Daily Answers

1-across – Arsonist in boat? : LIGHTER

5-across – Sadly, one may be in its depths : DESPAIR

9-across – Mark firm losing half of capital : COLON

10-across – Exam is a sort of joke : PRACTICAL

11-across – Two men in a boat, working: one was a guitarist : GEORGEHARRISON

13-across – Corny stuff for listeners : EARS

14-across – A local perch? : BARSTOOL

17-across – Consciously old-fashioned, suitable to modernise later : RETROFIT

18-across – Said to employ females : EWES

21-across – School flag: red, green and blue, say : PRIMARYCOLOURS

23-across – Survive without food, broad­casting in real time : LIVEONAIR

24-across – For the occasion, speaker’s to take more white wine : ADHOC

25-across – Ways one may be so far ahead? : STREETS

26-across – Pot shot taken wildly in a potentially dangerous area : HOTSPOT

1-down – Contributor to second row that’s in a canal : LOCK

2-down – Jason’s dog? : GOLDENRETRIEVER

3-down – Drive to spear fish in part of the Arctic : TUNDRA

4-down – Repair broken sword : RAPIER

5-down – Secure a point on the road to leave others behind : DRAWAWAY

6-down – At the weekend I get up burlesque : SATIRISE

7-down – Past caring for religion? : ANCESTORWORSHIP

8-down – Implacable, passed on loan with deductions : RELENTLESS

12-down – To replace relic, snoop in cemetery : NECROPOLIS

15-down – Come across a drunkard, upside down and unconscious : COMATOSE

16-down – In pond leaves large mixed display : LILYPADS

19-down – Not placed in a quarter? : FOURTH

20-down – What Humphrey hung in the loo? : BOGART

22-down – Highlander, perhaps heading away from the racecourse : SCOT

9-across – Heaven observed: head turns when this happens, by the sound of it? : NEXTWORLD

10-across – Better off, con : OUTDO

11-across – Stopping cut, power connected : SPLICED

12-across – Duty put Harry in mood : TONNAGE

13-across – Appropriate condition : NICK

14-across – Faltering trade, piece lower in value : DEPRECIATE

16-across – Bid cut after review of great deal : NOTRUMP

17-across – Grabbing new desk, old chairman manages : MAKESDO

19-across – Better than America looking back, group embracing success : SURPASSING

22-across – See 20 : COKE

24-across – Every one detailed, I made plays for the theatre : ALMEIDA

25-across – Error in emergency call, a fire­fighter sent the wrong way : FALLACY

26-across – Skilled listener: fish in one’s ear? : TUNER

27-across – South American politician, or an old pig from the right : BOLSONARO

1-down – Nervous tension as maladmin­istered pension claimed by workers : ANTSINONESPANTS

2-down – Uncensored photo catching face of lothario in withdrawal : EXPLICIT

3-down – Ultimate in disappointment, wife getting diamonds another time : TWICE

4-down – Discover advantage in fruit like a peach, shortly : DREDGEUP

5-down – Same thing lacking heart penned by sovereign journo : EDITOR

6-down – 20 22: up for something sweet? : POUNDCAKE

7-down – Island boasting a vehicle, out of bounds : ITHACA

8-down – This contract’s unconditional: these two setters must be appreciated! : LOVEMELOVEMYDOG

15-down – 20 22, island beverage primarily: something restorative about it : CUBALIBRE

17-down – Piece provided, worn pipe : MANIFOLD

18-down – Fare-dodger observed commandeering tug, certainly : STOWAWAY

20-down – Alcoholic drink with mother: surprisingly uncorked bottles! : RUMAND

21-down – Battered cod has head of bream alongside : SHABBY

23-down – Sailing boat in small puddles, capsized : SLOOP

9-across – Duck upset about erect garden plant : LUPIN

10-across – Managing, or playing with, Clinton : INCONTROL

11-across – Hidden eastern prisoner tried to break outside : RECONDITE

12-across – Heroin in the morning? Well over the top : HAMMY

13-across – About sexual partner with depression: the result of earthmoving occurrences : CLAYPIT

15-across – Game: if lost, it would make you mad? : MARBLES

17-across – Follow writer, but not Penny Townsend, say : ENSUE

18-across – It’s often potted and propagated with top removed : RED

20-across – Pole accepts the church over style and ornamentation : DECOR

22-across – Nutty quality refined and introduced to stew : MADNESS

25-across – Perhaps the young Mozart’s expert crack at symphony’s finale : PRODIGY

26-across – At first, convict turned grey in the pen : CAGED

27-across – Monsieur Simenon excited about college for the art of memory assistance : MNEMONICS

30-across – Britain enters whopper motor event quite freely : LIBERALLY

31-across – Disagree about line taken by Wood : CLASH

1-down – Obscure book recommendation — book withdrawn : BLUR

2-down – Constables cooked plaice aboard ship? : SPECIALS

3-down – What to expect from, say, an uncooperative Frenchman soon? : ANON

4-down – Bury’s opposite side: tin production, right? : DISINTER

5-down – Funny person quit protecting aide’s back : SCREAM

6-down – Possibly another one in party, broadcasting : ONTHERADIO

7-down – First border described by China : PRIMAL

8-down – Parking was to be found for Candida, perhaps : PLAY

13-down – Best college sheets : CREAM

14-down – They would be crowned before getting on boats : PRETENDERS

16-down – Right time to turn back during eg ramble : STRAY

19-down – Organic compound put into water gets egg producer extremely youthful : DIPHENYL

21-down – Unemotional Clinton not turned away by one state : CLINICAL

23-down – In Florida? Go bag a Sri Lankan shrine : DAGOBA

24-down – Just start to simmer and make insinuations : SIMPLY

26-down – Indifferent military officer on date : COLD

28-down – Feel leaderless? That’s painful! : OUCH

29-down – Old hunting cry that’s heard in part of central London : SOHO

1-across – Laureate’s wiles manipulated with delicacy : CECILDAYLEWIS

10-across – Suggest taking off front wagon that could be so split : INTWAIN

11-across – Help a councillor get returned by a rural area : ARCADIA

12-across – Organised data for board : TABLE

13-across – Fight some paper disposal scheme : SCRAPPAGE

14-across – Squeezed wife and spoke : WRUNG

16-across – Complains at length when volume’s zero : SOUNDSOFF

18-across – Popular English composer has died? I’m flabbergasted : INEVERDID

19-across – Mass behind small hill in bad weather : STORM

20-across – Tricky in the extreme? Shorten it drastically : THORNIEST

23-across – Expand length and sound menacing : GROWL

24-across – Note pocketed by sweet little thing needing no deciphering : ENCLAIR

25-across – Saint, tortured about a month, sustained energy : STAMINA

26-across – Getting rid of car in industrial park : TRADINGESTATE

2-down – Almost speak up, wretch: you a traitor too? : ETTUBRUTE

3-down – Wild creature that is about : IRATE

4-down – Having drunk last of gin, passes on eats : DINES

5-down – All the work of Dickens, never a week off : YEARROUND

6-down – Daring moves — key, a spade finesse : ESCAPADES

7-down – Country I may represent : INDIA

8-down – With wrongly set kilts, I show organ : KISTOWHISTLES

9-down – Maybe granny often seen with foot above head among friends : MATERFAMILIAS

15-down – Could this identity document reverse a dismissal? : GREENCARD

16-down – Native American’s needs grew after development : SEDGEWREN

17-down – Medical man I wish to report first : OTOLOGIST

21-down – Unblemished award? : OSCAR

22-down – Discrimination not as terrible, if limited : TASTE

23-down – Two soldiers are enormous : GIANT

7-across – Clandestine second party serving men : BACKDOOR

9-across – A scan screening heart of Moroccan flyer : AVOCET

10-across – Exit speech from Atlantean, with the odd omission : TATA

11-across – Being realistic, cold wader left river : HARDBITTEN

12-across – Emperor, China’s last, is hosted by king and queen : KAISER

14-across – Solidly built deep sink : THICKSET

15-across – Bogus leading lady once remained unknown : ERSATZ

17-across – Places formerly selling gold-lined ranges : AGORAS

20-across – Having read abridged bible, sadly one strays from the text : ADLIBBER

22-across – God made man run after motorists, collecting tax : AVATAR

23-across – Key workers once a must for Spooner’s plumber? : TYPINGPOOL

24-across – Housman initially working for donkey’s years : AEON

25-across – Crab possibly unable to move : NEBULA

26-across – Pitman once bringing in amateur scrutineer : EXAMINER

1-down – Assembled online info with evil intent, first rejecting a little : DATABASE

2-down – Tropical legume cook rarely uses : OKRA

3-down – One fetching and carrying timber from the ark : GOPHER

4-down – Walking slowly after a girl may be taking a risk : GAMBLING

5-down – Communist country bridge player’s declared vocation : NORTHKOREA

6-down – Showing no compassion at any time in Kent? : SEVERE

8-down – A slowing down in network is no common occurrence? : RARITY

13-down – Dodgy South American spiritual, one convicts originally introduced : SUSPICIOUS

16-down – Crossing fen, got an outlandish form of transport : TOBOGGAN

18-down – Experienced editor supporting main issue : SEASONED

19-down – Cut top of oak, cracking little wood : GROOVE

21-down – Provision for light sleeper? : DAYBED

22-down – A cash reserve for moving aboard : AFLOAT

24-down – Current means of identifying hallucinogen : ACID