1-across – Rugby formation picking up a bone : SACRUM

4-across – Spend a penny gathering mud ants : PISMIRES

9-across – Abundance of reflected light before first sign of dawn : NOEND

10-across – Proponent of a doctor drinking vodka ends with separation : ADVOCATOR

11-across – Invasive species weren’t far out : WATERFERN

12-across – One doubted if Bob is leading poet : DYLAN

13-across – Mandarin orange centre shown in Sir Clive TV broadcast : CIVILSERVANT

17-across – A dishwasher may be good for the opposition : LABOURSAVING

20-across – Dressage de lycée? : HAUTE

21-across – Chrysler or Ford or a Team UK assembly : AUTOMAKER

23-across – Mean Girls damned by harsh critics : MALIGNERS

24-across – See 20 : ECOLE

25-across – Like operating surgeons having clean place to sleep : SCRUBBED

26-across – Trade cycle report : PEDDLE

1-down – Somehow banks on the first person in Germany to provide food : SANDWICH

2-down – React badly on Philistine’s becoming artistic : CREATIVE

3-down – Foreign articles take advantage of court record’s ultimate drama : UNDER

5-down – Half invoke All Saint’s Day parody about truth after a few : INVINOVERITAS

6-down – Comedian running a country until recently : MACEDONIA

7-down – Informer regularly talked to confuse : RATTLE

8-down – From Caesar on Gaul: it’s a wrap! : SARONG

10-down – Canine exchange to follow this legal framework? : ANEYEFORANEYE

14-down – Zip up seaside town in play : LLAREGGUB

15-down – See 3 : MILKWOOD

16-down – Wrong man needed to fashion graven image : AGGRIEVE

18-down – See 12 : THOMAS

19-down – Nevertheless, tell the officer finally who did it! : BUTLER

22-down – I don’t buy this setter’s issue of contention in 10 : MYEYE

8-across – Player that is taking in number of Romans — it’s deceptive and oxymoronic : BLACKICE

9-across – Improperly took yen inside place where they can be spent : KYOTO

10-across – Flyer downloadable from internet : TERN

11-across – Aids that help with arithmetic oddly also might with reading or writing? : ALGORITHMS

12-across – Soundly beats things that can be put on face cosmetically : LASHES

14-across – Turn away as foreign, next to European : ALIENATE

15-across – Something provided by priest in church : SERVICE

17-across – Same clue as 15 : CHALICE

20-across – Same clue as 14 : ESTRANGE

22-across – Same clue as 12 : CREAMS

23-across – Same clue as 11 : LOGARITHMS

24-across – Same clue as 10 : ERNE

25-across – Same clue as 9 : TOKYO

26-across – Same clue as 8 : WHITELIE

1-down – Scold after awful clue that’s become painful : ULCERATE

2-down – Swindler’s confession that one can view on screen : ICON

3-down – Instruments : SITARS

4-down – European started inserting line I also inserted later : BELGIAN

5-down – Short engagement succeeded, king from nearby country securing maiden : SKIRMISH

6-down – Gap in cranium doctor left alone, around its centre : FONTANELLE

7-down – Design pro wrestling location : FORMAT

13-down – Luggage poor journalists needed, crossing states : HAVERSACKS

16-down – Heartless economist changed some money in South America : CENTIMOS

18-down – Hard cash securing porcelain being imported : COMINGIN

19-down – Start of radio news broadcast about house aired again on TV? : RESHOWN

21-down – Even so, gripping only head of insect : SMOOTH

22-down – Son getting into children’s literature about space : COSMIC

24-down – What several believers hold in common, endlessly : EVER

7-across – Group of 3 that is following yours truly to swim across the Channel : MENAGERIE

8-across – Stars participating in trashy drama : HYDRA

9-across – Potter’s follow-up shot can’t be fast, pocketing white second : FANTASTIC

10-across – Sordid, in the main? Crikey! : SEAMY

12-across – In the kitchen, moistens 9 3 : BASTES

13-across – Touring Switzerland, female with pride leaves current place of one of the 9 3 : LOCHNESS

14-across – Setter’s embraced by pop diva, having adult fantasy! : CHIMERA

17-across – Where to study mawkish stuff in highly valued company : UNICORN

20-across – Two insects biting horse, a whopper : BEHEMOTH

22-across – Pastry is a new filling food : DANISH

24-across – Deprived of love, Marx has yen for one of the 9 3 : HARPY

25-across – Torch along with others caught in vision : SETALIGHT

26-across – 9 3 still exists : YETIS

27-across – Separating from 9 creature during water sport : DIVORCING

1-down – Comeback of Cameron in extremely ashen state : NEVADA

2-down – Handyman has bit of dope and round belly : FACTOTUM

3-down – See 9 : BEASTS

4-down – Ludicrous guy bored by one’s article in Paris Match : RISIBLE

5-down – One of the 9 3 disheartened wordy French author no end : WYVERN

6-down – Guarantor for one disinclined to disburse? : PROMISER

11-down – About to enter hospital for medical examination : SCAN

15-down – Ambassador reverent about Elizabeth’s coat sounded like an ass : HEEHAWED

16-down – Maybe study Othello in revolutionary manner : ROOM

18-down – Win over clubs playing and failing around noon : CONVINCE

19-down – Photos capturing house in French or US capital : PHOENIX

21-down – 9 creature elevating English wit : ESPRIT

22-down – Formidable female criminal’s wrapping paper : DRAGON

23-down – Hard to crack misleading words by Times puzzle setter : SPHINX

1-across – Look at article, ending back where it started : LOOPED

4-across – Meddler last to speak one piece, almost nothing : KIBITZER

9-across – Girl put on make-up, half for the dog : DOUGAL

10-across – With software installed, organised data can be taken advantage of : TAPPABLE

11-across – Honest heterosexual a miserable item, oddly : STRAIGHTASADIE

13-across – Deactivated antibodies — there are seven of them : DEADLYSINS

14-across – Divine person in Hard Times : HERA

16-across – The point of college: competitive advantage : CUSP

18-across – Ever extremely fresh and impertinent, the cow : ERMINTRUDE

21-across – Enormous snail keeps doing manoeuvres around black horse : BROBDINGNAGIAN

23-across – Streams of particles working into metal girders : IONBEAMS

24-across – Game’s not worth such feeble power : CANDLE

25-across – Girl’s surprised expression, breaking barrier : FLORENCE

26-across – Joker swallows small stone : JASPER

1-down – Nameless, Dylan’s fancy woman : LADY

2-down – No joke, small island’s flipping cactus : OPUNTIA

3-down – Regularly get real fur? Can be cancelled : ERASABLE

5-down – Daydreaming concealed nervousness, so to speak : INATTENTION

6-down – Tax situation Imogen’s on top of : IMPOST

7-down – Disciples’ dad was like a jack-in-the-box : ZEBEDEE

8-down – Leave tree, sick, to pick up again : REELEVATE

12-down – Front of gut enormous, all to do with fine dining : GASTRONOMIC

13-down – Lawyer’s task cut short : DOCKBRIEF

15-down – Dump character on carpet with a number of bloody marks : STIGMATA

17-down – Affirmed as shabby, in a way, and old : SWORNTO

19-down – Making progress on this, say, you criticise party in Ireland : UPANDUP

20-down – Attach instruction for placing notice : ADHERE

22-down – Next in line making sound impression : HEIR

1-across – Darn! Accepting credit leading to ruin : SCREWUP

5-across – Arguments about a 9’s impositions : TARIFFS

9-across – Capital! Old guy playing the field : ROMEO

10-across – Countryman rejected home at deer park, originally : PAKISTANI

11-across – So cheap it’s ridiculous, this previous form of transport : POSTCHAISE

12-across – Note cocaine and smack : CHIT

14-across – Figure’s toned and rather developed : TETRAHEDRON

18-across – Are sure to be in trouble during army detention : HOUSEARREST

21-across – Miserable reason for 8 7? : DOWN

22-across – See 21 : INTHEMOUTH

25-across – Make standard inside Scandinavian country : NORMALISE

26-across – Good hotel described as having limited appeal : NICHE

27-across – Silk in south-east courts not about to work : TUSSORE

28-across – Split from a rubbish Tory department : ABSCOND

1-down – Case of stout ready in bar : STRIPE

2-down – Negligent about failure : REMISS

3-down – Feller with glasses at Washington, right? : WOODCUTTER

4-down – Go quietly, American pig! : PEPPA

5-down – Cheers — doctor keeps half of hair gel : TAKESHAPE

6-down – Rebel forces Irish division raised : RISE

7-down – See 8 : FEATHERS

8-down – Fight a persistent battle, getting furious : SPITTING

13-down – Ready to include north? People involved in it having second thoughts : SENTIMENTS

15-down – Persecute Francesca on the stage wearing rubber : TYRANNISE

16-down – Savage taking too many drugs in comic novel : WHODUNIT

17-down – Kabul was gutted, right? Rebuilt defensive fortifications : BULWARKS

19-down – Ambassador’s sister vicious at heart : NUNCIO

20-down – Nurse invites the man inside : THEEND

23-down – Might one be spotted laughing? : HYENA

24-down – One about to make an alliance : NATO