manager initially worshipping God : WALLAH

14-across – Rate me? I won’t last the distance! : PACESETTER

18-across – A damp squib I can’t set off has a capital ‘X’ : ANTICLIMAX

22-across – See 1 down : STALIN

23-across – Exciting work where 21 19 eliminates Lily : THRILLER

24-across – Paul’s about to stay in the same place : IBIDEM

25-across – Swimmer fails with his freestyle : SAILFISH

26-across – See 8 : LIGHTS

27-across – Short in the red cards? Absolutely! : HEARHEAR

1-down – Dictator slaps the revolutionary in cement : JOSEPH

2-down – See 20 : PASCAL

3-down – Irritate up to a point : NEEDLE

4-down – City’s teams struggling to be efficien : SYSTEMATIC

6-down – Here’s a sort of guess: the University kitty’s indeed wasted : EDUCATED

7-down – To get drunk during The Flower of Scotland, and for a little while delighted : TOTALITY

8-down – In remarkable throngs, the lifeboat men show up : NORTHERN

13-down – Headmaster’s translation, converting old pence to new, is the literal translation : METAPHRASE

15-down – The mountains are a warning to mice! : CATSKILL

16-down – Grass receives bird for unlawful act : STEALING

17-down – Unconscious in possible grave situation? That’s unfortunate : ACCIDENT

19-down – See 21 : MILLER

20-down – Mathematician is able, perhaps, to get a prize, ending first : BLAISE

21-down – Dramatist’s hurt arm: poorly, then more so? : ARTHUR

1-across – Responsible writer from our point of view : WEJOHNS

5-across – One must be cracked : NUTCASE

9-across – Enigmatist sees Python regular carrying dead parrot’s insides outside : RIDDLER

10-across – Telegraph man and his politics accepted by European Union man : MARCONI

11-across – Domestic whose absenteeism is explained by nasty bender? : HOUSEMAID

12-across – A sign of fleas for Hitler, perhaps? : AITCH

13-across – Decided to do away with a desire : GREED

15-across – Distinctive feature of alien mutating with humans to get Tory leader : LINEAMENT

17-across – Promising person holding food correspondent to be a bit of a dummy : COMFORTER

19-across – Scottish pair, not great leaders, sound American : TWANG

22-across – Does wrong to conceal bend in passage : SINUS

23-across – Araucaria’s not so hot, they say: show how sad you are! : CHILEPINE

25-across – Declare proclivities inverted as a result : OUTCOME

26-across – Marine bird or beast pinned its ear back : SEAGULL

27-across – Charges about two sovereigns for tentative suggestions : FEELERS

28-across – Boy’s female relation by marriage? : STEPHEN

1-down – Abnormal growth restricting a beast : WARTHOG

2-down – I only want to touch my man, but this causes commotion in gallery! : JADOUBE

3-down – Handle cobbling together with elves? : HELVE

4-down – A little flower American left in road : STREAMLET

5-down – Might I live off berries? Yes, we have no bananas : NOMAD

6-down – Formidable woman ate Grant Mitchell’s head in a stew : TERMAGANT

7-down – Paul’s monkey puzzling lost in its bowels? : APOSTLE

8-down – Another handle needed to rotate peg about the centre : EPITHET

14-down – What does 23 across do in the autumn? Makes pastry : DROPSCONE

16-down – Being daffy, he fell for himself in the water : NARCISSUS

17-down – Shed on sale in Oxfam shop? : CASTOFF

18-down – Sea creature taken for hair-covered goddess : MANATEE

20-down – Some authors : AZIMUTH

21-down – Other men with girl means there’s trouble in the air : GREMLIN

23-down – Aristocrat losing some French game : CHESS

24-down – Delete in under a second : ERASE

1-across – Company Union, in a figure of speech : TROUPE

4-across – Mean, but not proverbially shy, apparently! : TWOBIT

9-across – See 11 : BIRD

10-across – One hindering short turns in the assembly of robots : OBSTRUCTOR

11-across – Short sentence from which 2 is extracted… : LITTLE

12-across – …one was given time : AGIOTAGE

13-across – Spooner’s returned to glorify famous nag : BLACKBESS

15-across – See 5 : GOUT

16-across – Toy drug remains. Nobody should be without it! : PEAS

17-across – Vehicle to aid genetic transmission of the body : INCARNATE

21-across – Escape, but without touching a stunner! : BREAKOUT

22-across – Tab? : ROTARY

24-across – Share-out is mistakenly given to references : QUOTATIONS

25-across – See 22 : CLUB

26-across – Spanish fighter, brave one on ‘ill? : TORERO

27-across – Seize the chickens! : CLUTCH

1-down – But its following is far from negligible! : TRIVIAL

2-down – I don’t worry what people say : ONDIT

3-down – Saw lead strangling dog : PROVERB

5-down – Mathematician should show this demonstration with condition : WORKIN

6-down – Money for old 14, source of green paint for artist : BUCKTHORN

7-down – Considered, but time’s up : THOUGHT

8-down – See 14 : ASSASSINATION

14-down – The killing of The Omega Man? : CHARACTER

16-down – See 1 : PURSUIT

18-down – Spray makes a lover look up : AEROSOL

19-down – See 7 : THROUGH

20-down – See 16 across : HOOTER

23-down – Silent diplomacy one’s accepted : TACIT