This crossword No. 28871 clues and answers were published on Sat 24 Sep 2022 and the puzzle can be visited by following The Guardian Prize Crossword No. 28871 link.
All Across Clues and Answers:
9-across – Recast the three leading characters in play, not well : INCAPABLY
10-across – Venerated female heard but not seen in programmes : CERES
11-across – Name of David’s girlfriend — but her heart wasn’t in it : EMILY
12-across – Furious triad of Brussels bureaucrats ahead of a fateful day? : EUMENIDES
13-across – Does, for example, what’s wrong in France, cutting wages : FEMALES
14-across – Scene of drama — in which masked man wields knife : THEATRE
17-across – What each little woman had in play : THREE
19-across – eg 23, preceded by 17 21 in novel : AMY
20-across – Name first of female trio, annually : APRIL
21-across – See 17 : SISTERS
22-across – Arranged dowries as members of Shakespearean threesome? : WEIRDOS
24-across – Alcott and her characters represented as sweet : CHARLOTTE
26-across – Vessel carrying vital supply from China or Taiwan : AORTA
28-across – Field and bowl : ARENA
29-across – Growth man cut, in case : ACCRETION
All Down Clues and Answers:
1-down – Olympian English family raised : NIKE
2-down – Division in church exists between ends of spectrum : SCHISM
3-down – Where I keep something secret : UPMYSLEEVE
4-down – A bachelor pursued by so-called queen, leader in sisterhood? : ABBESS
5-down – Reflective quality about top spy mystery, oddly : SYMMETRY
6-down – Son allowed to do survey : SCAN
7-down – Indicator of tense change in excited raptor, such as a hawk : PREDATOR
8-down – Divine female with one sibling : ISIS
13-down – Honours, we hear, those dealing with life and death matters : FATES
15-down – Removed in period prescribed, but not the first time : ERADICATED
16-down – 11’s pen-name some embellished : ELLIS
18-down – Ruby embracing Victoria or Virginia, in other words : RESTATED
19-down – Almost everyone protested in a way about a fierce dog : ALSATIAN
22-down – Girl hiding sister’s last tool : WRENCH
23-down – Novel heroine’s passionate, with extreme letters exchanged : DORRIT
24-down – Preserve line within large family : CLAN
25-down – 17 21 constituted issue for this tragic father : LEAR
27-down – Girl taking a course from Exeter to Leeds : ANNE
This crossword has in total 33 where 15 are across and 18 are down.