Clues

1-across – What some journalists do to set plot in action : SUBEDIT

5-across – Brass sound of a wine cask : SACKBUT

9-across – Youngster appearing in religious programme : SPROG

10-across – Daniel ran exceptionally with its help : ADRENALIN

11-across – Giving offence with disdain : INCONTEMPT

12-across – Dishy list puts fashionable fellows first : MENU

14-across – A brave tribe revolting? Just so : REBARBATIVE

18-across – Upkeep for working canteen at sea : MAINTENANCE

21-across – Friction with this girl could be rash : ELLA

22-across – 50% fail in the art of winning a fair lady : FAINTHEART

25-across – Likely to elude even the 23 : INODOROUS

26-across – Growth in the ecclesiastical domain, thank God : SEDGE

27-across – Likely to hold a high card, which is pleasant : LIKABLE

28-across – Supporter of Richard III finds it almost too risky in revolt : YORKIST

1-down – Bird is about to hide : SISKIN

2-down – Soup for Jerry out east, about a rouble : BORSCH

3-down – Condition of French teenager in trouble? : DEGENERATE

4-down – An article about Macbeth, say : THANE

5-down – Teacher takes on about rubbish – but it could be recycled : SCRAPIRON

6-down – Murderer’s sound punishment : CANE

7-down – Report like loaded weapon? : BULLETIN

8-down – Like some religious to get covered, with top bit missing : TONSURED

13-down – Sort of teacher : CATECHISER

15-down – Curse abundantly in India : BANGALORE

16-down – August sees mail order bearing ripe fruit : IMPERIAL

17-down – Clinton’s tool for pulling? : BILLHOOK

19-down – Indian nationalist heading for reform without English involvement : GANDHI

20-down – Way to a Somerset town : STREET

23-down – Parker’s negative turned positive : NOSEY

24-down – Rake gets jankers for being out of order : COMB

1-across – Women steering at sea or hoofing it? : TILLERGIRLS

9-across – It’s child’s play to look endlessly about : PEEKABO

10-across – Two kings accepting an order : RANKING

11-across – General in command in Northern Ireland going back to Ulster to an assumed identity : INCOGNITO

12-across – Old King’s Counsellors providing wit and wisdom : WITAN

13-across – French good taste can cause pain : GOUT

14-across – Large farm spread round king’s recognition signal : MARKERFLAG

16-across – Sounds like the late Vice President’s political philosophy has to do with Arabic or decimal counting : ALGORISMIC

19-across – A golf player : GARY

21-across – Boast, they say, about someone from Zagreb : CROAT

22-across – Roundabout long since redesigned : ENCLOSING

24-across – Follow the leftie at a gentle pace : DOGTROT

25-across – Cleaned up, as a parasite did : SPONGED

26-across – Put on important hat for the races : DONKEYDERBY

1-down – Attila or Tamburlaine, perhaps: of course, he’d g-got a divine means of punishment : THESCOURGEOFGOD

2-down – Force nail back into Chinese measurement : LIANG

3-down – Unusual collection made when late partner cut one coat : EXOTICA

4-down – Grouse about crook getting the George Cross : GORCOCK

5-down – Wretched fellow on call’s got a fungal infection : RINGWORM

6-down – Like a star, travelling singly round wreck of Titanic with two students : SCINTILLATINGLY

7-down – Make a confession about advertising some time before the summer : SPRING

8-down – Gone back round the child’s horse, they say, to get a drink : EGGNOG

15-down – Siblings who can sometimes be exclusive? : BRETHREN

16-down – Four-bar cadenza containing an overarching passage : ARCADE

17-down – Peter’s confused about 100 staff : SCEPTRE

18-down – Cleanly cut: it sounds just the opposite of very large : INCISED

20-down – Words to invoke the old divinities in the theatre? : YEGODS

23-down – Sanctity’s sweet smell? : ODOUR

1-across – One side of the coin causes difficulty : REVERSE

5-across – He follows craze for putting total in writing : FADDIST

10-across – Recess in the cheap seats : APSE

11-across – Drug pusher is to reach pay settlement : APOTHECARY

12-across – Left a novice at the entrance : PORTAL

13-across – Way to take in a worried green police officer? : SERGEANT

14-across – They remove everything from tourist on board ship : STRIPPERS

16-across – Girl returning item of property : ASSET

17-across – Ceases to need plugs : STOPS

19-across – Girl Adler treated in church : CATHEDRAL

23-across – Do a dance for a fee : CONTANGO

24-across – Delicious beverage sailor found at northern city : NECTAR

26-across – Home truths in speech by traitor? : BLUNTWORDS

27-across – Fail to include order given to Italian : OMIT

28-across – A soft fruit, it seems : APPEARS

29-across – Doctor Grey involved in combined action : SYNERGY

2-down – Make gain out of heroic feat : EXPLOIT

3-down – Incident bringing girl to book : EVENT

4-down – Must work on boat : SHALLOP

6-down – Had trouble before with stick : ADHERE

7-down – Went down and removed folds : DECREASED

8-down – Called about odd set not being one’s own? : STRANGE

9-down – Keep a riot going inside a musical academy : CONSERVATOIRE

15-down – Helplessness and how, perhaps, men cope with it : IMPOTENCE

18-down – Slut performing turn in highest place : TROLLOP

20-down – Sharpen pen, but retain candour : HONESTY

21-down – Making humble vessel in silver : ABASING

22-down – Retort of unfortunate Swan Queen? : ANSWER

25-down – Near to the end : CLOSE

8-across – Recorder may accept this complicated test case : CASSETTE

9-across – Dress I put on about spring : ORIGIN

10-across – Skilled apprentice in Lincoln : ABLE

11-across – Musicians’ money belts? : BRASSBANDS

12-across – A group often described as vicious : CIRCLE

14-across – Idle indication that clock has stopped? : TICKOVER

15-across – Plainly distressed, but retains composure : INTEARS

17-across – Revolutionary air followed by early motorists : REDFLAG

20-across – Figure of importance in American defence : PENTAGON

22-across – That deserving fellow? : WORTHY

23-across – A sign of economy afoot : SHOESTRING

24-across – Stud manager : BOSS

25-across – Perform in pantomime horse, perhaps? That creates interest : BEHALF

26-across – Someone must have been willing to appoint him : EXECUTOR

1-down – Welsh river name : CAMBRIAN

2-down – What divides the Church, say, in Ireland, perhaps : ISLE

3-down – Fast horses : STABLE

4-down – Fine plan, yet poorly presented : PENALTY

5-down – Dogs race round the cemetery : GODSACRE

6-down – One’s last chance to take the lot : FINALOFFER

7-down – Toy instrument : FIDDLE

13-down – Keep arguing, as Mrs Sprat does : CHEWTHEFAT

16-down – Immediately cancel, we hear : RIGHTOFF

18-down – Had odd mounting noise from attachment : ADHESION

19-down – I’ve cut the tips for the salad : ENDIVES

21-down – Breaking code, he made a resounding comeback : ECHOED

22-down – Ringmaster? : WAGNER

24-down – Show emotion, seeing spring flower coming up : BLUB

1-across – Important: make an unpleasant climax anticlimactic : CAPITAL

5-across – A hazard on the table or in the field : POTSHOT

9-across – Disagree with long pronouncement in paper : TAKEISSUE

10-across – Point to unused edge : SIDLE

11-across – Port side of a ship : HULL

12-across – Clue initially difficult absorbs, if like Araucaria’s, for example : CONIFEROUS

14-across – Keep short pole over hand : STARVE

15-across – Yankee slicker’s crude to Dixie folk : OILSKIN

16-across – The first to redeem is put on the cross : TRANSOM

18-across – Grounds for spiritual lords following first? : ESTATE

20-across – Intruder we turned back : UNDERWRITE

21-across – Creature has month off work : OPUS

24-across – Fix to horse : PINTO

25-across – Despicable for student to curse a bit … : LOATHSOME

26-across – … so interrupted by year’s staff : THYRSUS

27-across – End of punishment on board? : YARDARM

1-down – There isn’t one! : CATCH

2-down – Small fishcake? : PIKELET

3-down – Said to be the story’s end : TAIL

4-down – Was not all there, as Greeks claim? : LOSTONESMARBLES

5-down – Appoint entirely new ambassador : PLENIPOTENTIARY

6-down – Cover with mosaic put up to promote Greek goddess : TESSELLATE

7-down – Fish got cut : HADDOCK

8-down – Time to debate disloyalty : TREASON

13-down – Fundamentals that might become bent? : GRASSROOTS

16-down – Fellow who’s good on alien instrument : TRUMPET

17-down – A right to disclaim housing caught fire : ARDENCY

19-down – It’s put in pudding to knock up a firm one : TAPIOCA

22-down – Southside power? : STEAM

23-down – One who does scorch : CHAR