Clues

1-across – ie Scottish Supt. held him and I, else…? : THELEITHPOLICE

8-across – Crossing embraces a Chinese river : XIANG

9-across – One should evacuate WC, given standard deposits of igneous rock : FELDSPAR

11-across – 8’s firm backing non-drinker supports drive : OCTETTE

12-across – Italian inventor of Romanic extraction : MARCONI

13-across – Red-hot flower’s sound for a caterpillar : LARVA

15-across – Disputes either way accep-ted by member that’s spine-less and transparent : ARROWWORM

17-across – Man scaled rocks on February 2 : CANDLEMAS

20-across – Group at the watering-hole : OASIS

21-across – Large volume of traffic? : OMNIBUS

23-across – Learned English getting vulgar about it : ERUDITE

25-across – Gasping leader choked by cigarettes, dropping place : DUNGHILL

26-across – Beastly sound in 7 8 : NEIGH

27-across – The inevitable result of something, if set for a change : SIGNOFTHETIMES

1-down – If victory’s British, I’m Batman! : TAXCOLLECTOR

2-down – Demand to be precise : EXACT

3-down – Rowers’ function in pool? : EIGHTBALL

4-down – Lustrous material given by Welsh flower to Greek character : TAFFETA

5-down – College’s main French compound : POLYMER

6-down – It’s said John’s a failure : LOSER

7-down – To be passionate with a ton and a half on top is asking a lot! : CLAMOROUS

10-down – See 1 across : DISMISSETHUS

14-down – Artist offered sister peculiar fruitless yellow flowers : RANANCULI

16-down – A mystery joker, about half honest, concealing horse : WHODUNNIT

18-down – Dogsbody trailing mum : MASTIFF

19-down – Supposedly invisible bomber, though the last crashed : STEALTH

22-down – Initiate former Israeli PM : BEGIN

24-down – Dictator given order shows a particular expression : IDIOM

1-across – Don’t start to gamble – take your client’s money : PECULATE

5-across – Cut the grass round the pub for the little drinker? : MINNOW

9-across – Continent, not island, shortly to be put in geography book : ATLANTIS

10-across – Composer’s church work fashionable? : CHOPIN

11-across – Art possessor in town with belt? : CHASTITY

12-across – Gambler gives money to the Irish queen : PUNTER

14-across – Suggestion to relative following river through Kentish town : HYPOTHESIS

18-across – See 23 : LEADTOROME

22-across – Setter’s reversing manoeuvre to provide a job : EMPLOY

23-across – Autostradas’ radiation is implied in every way by metal : ALLROADS

24-across – The last state may fruit with the first two… : HAWAII

25-across – …unpaid: nothing for the singer at its head : HONOLULU

26-across – King to be : MARKET

27-across – : RESEARCH

1-down – Caper in which Pope’s head – was head – of the national church : PRANCE

2-down – Fair bit of hair – depending on neck size? : COLLAR

3-down – : LENGTH

4-down – First of Walter Mitty’s turns: provide defence and make me conform : TWISTMYARM

6-down – It includes something of a concession, no less? You don’t surprise me : ITHOUGHT

7-down – How I ensure mine’s top? : NEPOTISM

8-down – Don’t go straight at rapid pace through the Cotswolds : WINDRUSH

13-down – Races for spinner in which one’s performing : FORMULAONE

15-down – A student at studios in Hertfordshire : ALDENHAM

16-down – With the services a fellow might have had a commission : MANPOWER

17-down – Belladonna produced work of art? Say what you think : ATROPINE

19-down – Love among the olive trees? Is this a record? : GROOVE

20-down – Beast painted by Kipling and loved by Precott : JAGUAR

21-down – See 6 : ASMUCH

8-across – A light gold : BULLSEYE

9-across – Accounts to be settled in large numbers : SCORES

10-across – Mad to reverse, try going forward : STAB

11-across – Wasted no time collecting the loot? : RANSACKING

12-across – Feels one would be mad to be out of them : SENSES

14-across – To put one at risk on purpose is a sin : ENDANGER

15-across – Not a professor of divinity, evidently : ATHEIST

17-across – Boring commercial breaks into fight : BRADAWL

20-across – It rarely turns out like this in books : LITERARY

22-across – Passage for half the convoy takes time : VOYAGE

23-across – Fussy individual : PARTICULAR

24-across – Excellent yet not well done : RARE

25-across – Payment to a girlfriend is a fur cape : TIPPET

26-across – Delightful lake in rustic surroundings : PLEASANT

1-down – Not quite free to give the result of the division : QUOTIENT

2-down – Bat that may be held in the hand : CLUB

3-down – A new bride’s bits and pieces : DEBRIS

4-down – Turn, or intend to turn, Communist : MEANDER

5-down – Man’s man, for instance : ISLANDER

6-down – Time of occupation : WORKINGDAY

7-down – Irishman at church for spiritual guidance : SEANCE

13-down – Cliché of a hi-fi buff : STEREOTYPE

16-down – Shortage of transport in southern metropolis : SCARCITY

18-down – Betting, using a pay-phone : WAGERING

19-down – Singular-looking giant? : CYCLOPS

21-down – Emphatic type : ITALIC

22-down – Starting with Virgo, Zodiac sign alters : VARIES

24-down – Adjourned for some wine : ROSE

1-across – Fighting en masse? You need protection : BULWARK

5-across – Ancient poet’s coming back almost wealthy : HOMERIC

9-across – Engineers en masse? Good start for trial scene : NUREMBERG

10-across – Am I starting to be on good terms with the message? : CABLE

11-across – Pantomime character in Britain and America : DAME

12-across – English essays on Labour are like soaps : TOILETRIES

14-across – See 17 : RELIEF

15-across – Play about church gains currency : DRACHMA

16-across – What a course could do to back her keeping a slave : REFRESH

18-across – Ulster, special clothing article for Kruschev : NIKITA

20-across – Without stocking much of Gray’s work, get pushed around : BARELEGGED

21-across – Journey before the fall : TRIP

24-across – Porter : COHEN

25-across – Irregular French saint coming in to us : ANOMALOUS

26-across – Eliot is a fool? Putting it the other way helps : ASSISTS

27-across – Novel way of exchanging lire to chuck about : SHIRLEY

1-down – The good journalist worked hard when up : BONED

2-down – Story about a sheep in a Western town : LARAMIE

3-down – Setter’s car won’t start – it needs a service : ARMY

4-down – Notice to visitors: avoid cannabis… : KEEPOFFTHEGRASS

5-down – …It’s far from safe taking a 21 on the drug, as only E works : HIGHLYDANGEROUS

6-down – See 17 : MUCHTHANKS

7-down – I abandon Netanyahu in the stampede? Nonsense! : RUBBISH

8-down – Clinton’s flower show : CHELSEA

13-down – Democrat leaders fiddle about with kings: they get more to watch : VIDEOLINKS

16-down – Fiddle of old with notes by 11 West : REBECCA

17-down – ,14,6 Old guard’s speech going out is about dear old new chum F. Gump : FORTHIS

19-down – Reported limit to fuel causes unrest : TURMOIL

22-down – After shake-up, the unassertive become just the opposite : PUSHY

23-down – Writer drunk as a monkey? : SAKI

1-across – Metal washing machine? : COPPER

5-across – Didn’t stay uninhabited : DESERTED

9-across – They’re much smarter than their mates : PEACOCKS

10-across – Mongrel dog sustained by meat : MUTTON

11-across – Fear arrest : APPREHENSION

13-across – Peruvian in Spain cannot be understood : INCA

14-across – Wordplay of a Socratic kind : ACROSTIC

17-across – Free American money – and she gets a quarter : BUCKSHEE

18-across – They may be eaten slowly or bolted : NUTS

20-across – Admits information is revealed in the accounts : ACKNOWLEDGES

23-across – Bill returns with a part of her : CAROLE

24-across – Involved in happy Oriental festival : EPIPHANY

25-across – The quality of mercy : LENIENCY

26-across – Come into force? : ENLIST

2-down – Sign to appeal to males : OMEN

3-down – One way to shoulder the job of team selection : PICKABACK

4-down – I creep around helping in the kitchen : RECIPE

5-down – Kill-or-cure medicine? : DESPERATEREMEDY

6-down – Mystery involved a number in regular correspondence : SYMMETRY

7-down – They’re the last to recognise death is near : RITES

8-down – Financial experts involved in some cost : ECONOMISTS

12-down – Declare girl in acute trouble : ANNUNCIATE

15-down – She cleans out for the steward : SENESCHAL

16-down – How mince is cooked by Chinese? : CHOWMEIN

19-down – Light in it, for example, goes out : IGNITE

21-down – I complain when she comes up : NAOMI

22-down – They run well, naturally, and their rise is celebrated : GNUS