Clues

1-across – Don’t commit suicide just yet, not there – with me officially there changing direction, said Hamlet : ABSENT

5-across – See 1 : FELICITY

9-across – See 1 : THEEFROM

10-across – Dog called Sarah, a first for this country : SALUKI

11-across – Right greyish lineage cropping up again : RECRUDESCENT

13-across – Fish from lock, we hear : CHUB

14-across – Cut of meat going a little way into a closed circuit : LOINCHOP

17-across – Bags bits of barrels : BREECHES

18-across – Commit suicide – be Plautus’ Asinus, unlike Macbeth : PLAY

20-across – The cowboy milieu with 18 boy in 18 : WESTERNWORLD

23-across – Don’t let Scots lad get small bird : BANTAM

24-across – Taking turns or otherwise, French comedian gets on : ROTATION

25-across – End of American expression? : TERMINUS

26-across – See 1 : AWHILE

2-down – Furniture of French game, they say : BUHL

3-down – River crustacean to the French abhorrent : EXECRABLE

4-down – Not a rich tea – cooked more than a biscuit? : THRICE

5-down – The rest is silence : FAMOUSLASTWORDS

6-down – Table where Yorkshire river rises poisons food : LISTERIA

7-down – Small quantity, including oil, cured stomach pain : COLIC

8-down – Make : TOKENWOMAN

12-down – Report of key journalist – beer where Yorkshire river flows : WHARFEDALE

15-down – Cloak for wife, South African style : CAPEDUTCH

16-down – See 18 : THEROMAN

19-down – Place for bestowal of ring – or garnet? : GRETNA

21-down – Add ’em up on pole : TOTEM

22-down – See 18 : FOOL

1-across – Serious lack of comic scripts : NOJOKINGMATTER

9-across – A Scandinavian wearing no make-up : NORWEGIAN

10-across – Film actress in the dress circle : GARBO

11-across – They may be used to make a stool : TOOLS

12-across – Old colour scheme : APARTHEID

13-across – Establish oneself in women’s concerns : ENSCONCE

14-across – His leader expresses his opinion : EDITOR

17-across – He should honour his agreement to the letter : TENANT

19-across – Fool’s speech in production of Lear : NONSENSE

22-across – Taken in hand by the stockholder? : HORSEWHIP

24-across – Bones placed in a circle : RADII

25-across – Hard-hearted king whose widow was merry : LEHAR

26-across – Double description of a batman? : INSERVICE

27-across – Takes part in games of hide-and-seek? : PLAYSHARDTOGET

1-down – The bar, of course : NINETEENTHHOLE

2-down – Desert springs keep them going : JERBOAS

3-down – Board and lodging’s cheaper with controls : KEEPSDOWN

4-down – In use, can turn into a problem : NUISANCE

5-down – Handy reference book : MANUAL

6-down – Drunk in snug : TIGHT

7-down – Receiver heading for one’s home – it”s serious! : EARNEST

8-down – Soldiers on the march? : BORDERREGIMENT

15-down – Run away twice? Not this soldier! : DESERTRAT

16-down – He does his writing in bars : COMPOSER

18-down – Warn off Harry – it may have a tusk! : NARWHAL

20-down – Getting approval from the head? : NODDING

21-down – He is taken in by a bearded Indian chief of the desert : SHEIKH

23-down – Not late, but nearly lost a point : EARLY

1-across – Not near to being illegal : OFFSIDE

5-across – The people accepting blame need treatment : THERAPY

10-across – Opposed to a drink : AGIN

11-across – Ancient Roman number taking Serb terrorist to New York : MARKANTONY

12-across – Come to pass, maybe, in Yorkshire : HAPPEN

13-across – The why and the how of stepping-stones? : CAUSEWAY

14-across – Passport seeker, maybe, a pupil : APPLICANT

16-across – Fish food : KRILL

17-across – Perfume is oxygen – the same for the old city : ODOUR

19-across – Preparation for excavation? : SPADEWORK

23-across – Cry of Spooner throwing fatty viscous stuff out of the window? : GARDYLOO

24-across – Araucaria on the booze? Take a tablet : METOPE

26-across – Essay in enticement at Orpheus’ fingertips? : LUTESTRING

27-across – It’s the vicar’s place to sound like an ass … : BRAY

28-across – … that’s, in the present, a piece of wood : BASSOON

29-across – I’m loitering without point in a perfect world : IDEALLY

2-down – Star quality in a dandy will pierce the gloom : FOGLAMP

3-down – Clue for seamen united at dawn : SUNUP

4-down – Protest that the devil’s not quite devilish? : DEMONIC

6-down – Gap I found in covering America : HIATUS

7-down – Bad quarrel gets overridden : ROTTENROW

8-down – Duck to take beer and be sick : PINTAIL

9-down – Nitrogen in chophouse in place of perfume was Miss Muffett’s problem : ARACHNOPHOBIA

15-down – Linen garment, say, for Mr Toad? : LAUNDRESS

18-down – Bloodthirsty member of pack turning up at dance with ‘oop : DRACULA

20-down – Mother gets old and imperfect : DAMAGED

21-down – A painter’s painter finding another a help : RAPHAEL

22-down – Drunk at the second house : BLOTTO

25-down – A bit I broke of the shin : TIBIA

7-across – It’s right to keep a bit back to have something for the auditor : RECEIPT

8-across – Skilled hand finds working a strain : ARTISAN

10-across – Seizure of one of eight? : STROKE

11-across – It’s mean to grab the kitty and it used to mean prison : BASTILLE

12-across – She’s about 16 1/2 feet : DORA

13-across – A writer could be blind, yet no different : ENIDBLYTON

14-across – Where to lock up people with eccentric habits? : STRANGEWAYS

19-across – It can be so romantic – really great! : ASTRONOMIC

22-across – Book that’s half a gram overweight : AMOS

23-across – Vessel in which little Reagan’s said to have been christened? : CAULDRON

24-across – Location of dome project : XANADU

25-across – Backward boys can get in disgrace : SCANDAL

26-across – One starts to subside : FOUNDER

1-down – Ornamentation built of stone : FESTOON

2-down – Ringing diatribe over turned up nose : RESONANT

3-down – Region affected by herpes outbreak : SPHERE

4-down – To pass through Cockney territory you need a weapon : CROSSBOW

5-down – Shy, retiring – youth leader material : DIMITY

6-down – Protective gear used to fight to hold post : MAILBOX

9-down – Men get a bird in trouble, but that’s not the full story : ABRIDGEMENT

15-down – Jack takes a girl to Leatherhead – that’s unusual : ABNORMAL

16-down – Anxious for young to start bringing in some cash : YEARNING

17-down – Question an Anglican with suspicion : ASKANCE

18-down – One has to join up without becoming a fighter : SOLDIER

20-down – The making of a dynastic line? : RULING

21-down – First impressions ensured his reputation : CAXTON

1-across – Where academics relax with copy of The Predicament : SCRAPE

4-across – Strategy requiring force field : GAMBIT

9-across – Workers’ assembly’s turned tail : SCUT

10-across – Ministers’ unlucky choice? : SHORTSTRAW

11-across – Quarter turn in the river : FOURTH

12-across – Mnemonist recalls legendary footballer and hard worker : ELEPHANT

13-across – Get a grip, seizing backside and doubling up : CRUMPLING

15-across – Largely unrefined filth : CRUD

16-across – Censors wisecracks : GAGS

17-across – A second volume about Stewart’s sporting venue : ASTRODOME

21-across – Unremitting claptrap on the way in : CONSTANT

22-across – Take time to feel at home : BELONG

24-across – Minute investigator of comic prose : MICROSCOPE

25-across – Cold, cold belly : CRAW

26-across – Afterthought about material medical support : SPLINT

27-across – Twirl ponytail in the fireplace : GYRATE

1-down – Support that’s thoroughly clean holding copper up : SUCCOUR

2-down – Turner’s alternative to compost : ROTOR

3-down – Mathematician drinking hogshead during Passover : PASCHAL

5-down – Learnt about capital growth : ANTLER

6-down – Save revolutionary socialist from being massacred : BUTCHERED

7-down – Rock ‘n’ roller to fall in, getting drilled : TRAINED

8-down – Updating original sin in reasonable quantities : MODERNISATION

14-down – Expert on wind securing silver : MAGISTRAL

16-down – Architect King George I kept in work : GROPIUS

18-down – Gemstone with 60% beryl content is pretty tough : RUBBERY

19-down – Also covered by partner’s authorisation : MANDATE

20-down – Quietly firing the incumbent : PARSON

23-down – Fabric that’s fairly crass, but not entirely : LYCRA