Clues

1-across – May be playing what instrument? : HAWTHORN

5-across – Sweet to charge around loudly : TOFFEE

9-across – Island psychiatrist gets student in shape for urban nightmare : CONCRETE

10-across – See 9 : JUNGLE

11-across – Approval to hesitate when idiot is bearing witness : LOOKERON

12-across – Miss the mark in swinging clubs, if holding iron : FERRIC

14-across – Extensive substitution of scripture for article becomes fickle : CAPRICIOUS

18-across – Disputed frontier : BORDERLINE

22-across – Haunt of working bosses : OBSESS

23-across – Undeniable rule of good person among poor people : ESTOPPEL

24-across – Never taken hold of lass because of hair : MAIDEN

25-across – See 24 : FORTRESS

26-across – Bit of lip from crawler about to desert mad emperor : LIGULA

27-across – Deaths do result from him? : DEADSHOT

1-down – Feather on cock’s comb : HACKLE

2-down – Presentation of name in black, traditionally? : WINDOW

3-down – One of the other messengers? : HERMES

4-down – Inform about one accomplice with good reason : RATIONALLY

6-down – Whine to be surrounded by former luxury : OPULENCE

7-down – Square? : FIGUREOF

8-down – Queen’s cut off without practice : EXERCISE

13-down – Don’t resign stupidly, as this will give you an edge : GRINDSTONE

15-down – Odd for an average rating? : ABNORMAL

16-down – See 2 : DRESSING

17-down – Remark by unhappy sailor washed up on the shore? : SEASHELL

19-down – Secured for take off in the past : BOLTED

20-down – See 7 : SPEECH

21-down – Get nowhere in court after Waterloo? : CLOSET

9-across – Scots have mother cat with a bruise : HAEMATOMA

10-across – Seek a 13: something wrong? : HITCH

11-across – Jocularly feared? Jocularly killed’s about right : DREADED

12-across – 21 3’s anything but increasing bird when the boss is about : FARFROM

13-across – Travel could be rough : RIDE

14-across – Under Milk Wood’s bigamist keeps last year’s leaders living : DAILYBREAD

16-across – Say what old currency means? : EXPOUND

17-across – American fellow about to manage one country in Africa : BURUNDI

19-across – After 6, Afghan regime, unbanned, restricts energies : VITALITIES

22-across – Party when going to 23 – a hind? : STAG

24-across – The French drunkard’s house in a country in Africa : LESOTHO

25-across – Minister, female, on setter’s account : MEACHER

26-across – Misshapen men or poetical monster : ENORM

27-across – Wild flower with tag, Light of Evening? : AFTERGLOW

1-down – See 20 : THEDURBERVILLES

2-down – Finding scene, which is said to include river, bathe! : SERENDIP

3-down – See 21 : HARDY

4-down – Initially dyed in the ____ and whence 21 3’s people came : WOODLAND

5-down – Right and left, very bad : LAWFUL

6-down – Spooner’s son Tertius, the Australian flyer : THORNBIRD

7-down – Look round 5 and don’t eat : STARVE

8-down – See 12 : THEMADDINGCROWD

15-down – Wriggly multipede or two in a bar : DUPLETIME

17-down – They are put out in bars and meet trouble : BEERMATS

18-down – Crazy, horrible place for summaries? : NUTSHELL

20-down – 21 3’s Sh! See lovebirds flutter feebly : TESSOF

21-down – Nearly hot potatoes eaten by late writer : THOMAS

23-down – Tie the knot indeed! : MARRY

1-across – Speed up for ages, then stop calamitously : STEPON

5-across – See 1 across : THEGAS

8-across – Blessing everyone coming in is swell : BALLOON

9-across – Against a trio performing in Canada? : ONTARIO

11-across – People promised to give these battle calls : ENGAGEMENTRINGS

12-across – Supporter to get ¿1,000 a game : BRAG

13-across – Mean people hide cigarette-lighter components : SKINFLINTS

17-across – Cafe with calm atmosphere won’t take 50% off : RESTAURANT

18-across – Places in Oslo citizens avoid : LOCI

20-across – Taking flat in Gateshead with prudish girl is a bloomer! : EVENINGPRIMROSE

23-across – Fruit from South Africa – a must – is coming back : SATSUMA

24-across – Change suit, union leader having gone inside university : VARSITY

25-across – Soldiers accept bill for floral arrangement : RACEME

26-across – Suppose piano must be removed and carry on : RESUME

2-down – Messages sent by Lawrence to poor Mrs Gale : TELEGRAMS

3-down – Turn over page on lake : PLOUGH

4-down – One not included when it’s lighting-up time? : NONSMOKER

5-down – Point of growing things, some with ornate leaves : THORN

6-down – Hospital department I depend on without reservation : ENTIRELY

7-down – Biblical character and motoring organisation man : AARON

8-down – Complain to leading restaurateur in Bruges about fast food : BEEFBURGERS

10-down – Passionately evil bosses reformed before end of play : OBSESSIVELY

14-down – One with no wheels, still to be tested? : NONDRIVER

15-down – New word for men standing around igloos, drunk : NEOLOGISM

16-down – Person that is holding dog having paws seen to? : MANICURE

19-down – Sneers, which irritates woman standing on top : SMIRKS

21-down – Craft is back underneath once more : EXTRA

22-down – Little prayer when backing vehicle in, say : GRACE

1-across – Wrongly, I’m tied to kitchen range for specialised distribution : NICHEMARKETING

8-across – We must hold success to be spotless : WHITE

9-across – Cord used by Bill in North-West port : BOOTLACE

11-across – Important occasion leads to top level in show business : BIGTIME

12-across – Heartless Harry, doctor and worker, will construct water pipe : HYDRANT

13-across – Syringa, one with label placed outside, lifted up : LILAC

15-across – Historic announcer destroyed crow with nitre : TOWNCRIER

17-across – Decorate me in the mirror, almost a beauty, using his make-up : EMBELLISH

20-across – Representative has lifetime with National Trust : AGENT

21-across – Dream about first person to have Enigma decoded : IMAGINE

23-across – Hawk in prison almost after row : TIERCEL

25-across – Our visit is spoiled by such musicians : VIRTUOSI

26-across – Short woolly jumper kept in motor by Diana : CARDI

27-across – Type of novel tells of union and betrayal : SEXANDSHOPPING

1-down – Communication about shot in modern crime : NEWSBULLETIN

2-down – Stick with cold fish : CLING

3-down – Mournful Alice with a leg broken : ELEGIACAL

4-down – Nasty men get a bit on all sides : AMBIENT

5-down – Skill to cope with sound of denial to what extent? : KNOWHOW

6-down – Covered it up, having shown the way : TILED

7-down – One variety of peach, but a number can be seen outside the damaged crate : NECTARINE

10-down – Lying much indulged in by Sheherazade : STORYTELLING

14-down – Pronounce with rounded lips: Poor Isabella and I : LABIALISE

16-down – Short time to get container for iced summer drink : CLARETCUP

18-down – Arctic rocks unmoved : ICECOLD

19-down – Doctor, it’s h-hot, or at least getting warm! : HOTTISH

22-down – Within part of the neo-Latin tradition : INTRA

24-down – Dog starts creeping over rough ground inquisitively : CORGI

1-across – Utterly blown out from wordsmith : BULWER

4-across – See 1 : LYTTON

9-across – Dustman : ADAM

10-across – Consort making name in Co-Conran creation : COHABITANT

11-across – Where the ayatollahs lie in state with an omophagous Amazonian : PIRANA

12-across – Son of Slad’s directors catching my drift with this? : LEEBOARD

13-across – North Atlantic threat a pretext to make an Italian hop : BERGAMASK

15-across – With ____ of leaves and ripple of rain : LISP

16-across – The limit of Procol Harum’s colour chart? : PALE

17-across – Coming before the water hazard : ADVENTURE

21-across – Ash Wednesday, oddly enough, not so fast : EMBERDAY

22-across – Captain Scott names the game hunter : FALCON

24-across – Populate the county? Cool it! : SETTLEDOWN

25-across – Harry Ramsden’s contribution to IT? : CHIP

26-across – Some coal left out for fire : IGNITE

27-across – Anthropologist’s objective in Melton Mowbray? : PIEMAN

1-down – Eleventh hour in the BBC Book Department? : BEDTIME

2-down – Witch reverting to nameless creature : LAMIA

3-down – Old forty-niner’s right to raise hell : EXCLAIM

5-down – Why, some say, a French priest has the right to talk nonsense : YABBER

6-down – One might own the body of this designer’s work : TATTOOIST

7-down – This paint completely dry, is it? : NONDRIP

8-down – What 1 across 4 wrote applied to times of ashy destruction : THELASTDAYSOF

14-down – Girl wearing underwear here in Texas : GALVESTON

16-down – See 8 : POMPEII

18-down – Levantine gentleman speaking, initially, of France and North Dakota : EFFENDI

19-down – Thus the Colossus managed to carry the first load of bricks : RHODIAN

20-down – Against entering trade disruption at short notice : ADVERT

23-down – Alternative medicine man : LOCUM