Daily Answers

1-across – Cooked last of three dishes perhaps lacking third of meat? : SHEPHERDSPIES

10-across – Little-known degree held by Guardian’s head of entertainment : OBSCURE

11-across – Snappier person coming over : CROSSER

12-across – Call up first wife, having received go-ahead : EVOKE

13-across – Left in pieces after contestant finally made a mistake : TRIPPEDUP

14-across – Smarten up pages around margin : PRIMP

16-across – Thought to have left out light meal : REFECTION

18-across – NB regular treatment needed for part of arm : GUNBARREL

19-across – Delayed training in troublesome communications app : SKYPE

20-across – Transport official parking in trendy part of town : INSPECTOR

23-across – Father certainly repelled love goddess : FREYA

24-across – Suffer to keep up : SUSTAIN

25-across – Receding storm in film of the open seas : PELAGIC

26-across – Feign reluctance to give reason for theatre closure? : PLAYHARDTOGET

2-down – Could it be confusing to an Irish student of old? : HISTORIAN

3-down – Feet heard to stop for a while : PAUSE

4-down – Employ pundit, regardless of pressure : EXERT

5-down – Edit clue, first of four condemned as underhand : DECEITFUL

6-down – Views from master with time to go into particulars : PROSPECTS

7-down – Moved cautiously and led on, scratching head : EASED

8-down – Oppose return to university: student on vacation : COMEUPAGAINST

9-down – Majority think again briefly when cutting caper : PREPONDERANCE

15-down – Earth’s level area included in test : PLANETARY

16-down – Imagined country united after one king, then another, beheaded queen : RURITANIA

17-down – Frantic Yale fugitive not fit, sadly, for such a place : IVYLEAGUE

21-down – Fibre’s length unchanged on rotation : SISAL

22-down – Bound work with scarlet cover : ROPED

23-down – Large leaf taken from soil often flipped over : FOLIO

1-across – Took a dip, evenly spread, having too much on one’s plate : SWAMPED

5-across – Delicacy could make one fretful : TRUFFLE

9-across – Live bear : ABIDE

10-across – Media silence about northern recruiters : PRESSGANG

11-across – Shark H? : HAMMERHEAD

12-across – Last killer leaving America dry : BRUT

14-across – Transience of intrinsic nature said to follow Welshman : EVANESCENCE

18-across – Digital products without party broadcast documentaries : MANICURESET

21-across – Some schoolteacher’s suffering : ACHE

22-across – As a diet of bananas, with a spice : ASAFOETIDA

25-across – Make love in retreat, mostly with one aristocrat : HAVEITOFF

26-across – Serious grant? : GRAVE

27-across – Nose and ears not a game : CONKERS

28-across – Americans awfully keen to invade backward state : YANKEES

1-down – Be critical of the woman cuddling pet : SCATHE

2-down – Rules for Xmas crackers interrupted by vino, regularly : AXIOMS

3-down – Cite former vice president’s outside choice : PREFERENCE

4-down – Where the pearl diver starts working : DEPTH

5-down – Underscore young people, being eager, sent flying : TEENAGERS

6-down – Philanthropist abandons half the Hebridean islands : UIST

7-down – Obvious jingoistic tirade? : FLAGRANT

8-down – Nearly seven pillar boxes then appeared in London : EIGHTEEN

13-down – Weapon that’s not targeted is empty threat – some work you reported in survey : SCATTERGUN

15-down – An item of underwear sold in outrageous new style initially causes injuries : ABRASIONS

16-down – Understanding medicine is primarily needed in hepatic transplant : EMPATHIC

17-down – Hairy sport supporting international organisation : UNSHAVEN

19-down – End of life, an evolution : FINALE

20-down – DJ’s part in city rave ultimately secured by playing LPs : LAPELS

23-down – See 8 : FIFTY

24-down – See 8 : FIVE

1-across – Spare the criminal a list of his crimes : RAPSHEET

6-across – Ex-pat changes first name to Charlie for some protection : CONDOM

9-across – Addict returns with essentially filthy product : RESULT

10-across – Sea creature shows weak balance with oxygen originally depleted : PORPOISE

11-across – Break up site calling for abolition of imperial measure : SCRAPYARD

13-across – Deep line used by this painter : LOWRY

15-across – Deal with motorway getting flooded by river : TIMBER

17-across – Polish yearly statement acknowledging a lack of alternative options? : PATINA

18-across – Stop me wandering haphazardly through village : HAMLET

19-across – Endless slander I attributed to old girls and boys : ALUMNI

21-across – Brilliant and popular among cast : SHINY

22-across – Diplomatic tool for long distance communication : MEGAPHONE

25-across – They’re mine workers on leave : HANDSOFF

26-across – Trendy bright female, at heart, is a poser : ENIGMA

28-across – Direct progress : HEADON

29-across – Straighten out to take left? The reverse actually : PUTRIGHT

2-down – Point of no return for champion : ACE

3-down – Trained guardians removing grid where it gets quite hot : SAUNA

4-down – Get ground floor flat after application : ENTRYLEVEL

5-down – Troop learns to avoid the regular drinkers : TOPERS

6-down – Rude sentry’s edging away from royal greeting : CURT

7-down – Some log in with permutation of made up expression : NEOLOGISM

8-down – Reformed Serb covered in praise for comment : OBSERVATION

12-down – Just like that, perhaps, net reportedly unravels : CATCHPHRASE

14-down – Congress makes standard complaint about India : PARLIAMENT

16-down – Family bank Spooner dismissed as stupid and silly : MUMANDDAD

20-down – Augment noise of horn by adding occasional flux : BEEFUP

23-down – She sounds out difficult note for singer : HEIDI

24-down – Not working — had to slow consumption in the end : DOWN

27-down – It expresses indifference about margin being raised? : MEH

1-across – Little old star, no posh god : OSIRIS

5-across – Crossing the globe, exceedingly word-wise : VERBALLY

9-across – Takes liberties quietly and then gets back to business : PRESUMES

10-across – Open up, as you might say, an old letter : UNCIAL

11-across – Snow? All right to seek shelter in church : COKE

12-across – What’s spewed out by politicians, ladies and gentlemen? : LAVATORIES

13-across – Over and done with computers etc — too old : PASTIT

14-across – Promoter travels by ship, it’s said, to island : SALESMAN

16-across – Viewer more adventurous — what’s being screened? : BEHOLDER

19-across – Old-fashioned US politician with something lyrical : DEMODE

21-across – Inflexible, as Stalin once could be : NONELASTIC

23-across – Wife badly affected, just a bit : WHIT

24-across – Conservative lot with love for something inexpensive : CHEAPO

25-across – Bits of stone troubling the lions : NEOLITHS

26-across – Dark liquid that could be cloudier : CRUDEOIL

27-across – Rock is first thing for teenagers after school : SCHIST

2-down – Guest room rather awkward for baby carrier : SURROGATEMOTHER

3-down – To sit down outside wood is most foolish : RASHEST

4-down – What troubles me is adult being affected : SIMULATED

5-down – One corresponding offers two similar endorsements, one deficient : VISAVIS

6-down – Stir created by retreats with slight confusion at the end : ROUST

7-down – Worm is found at foot of a cliff : ASCARIS

8-down – What could become a son’s lavish feed? : LOAVESANDFISHES

15-down – Absurd English not to be found in our clues, I’d fancy : LUDICROUS

17-down – Quantity of works with no date : OPERAND

18-down – Viewer’s screen’s made of metal with authentic coating : RETINAL

20-down – Sentimental mum with desire to restrict kid, initially : MAWKISH

22-down – Past attempt to one’s heart’s desire : AGOGO

1-across – Philosopher makes an effort about reading comics : MARXBROTHERS

8-across – Shelter with or without husband : HARBOUR

9-across – Bound to show confidence in audition : TRUSSED

11-across – Material teacher uses to hem government leader’s finery : REGALIA

12-across – Artwork includes model foot able to be sculpted : PLASTIC

13-across – English grasped by kids completely, as they say : TOTES

14-across – Place for gymnastics routine that’s correct : ONTHEBEAM

16-across – Judge banking fraud by extremely unfair account provider : RACONTEUR

19-across – Heart-throb: ambiguous, captivating lead in film : BAMBI

21-across – Rancour of bard repeatedly losing face : ILLWILL

23-across – One maybe hammered in the main, back in scrapes : ABRADES

24-across – Having a lead, stops 1,000 dogs, say, getting nits : MUPPETS

25-across – Ancient ladies snorting crack after noon : LONGAGO

26-across – Comedian beset by disappoint­ment — hard to get contract : COMEDOWNWITH

1-down – The one expensive motor cuts power : MRRIGHT

2-down – Ferrets let out in mini jumpers : ROOTLES

3-down – A number of punters sing in nude : BARCAROLE

4-down – Performing a kind of dance, like some beers : ONTAP

5-down – Transport valuable metal criminal stashed in vacant house : HAULAGE

6-down – What supporter has in street, playing with ball : ROSETTE

7-down – Focus on the current advocacy of monosyllables? : SHORTTERMISM

10-down – Condom is semi-broken? Withdraw from action : DECOMMISSION

15-down – Two setters in water — this keeps us dry : TARPAULIN

17-down – Nymph gently donning lacy pants thus : CALYPSO

18-down – Green quality of water from South Tyrone’s borders : NAIVETE

19-down – Seek office as an American in China, India or another country : BURUNDI

20-down – Slander hospital, receiving stick for muscle treatment : MUDBATH

22-down – One seizing stock up in Cairo’s sales : LASSO