Clues

9-across – Crude oil in a USA state : LOUISIANA

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

11-across – Dead men’s chests : COFFINS

12-across – Rest can come from these hypnotic states : TRANCES

13-across – Leading chess player : WHITE

14-across – Misery of a golf side that’s been knocked out : ADOGSLIFE

16-across – Hobson’s choice : TAKEITORLEAVEIT

19-across – Hirsute one going for a comb : HONEYBEAR

21-across – Love to be surrounded by unusually rich voices : CHOIR

22-across – North America’s largest meat producer : BUFFALO

23-across – It became obsolete when the market backed the automobile : TRAMCAR

24-across – An explosive expletive : BLAST

25-across – Rush over to meet : RUNACROSS

1-down – Regiment not for light guard duties? : BLACKWATCH

2-down – Belt buckle worn by men in formal wear : CUFFLINK

3-down – Have ambitions for a high place in the church? : ASPIRE

4-down – Very low perch : BASS

5-down – Express delivery-man? : FASTBOWLER

6-down – Completely out of port and unable to explain why? : ALLATSEA

7-down – Affected a stylish greeting : CHICHI

8-down – Girl in a Fair Isle jumper : IRIS

14-down – Too proud to take lodgers, honest! : ABOVEBOARD

15-down – Business initiative : ENTERPRISE

17-down – Cite ways to develop arctic wilderness : ICYWASTE

18-down – Hairstyle bill rises with the cutting : ETONCROP

20-down – Always brave? Not likely! : NOFEAR

21-down – Uncertain opportunity : CHANCE

22-down – Child born before Lincoln : BABE

23-down – A picking-up point : TINE

1-across – Joke about girl that’s a prude : PURITAN

5-across – Who the author mentioned in disbelief? : DICKENS

9-across – Provide for the 39th US President, not the 3rd : CATER

10-across – Irritable note unknown : CROTCHETY

11-across – Running a company like Robert Maxwell? : OVERBOARD

12-across – I want a thousand giraffes on my desk by tomorrow morning : ATALL

13-across – See 12 : ORDER

15-across – Pound reduction to bring in : INTRODUCE

18-across – Watch me object after square one : TIMEPIECE

19-across – After one Latin meal … : PASTA

21-across – … or maybe another? : TAPAS

23-across – Girl that’s sweet etc comes back to embrace one that’s not : CHARLOTTE

25-across – Landlord’s rent offered during meal, though without starter : INNKEEPER

26-across – One-horn creation : RHINO

27-across – American writer making men sore : EMERSON

28-across – Odds on fish will provide glitter : SPANGLE

1-down – Small foreign instrument : PICCOLO

2-down – Beast swallows another 500 and a large port : ROTTERDAM

3-down – Beat most of the swindle : THROB

4-down – Fruit makes a number react badly when eaten : NECTARINE

5-down – End of novel 5 across never completed, so died cross : DROOD

6-down – Mate given a ring, deliriously happy : COCKAHOOP

7-down – So be it! Point upwards to this treatment! : ENEMA

8-down – This Hugh, we’re told, can be looked up to : SKYBLUE

14-down – Take back knotted rope onto ships around the East : REPOSSESS

16-down – Book of words based on the old reptile’s tail : THESAURUS

17-down – Finished my work, so hurtful : UPSETTING

18-down – Tiny boy grabs model, diamonds and the birds : TITMICE

20-down – Bloomer getting confused on 7 : ANEMONE

22-down – Money, a pound given to the church : PENCE

23-down – A restricted chicken? : CAPON

24-down – Cricketer is about five, so form not yet developed : LARVA

7-across – Industrial action court : WALKOUT

8-across – Reckless person pulled up short : HOTSPUR

10-across – There aren’t many of these coins left in Europe : CROWNS

11-across – Told, but possibly not needing to be : INFORMED

12-across – Julietês town is just not on for her : VERA

13-across – It looks like the military is involved : SIMILARITY

14-across – Is an orator lost and speechless without it? : ADDRESSBOOK

19-across – Can-opener? : PRISONGATE

22-across – Fall for a medical man at work : DROP

23-across – Try hard to get free labour : STRUGGLE

24-across – Recompensed for returning a nappy : DIAPER

25-across – Looks at with an expression of friendliness : REGARDS

26-across – They have evil ends in films : BADDIES

1-down – Naval ship requiring quarantine? : CARRIER

2-down – Spotted horse thatês white, not black : SKEWBALD

3-down – They tend to rush over certain points : NURSES

4-down – Whip up strike in sporting association : GOLFCLUB

5-down – Loan shark certain to be found in the City : USURER

6-down – The bloom of life? : PUBERTY

9-down – Put a simpler form of material for test : LITMUSPAPER

15-down – Agree end will be terrible for traitor : RENEGADE

16-down – Elderly crew of experienced campaigners : OLDHANDS

17-down – A relative right in the midst of trouble : BROTHER

18-down – Reported to be held at gunpoint : COVERED

20-down – Cry out – to the police? : SQUEAL

21-down – Aim by listener to win affection : ENDEAR

1-across – Thank God it’s this helpful man! : FRIDAY

5-across – Girl anyway seen in church after ten for afternoon diversion : TEADANCE

9-across – Repairing vest with rope is to transgress : OVERSTEP

10-across – Yes, a company needs to be turned round, says Irish dramatist : OCASEY

11-across – Bather in distress, suffering. How exciting! : BREATHTAKING

13-across – Callas losing head in Your tiny hand is frozen? : ARIA

14-across – Antlion with a fickle public : NATIONAL

17-across – Jailer in battle costume : WARDRESS

18-across – Suspends only half of one’s objectives : ENDS

20-across – Musical time for togetherness converted Pope and Lamb about bereavement : APPLEBLOSSOM

23-across – City of music where the Queen returns after six : VIENNA

24-across – Pain in the neck conceals hairstyle, so Iêm hearing : TRIBUNAL

25-across – Large fish when turning round shows no e.g. tracks : STURGEON

26-across – Repetitive selection if only the first were last : ECHOIC

2-down – Blue-black crow loses tail in storm : RAVE

3-down – Here’s the target: tuck, meals : DARTBOARD

4-down – Try tea brewed like this to make you babble : YATTER

5-down – To say something indiscreet is to perform an awkward manoeuvre : TOPUTONESFOOTIN

6-down – Heês changed his views in a Post Office report : APOSTATE

7-down – I’m unhappy! I have a deficiency : ALACK

8-down – Innocence shown by well-scrubbed crew : CLEANHANDS

12-down – Chance for tennis player to change pink boater : BREAKPOINT

15-down – See 5 : ONESMOUTH

16-down – Member all but hiding published sheet : MEMBRANE

19-down – Long snake put down with anger : ASPIRE

21-down – One carried by old railway and Titanic? : LINER

22-down – Vehicle: one attracting a levy : TAXI

9-across – Make a series of calls on zero zero : RINGROUND

10-across – It forms a ring in two ways : ATOLL

11-across – A noted soporific : LULLABY

12-across – Seat of Empire : OTTOMAN

13-across – They are naturally charged half portions : IONS

14-across – Composer to drive men wild : MONTEVERDI

16-across – Yet its operations donÍt take place here : SURGERY

17-across – To snub a girl may be wounding : CUTLASS

19-across – Introduces off cuts : REDUCTIONS

22-across – Starts to serve time in Russian prison : STIR

24-across – The standing of a taxi-driver : CABRANK

25-across – Witty saying has some point with animals : EPIGRAM

26-across – Measure associated with Betty Martin : OPTIC

27-across – The opposite of all dressed up and nowhere to go : NOTHINGON

1-down – Private tutor? : DRILLINSTRUCTOR

2-down – Short and funny individual seen on ship : ONELINER

3-down – Money raised by word of mouth : BREAD

4-down – An energetic group out to make mischief : BUSYBODY

5-down – On a winding road it is showing skill : ADROIT

6-down – Entrance the prisoner is put out at : CAPTIVATE

7-down – Architectural highlight : DORMER

8-down – Pointless murder weapon? : BLUNTINSTRUMENT

15-down – Maybe a place to rest when given the cane badly : PERCHANCE

17-down – Papers thrown at union meeting : CONFETTI

18-down – Get a role as someoneÍs double : ALTEREGO

20-down – Be up in time for a parliamentary occasion : DEBATE

21-down – How one may receive payment of a sort : INKIND

23-down – Numbers of Romans about the city : CIVIC