Daily Answers

8-across – Complicated kind of relationship the Oval Office finally sorted out : LOVEHATE

9-across – Nothing in striking description that’s solid? : ALLOUT

10-across – Fly, perhaps, one swallowed by nocturnal insectivore : BAIT

11-across – 10 in river shortened with stick : INDUCEMENT

12-across – Show or conceal : SCREEN

14-across – Removing or securing piece of paper : CLIPPING

15-across – My son, crazy about Big Apple either way? It means the same : SYNONYM

17-across – This, of itself, is 15 : ANTONYM

20-across – The end of some extinct creatures shown in useful reference books : THESAURI

22-across – Provided with food taken back to consume — best or worst : DEFEAT

23-across – Prone to be standing up to with determination : FACINGDOWN

24-across – Common complaint about antique : COLD

25-across – Slander American woman, European female intervening : DEFAME

26-across – One that’s not part of 1, not so unusual : COMMONER

1-down – Month and year in which to take on one kind of state : MONARCHY

2-down – Intensity of feeling produced by race : HEAT

3-down – Guinea inferior to former French colony? That’s slander : MALIGN

4-down – Something needed before formulating sentence, found in whatever dictionary : VERDICT

5-down – Permit, or punitively deter, second name appearing in deed : SANCTION

6-down – Following explosion initially in light on ceiling, not flammable or inflammable : FLAMEPROOF

7-down – Get excited, start attack : TURNON

13-down – Self-absorbed — extra time in first half would make very little difference : EGOISTICAL

16-down – Between the two of us, locate no good new striplings : YOUNGMEN

18-down – Regular but infrequent publications from unknown, first abridged : YEARLIES

19-down – One of 16, more or less, in island : MINORCA

21-down – Rise and fall before noon? Hell, no : HEAVEN

22-down – Person who’s active in so many directions? Just the opposite : DYNAMO

24-down – Fashionable, but not hot : COOL

1-across – Messy American students OTT? Time to be quiet : ALLOVERTHESHOP

8-across – Very pleasant detailed figure in computer game : SONIC

9-across – Enterprise spacecraft is a vessel with holes in it : COLANDER

11-across – Person ridiculing authoritarian approach, but not loudly : IRONIST

12-across – Conservative greeting opponent, a red : CHIANTI

13-across – Bread is mine — cheers! : PITTA

15-across – Ally of Liberal abandoning party in iffy seat : ASSOCIATE

17-across – Drunk grasps article on Latin work by Eliot : WASTELAND

20-across – Precious metal base is shining : AGLOW

21-across – Make concrete in Israel, building side of edifice : REALISE

23-across – After engaging writers, publisher says what it thinks : OPENSUP

25-across – Shrink is probing antagonist of 1 down : MINIMISE

26-across – Day out in nude provoked dissatisfaction : ENNUI

27-across – What digital artist does with eg bit of whisky, say, and beer, drinking a mixed gin : FINGERPAINTING

1-down – British secret agent working on wiretaps to ensnare the Guardian : AUSTINPOWERS

2-down – Deliberately gave nothing to would-be borrowers : LENTO

3-down – Leave boxing action, regularly missing jab : VACCINATE

4-down – Look up, eating half of cold dry cheese : RICOTTA

5-down – That man tells stories, including primarily clever twists : HELICES

6-down – Muslim belonging to a student group rejected : SUNNI

7-down – Everybody warned to ignore odds during sporting tie : ONEANDALL

10-down – Random few one’s found in East London area that’s swinging : WIFESWAPPING

14-down – Orchestra leader to look over popular overture from Ives : TOSCANINI

16-down – Fickle character, clumsy actor and English stars in vacuous cartoon : CHAMELEON

18-down – What diner did with pork pie recipe in drawer here? : ATELIER

19-down – Couple on date in Parisian area showing some guts : DUODENA

22-down – Hard to leave Confucian classic, which is topping : ICING

24-down – Where tablets were given wrong kind of computer program : SINAI

9-across – Stress over work? Quite the opposite : UNDERLINE

10-across – Amuse daughter going round water feature in capital : TREVI

11-across – Make a mistake feeding rustic poet : HERRICK

12-across – One hour’s spent describing Meg’s backside — cheeky! : ROGUISH

13-across – Meet round side and do a runner : FLIT

14-across – Not still angry? : HOPPINGMAD

16-across – Pets whose traditional enemies doubled at first : MOGGIES

17-across – Break with former court favourite? Boycott’s no good! : TIMEOFF

19-across – Here, time’s up! : CLOCKTOWER

22-across – Fish round lake doing nothing : IDLE

24-across – Hill on track heading west — I start to climb moving on : NOMADIC

25-across – Cause of suffering — not having a second bottle! : SCOURGE

26-across – Son and his mates playing in drives : SPURS

27-across – Foreign article is clear-sighted : REALISTIC

1-down – Chances of US mum fighting to keep husband largely the same : MUCHOFAMUCHNESS

2-down – Decorating trouble — call to engage handyman in the end : ADORNING

3-down – Be behind redhead in shadow : TRAIL

4-down – Exploits at work finally impress weaklings : MILKSOPS

5-down – Rents show no restraint : LETRIP

6-down – Same agent changed what player’s called : STAGENAME

7-down – Lack of variety cycling — correct? Let me think! : TEDIUM

8-down – The wife and a ‘friend’ messed around inside, so it’s not 17 down : WITHADIFFERENCE

15-down – Desk twice ransacked — this could not be worse : WICKEDEST

17-down – America detaining university lecturer — that’s reportedly in order : THEUSUAL

18-down – Inflexible — read nothing but rubbish : OBDURATE

20-down – Heavy metal backing musician covering Iron Maiden’s originals : OSMIUM

21-down – Will being violent once here wound? Very upset on the surface : OSCARS

23-down – Sailor isn’t entertaining creature of the night : LORIS

1-across – A few circling wagon have initially found their target : STRUCKHOME

6-across – Eminent school in street slightly tainted : HIGH

9-across – Wise guys’ initial gathering around chimney : ILLUMINATI

10-across – Very large piece of meat saved to take back : VAST

12-across – Change in personal relations suggesting trap? : ROLEREVERSAL

15-across – Does battle losing head and part of a rifle : HINDSIGHT

17-across – Call round for the one with the sticks : RINGO

18-across – For a sportsperson it would have been more hazardous to have run one at the start : SKIER

19-across – Reds fan broadcast report on 1-0 reverse : OENOPHILE

20-across – Welcome back occasional elegant adult learner to be graded : HIERARCHICAL

24-across – Some paper, off-white, with no heading : REAM

25-across – It’s critical stir-crazy daughter is kept in : JUDGMENTAL

26-across – Support opera’s return : STEM

27-across – Collapsed on tenth lap in this challenge : PENTATHLON

1-down – Small edge goes to fielder : SLIP

2-down – Keep going round for a light lunch? : ROLL

3-down – Hurry up selected pupils to start working regularly : COMEONSTREAM

4-down – Turner’s affair, heading off to Spain : HINGE

5-down – Shabby way of working not right to challenge : MOTHEATEN

7-down – Innate bias to be reviewed, when convicted so? : INABSENTIA

8-down – Rash and blot spread into eyes so half-closed : HOTBLOODED

11-down – As eldest child, male, I severely criticise Dad : HEIRAPPARENT

13-down – An element of pressure over revised shop hours : PHOSPHORUS

14-down – Commit to flames popular heretic for speaking out — consumed! : INCINERATE

16-down – Let balance dip into red, about to take advantage of charity : GOODCAUSE

21-down – Back to front, managed to enter expensive bar : INGOT

22-down – That is going to time, visiting sick : ITLL

23-down – Macs grouped together and left in lavatory : CLAN

1-across – Stay after passport centre makes a bit of a mess : SPLODGE

5-across – Former pupils gather pine to make shapes : OBLONGS

10-across – Artist starts to date all Lowry’s images : DALI

11-across – Crime heads manipulated old scientist : ARCHIMEDES

12-across – Talk again about environmentally damaging contributor to agricultural growth : REPEAT

13-across – Add too much to sketch and get a negative balance : OVERDRAW

14-across – Posh daily in top class city : BUCHAREST

16-across – Scandal I believe is somewhat defamatory … : LIBEL

17-across – … when copied thus? : DITTO

19-across – A gel NASA developed includes iodine for pain relief : ANALGESIA

23-across – Ask too much of tyrant, when America becomes Republican : OVERLOAD

24-across – Check alien showing a means to gain entry : TICKET

26-across – Second rate shower might collectively display intelligence : BRAINPOWER

27-across – Swiftlet regularly seen on this place : SITE

28-across – Clear material picked up in accordance with plans : PERSPEX

29-across – Capital ensemble established in island has not been successful : ALSORAN

2-down – Water-based dish from France is high level : PLATEAU

3-down – Chemical that removes hard bit from leather : OXIDE

4-down – Trojan worker provides good support : GRAFTER

6-down – Cooked up plot to acquire fossil fuel : BOILED

7-down – Great activity that led to finished Verdi composition : OVERDRIVE

8-down – Upstanding Scandinavian infiltrates work unit producing small bomb : GRENADE

9-down – Basic directions for what you are doing! : ACROSSANDDOWN

15-down – Uneven treatment of most Irish : HITORMISS

18-down – Hot lines? Quite the opposite : INVERSE

20-down – Dead centre of Gibraltar approached from the side : LATERAL

21-down – Drink that did for group when Mike left : ICEDTEA

22-down – Go, after throwing out rug : TOUPEE

25-down – Name for flowering plant with no root : COSMO