This crossword No. 22379 clues and answers were published on Thu 29 Nov 2001 and the puzzle can be visited by following The Guardian Cryptic Crossword No. 22379 link.
All Across Clues and Answers:
1-across – Get both sides all out, producing a no-win situation? : CATCHTWENTYTWO
8-across – The shape of decay : MOULD
9-across – Pause for popular pest cut short : INTERMIT
11-across – Away support in the wilds : OUTBACK
12-across – Forgive poet admitting backward look to verse : ABSOLVE
13-across – Giant periodical covering game : MAGOG
15-across – Small plant may look lively : EYEBRIGHT
17-across – It’s unique, on average, in man : NONPAREIL
20-across – Take the fizz out of the painter : DEGAS
21-across – Identify one god and goddess : ISOLATE
23-across – Drink returned amid expression of contempt for perk : FREEBIE
25-across – Mean to crack the number of the games console : NINTENDO
26-across – Some of its sculptors obviously can’t do heads : TORSO
27-across – Tetchy allusion common in academic writing : CROSSREFERENCE
All Down Clues and Answers:
1-down – Covering people with dung is reasonable : COMPOSMENTIS
2-down – Financial arrangement reportedly held in bond : TRUST
3-down – Bloom’s monster swallowing rage, almost : HYDRANGEA
4-down – Ruse for getting the last bit of vinegar into the seafood : WRINKLE
5-down – Two sorts of vermin gaining energy from fertiliser : NITRATE
6-down – Tales of heartless sunbeam in the ascendant : YARNS
7-down – One girl crashed into former Liberal at the roundabout : WHIRLIGIG
10-down – Examiner, one holding up drunk male driver : TESTOSTERONE
14-down – Old region revisited by boatman : GONDOLIER
16-down – Dog inducing shepherd’s delight? : REDSETTER
18-down – Spain’s slender golden girl : ELEANOR
19-down – Free ride cancelled at outset of long journey : LIFTOFF
22-down – Singers bound head to foot : ALTOS
24-down – Unproductive-sounding title : BARON
This crossword has in total 28 where 14 are across and 14 are down.