This crossword No. 23436 clues and answers were published on Sat 23 Apr 2005 and the puzzle can be visited by following The Guardian Prize Crossword No. 23436 link.
All Across Clues and Answers:
1-across – Party trick: minister keeping tax as priority : CONSERVATIVE
8-across – Insect maybe flying on and off, reported flying in Russia : ANTONOV
9-across – Mars’ hill, place of pilgrimage once : BENARES
11-across – How Othello loved to be in debt, having interrupted payment : TOOWELL
12-across – Shakespearean gentleman to indicate return of French king : SIGNIOR
13-across – New party? … : GREEN
14-across – … likewise, in lieu, the person next door to Spooner : NEWLABOUR
16-across – See 25 : DEMOCRATS
19-across – Identity card opens admittance into games for rum rum party … : PLAID
21-across – … its openings gain admittance before there’s fever inside : ENTERIC
23-across – Nobleman shortly entertaining love poet : ARIOSTO
24-across – Am I dust? Hardly, though I might include a dirt track : STADIUM
25-across – Ballots carried me out from party : LIBERAL
26-across – Leaders have embraced mercy – perhaps in the battlebus : HEADQUARTERS
All Down Clues and Answers:
1-down – Pet hate starts with poetry – hence the electrons : CATHODE
2-down – Granny’s very partial to this cloth : NANKEEN
3-down – Interval entailed partaking of a meal of lentils : ERVALENTA
4-down – Struggles to contain black feelings : VIBES
5-down – Terracotta horse in house that went with the wind : TANAGRA
6-down – Unbalanced state of 13 before I leave : VERTIGO
7-down – Gaea’s change of heart over the 13 engine? : EARTHGODDESS
10-down – Star performer wanting to fly? Ride horse : SIRFREDHOYLE
15-down – Reveller, the fool, interrupting mourner : WASSAILER
17-down – Macbeth, questioning his title, is inflammable : METHANE
18-down – Passed being a passenger? : CARRIED
19-down – Prince likely to be open to persuasion : PLIABLE
20-down – Times following removal of leader from Egyptian states : ASSERTS
22-down – See 19 across : CYMRU
This crossword has in total 28 where 14 are across and 14 are down.