Clues

1-across – Graduates’s research station returns the ointment : BALSAM

5-across – What one goes back to at the drawing-board? : BASICS

8-across – Old transport for the chop? : TUMBREL

9-across – Fight continued to the finish : CONTEND

11-across – Young sprouts in the salad? : MUSTARDANDCRESS

12-across – Make ready for sailing while in dock : TRIM

13-across – Indecisive boundary row : BORDERLINE

17-across – Roads meet in confusion round the North; they can improve things : EMENDATORS

18-across – Back scores: one known for shooting : STEN

20-across – Smooth flow of language, or a mistake? : SLIPOFTHETONGUE

23-across – One we get to return in different ways: an attendant : STEWARD

24-across – TNT – as in explosive flash : INSTANT

25-across – Showing mettle – or metal? : STEELY

26-across – A group of spectators not right in the cooking area! : GALLEY

2-down – Notice the formal letter allowing entry : ADMISSIVE

3-down – Half county’s transport one dismissed as a financial burden … : SURTAX

4-down – … one tramload could be awkward … : MALADROIT

5-down – … and no transport turns up for painter : BACON

6-down – Function? To preserve a cushy job! : SINECURE

7-down – The town’s team, they say : CREWE

8-down – Work without security on locks for sirens : TEMPTRESSES

10-down – Centre minds to settle for good judgement : DISCERNMENT

14-down – Man in defiance is becoming more obscure : DARKENING

15-down – Perform mathematical task and get in tangle with estimate : INTEGRATE

16-down – Recommend a defender : ADVOCATE

19-down – The inventor left a little something : MORSEL

21-down – Nitre – active or passive? : INERT

22-down – Empty tray holding rum drink : TODDY

1-across – New order for vengeance goes round the underworld : REDISTRIBUTION

9-across – North-east German’s on the booze – it’s supposedly medicinal : NOSTRUM

10-across – Flashy car containing Old Man River : LIMPOPO

11-across – Strike at heart of Bactria and feature of its native : THUMP

12-across – Athletes charge for entertainment : DIVERSION

13-across – Asian always keeping near the back : EASTERNER

14-across – Cake for the party freak : DONUT

15-across – University surrounded by smells of decaying matter : HUMUS

17-across – A catholic compound is reflected in imitations : SIMULACRA

20-across – Spooner’s to use 21 on social misfit or clubber : NIGHTBIRD

22-across – Dark entity left inside : UNLIT

23-across – Surface dweller loves to zip around in space : EPIZOON

24-across – Letter from Greece, as opposed to wine from Italy : CHIANTI

25-across – Eastern hospital in filthy surroundings – that’s about the finish! : ESCHATOLOGICAL

1-down – Do something different – indicate editorial interference? : RINGTHECHANGES

2-down – Exploded Scud missiles miles out? Write an essay on it : DISCUSS

3-down – They reveal all to tourist on board : STRIPPERS

4-down – Month’s notice received by Royal Academy Fellow : RAMADAN

5-down – A Bovril recipe that’s revolutionary : BOLIVAR

6-down – Row about origin of metrical chronometer : TIMER

7-down – Member of university producing artificial stock and bread containing iodine : OXONIAN

8-down – Can James or Charles grind down the philosopher? : JOHNSTUARTMILL

14-down – Soaking, involving the Spanish pest control treatment : DELOUSING

16-down – Self-deprecatory term for robberies with violence, but without force : MUGGINS

17-down – Music maker to emulate spider with web : SPINNET

18-down – Award about 99 for examination : MEDICAL

19-down – Stomach disorder inhibiting working of the bowel : COLONIC

21-down – Laugh hysterically about model mounting Jag : TOOTH

7-across – Seaweed with an eastern name beginning to twist : ENTANGLE

9-across – Bear is unlikely to get hydrophobia : RABIES

10-across – The black heart of Caleb O’Neil : EBON

11-across – In two minds when three notes are written in anger : IRRESOLUTE

12-across – A joiner’s raw material : STAPLE

14-across – Puts to some purpose; returning, says you heard about one being fired : UTILIZES

15-across – Broadcast reflected fellow’s outgoing character – gray? : DORIAN

17-across – Chopin pieces can be voiced : PHONIC

20-across – A figure to make him brood : RHOMBOID

22-across – In Scotland, one without £25 for a flower : PAEONY

23-across – Take away the queen by computer? : SUBTRACTER

24-across – Dashed off a listener’s complaint : FLEW

25-across – Old road tax is firm about odd riot : OCTROI

26-across – Cheek shows state of health : RUDENESS

1-down – Girl graduate with time for a man is not weakening : UNABATED

2-down – A colour to flatter : FAWN

3-down – From the design, it expressly appears light : IGNITE

4-down – King’s in the river! Brother Henry comes round at a fair lick! : BRISKISH

5-down – Cheerful enthusiasm shown for European papal document that is new to the church : EBULLIENCE

6-down – Pay up: that’s the form! : SETTLE

8-down – Fly away fearfully … Heard enough? : EARFUL

13-down – Bossy traveller turns up, or comes in hungry : PEREMPTORY

16-down – Mac to Ira: This could be spicy : AROMATIC

18-down – Cat noise startled paddler : CANOEIST

19-down – Pressman tried nothing new : EDITOR

21-down – Intuitive feeling about a joint : HAUNCH

22-down – Stuff about artist taking drug is for show : PARADE

24-down – OK, a penalty! : FINE

1-across – For a strong draught, try this punch : SUFFOLK

5-across – Remarkable victory prior to disarming : WINSOME

10-across – Dissect the feet in this medical? : SCAN

11-across – Fidelity, for instance, is intrinsic to marriage : ALLEGIANCE

12-across – Position of stature – leader to the last : EIGHTH

13-across – Record by one medic, perhaps, shows prevalence of disease : EPIDEMIC

14-across – Merciless sun, perhaps, leading to peeling : UNSPARING

16-across – Cut down, in a manner of speaking : MOWED

17-across – Emotional outburst is all part of an act : SCENE

19-across – Must our royal couple, in short, have fool around? : PHILANDER

23-across – Send a letter at once to the auditor : WRITEOFF

24-across – Crop to whip animal : BOBCAT

26-across – Police raid busts magazine : PERIODICAL

27-across – Tin could not be cheaper than this bargain : SNIP

28-across – Taken up again with Frenchman and got married : RENEWED

29-across – Cocktail taken in one swallow for starters : MARTINI

2-down – Oil or butter? : UNCTION

3-down – Bird found on key : FINCH

4-down – English in frenzy about football : LEATHER

6-down – I work hard about first name for girl : INGRID

7-down – Cold drink taken – and so to bed : SHAKEDOWN

8-down – Organisation of state-controlled church : MACHINE

9-down – Exasperated by what adverse wind did in the sound : BLUEINTHEFACE

15-down – Fasten buckle finally to secure belt – that makes the suit! : PINSTRIPE

18-down – Late train? : CORTEGE

20-down – Left daggers – a plant is it? : LOBELIA

21-down – Transport is top story coming up : ELATION

22-down – Loving university English course : FONDUE

25-down – Harry’s live on TV! : BESET

1-across – Absorb abstract : DIGEST

4-across – Outer layer of letter I fire shells at : EPIBLAST

9-across – The common man, being skint, changes sides : BLOKE

10-across – Work record brought into smart but specious argument : CHOPLOGIC

11-across – Headhunter’s current employment in part of England : HAMPSHIRE

12-across – The compiler is to report to the gangway : AISLE

13-across – Feeling bad about being unimpressed, initially, by the widow’s mite, say : CONTRIBUTION

17-across – Bloom given praise before 12 : MORNINGGLORY

20-across – Weapon carried by livestock? : ESTOC

21-across – Markets dramatist, getting a reasonable cut : FAIRSHARE

23-across – Bullying the astronaut is out of order : STRONGARM

24-across – Sounding bored with remote access? : OUIJA

25-across – Start to shrivel and decay, as passion may : SMOULDER

26-across – Notice cinematic litigant’s return : REMARK

1-down – Bird with modern date reflected on old one with bumpkin : DABCHICK

2-down – Look into what happens in casinos at twilight : GLOAMING

3-down – Cooks in house of ill repute : STEWS

5-down – Worker on trial is in concert in part of church : PROTESTANTISM

6-down – Charge a toll at the dwindling river : BILLABONG

7-down – A blow grips university, falling between academic years : AUGUST

8-down – Label lacking head and heart : TICKER

10-down – On the way up, stitch up playground feature : CLIMBINGFRAME

14-down – A contralto not keeping time, perhaps, in gummy passage? : ROOTCANAL

15-down – Boy and girl rising for a piece of music : SONATINA

16-down – Denmark, a hyperactive place with a platform for free speech : HYDEPARK

18-down – Certain to secure second victory, standing against… : VERSUS

19-down – … last of Hague’s Tories, I lost badly, needing two speakers : STEREO

22-down – Smashed the oven : STOVE