Daily Answers

8-across – Plumed hat not quite right in formal dance : BALMORAL

9-across – Risk husband blocking free entertainment : THREAT

10-across – Left-wing dictator and dictator’s bird tailed : STALIN

12-across – Birds and fish-eating mammals devouring rejected haul : SEAGULLS

13-across – Last letter from America? : ZEE

14-across – Very little Brahms and Liszt? : TIDDLY

16-across – Stone Age pottery, possibly first pieces found in county : SAPPHIRE

17-across – One impressed by potential titles? : ELITIST

20-across – A presenter at home cutting unusually large borders : ADJOINS

23-across – Express difficulty finding temporary solution : QUICKFIX

24-across – Puzzle from mischievous child given tremendous backing : BAFFLE

26-across – Letter from internet company returned : PSI

27-across – Extra note is switched for two : RESIDUAL

28-across – Unoccupied cottage on cliff in demand : SCARCE

31-across – Only female parts concerned patroness of the arts : ATHENE

32-across – US chemist rotated screen, extracting middle substance : DRUGGIST

1-down – Typically stand in line with key : WAIT

2-down – Adventure story’s thematic end televised out of sequence : EMIL

3-down – Outburst from Cook tackling England opener down under : FRENZY

4-down – Stuffiest bar on street : CLOSEST

5-down – Hard up but bound to get paid? : STRAPPED

6-down – Accomplished Republican bribed guards : BROUGHTOFF

7-down – Pot roughly round, roughly litre content : CAULDRON

11-down – See 2 : AND

14-down – See 2 : THE

15-down – See 2 : DETECTIVES

18-down – Award winner from bureau limited charges recently : LAUREATE

19-down – Oddly, stuff merges fast in floods : SUFFUSES

21-down – Female stars do it, dropping in : SHE

22-down – Tramp pursuing former wife finally set off : EXPLODE

24-down – Spicy starter replaced by second-rate soup : BISQUE

25-down – See 5 : FOR

29-down – Ship in the past taking king aboard : ARGO

30-down – See 5 : CASH

9-across – Deserve to operate as a dockside worker : STEVEDORE

10-across – Spanish poet coming from Mallorca : LORCA

11-across – Best alfresco function? : OUTDO

12-across – Scotsman and journalist together working initially in a part of Greece : MACEDONIA

13-across – Silver coin in tin belonging to someone from Barcelona? : CATALAN

14-across – EU slang involved in a Catholic prayer : ANGELUS

17-across – Hornby’s construction system missing no place in Saudi Arabia : MECCA

19-across – Maggot first in beef to turn : BOT

20-across – Informers with partners impounding ship : NARKS

21-across – First-class seminar on one chapter : CLASSIC

22-across – Head of urology given endlessly stretchy tool : UTENSIL

24-across – Advantage gained by Dutch champion during preliminary race : HEADSTART

26-across – Axe stunted trees : SCRUB

28-across – Catholic about to practise set of beliefs : CREDO

29-across – Clumsy model sat for Rembrandt’s first great painting : OLDMASTER

1-down – Impresario slowly taking in capital : OSLO

2-down – Extremely suggestive text sent to musicians : SEXTET

3-down – Millions leaving real snowmen to melt in US city : NEWORLEANS

4-down – Crook caught at end of Ramadan in Asian sultanate : CONMAN

5-down – Dealer charged outside church taken in by cops : MERCHANT

6-down – Fish swallowing large lump of earth : CLOD

7-down – Cambridge mathematician with right approach to resistance : WRANGLER

8-down – Drink from California and Virginia : CAVA

13-down – Head of sport leaving great magazine : COMIC

15-down – Snigger about raised surface of biscuit : GINGERSNAP

16-down – Fibre taken from new sails : SISAL

18-down – Riddles about Pluto absorbing artist : CHARADES

19-down – Cowboy’s money put on a jumper : BUCKAROO

22-down – Nudity abroad is out of order : UNTIDY

23-down – Southern sailors going north catch first of piranha fish : SPRATS

24-down – Old horse’s kick : HACK

25-down – Boozer drinking hooch finally fired : SHOT

27-down – Bishop put on garment over part of nun’s habit : BARB

1-across – Playful old chef using lime tips in beer : JOCULAR

5-across – Jump into suit and dive : FLEAPIT

9-across – Walk out in opposition to arrest : RUNIN

10-across – Repair to new roof is a bargain : TWOFORONE

11-across – Feeling exhausted and isolated : OUTOFTOUCH

12-across – Make 25% by getting one over it : FOUR

14-across – Customised leather rafts sail over the edge, if they’re right : FLATEARTHERS

18-across – It is answered with relief : CALLOFNATURE

21-across – Demand silence on party money : DOSH

22-across – Ideal power structure embraces force : PERFECTION

25-across – Mutated rural mice become erratic : MERCURIAL

26-across – Europeans make eyepiece with high finish : IRISH

27-across – Fall for rotter in action : CASCADE

28-across – Being drug-free, one avoids exploitation : NONUSER

1-down – Clash finished? Not quite and few may understand it : JARGON

2-down – Old king is engaging with an insider : CANUTE

3-down – Poet expressing pain after desire waned : LONGFELLOW

4-down – Relationship formed by medium putting time in for daughter : RATIO

5-down – Watch Flora dancing without a sequence of steps to follow : FLOWCHART

6-down – School sited between Derby and Oxford, initially : ETON

7-down – One pushing for union member­ship expected to bend the knee : PROPOSER

8-down – Golden-hearted believer may provide some ideas : THEORIST

13-down – Temptation to clean out account with purchase : ATTRACTION

15-down – Submission issuer occasionally supports to soften things up : TENDERISE

16-down – Unexpectedly, I came across rogue professor : ACADEMIC

17-down – A ramble up around Stein Head provides variety : ALLSORTS

19-down – Bond’s capture of copper puts things straight : TIDIES

20-down – Herculean chore involves stop at sea : ANCHOR

23-down – Criminal attacked one left out : FELON

24-down – Restaurant has a certain atmosphere : AURA

1-across – Backing man and daughter to crack cryptic clues, going slowly : BEHIND

4-across – See 1 : SCHEDULE

9-across – Gentleness keeping idiot in line : LENITY

10-across – Suggested not breaking any laws on terror : IMPLICIT

11-across – Travels round with some soldiers and privates : ORBITS

12-across – Card trick taking in broadcasters, say : COMEDIAN

14-across – Cricketer less streamlined after a couple of starters for lunch : ALLROUNDER

18-across – He made great scores in game with cracking drive : MONTEVERDI

22-across – A saying about limiting consump­tion, fundamentally : ATBOTTOM

23-across – General staff ultimately administered business : FRANCO

24-across – Drink — it’s knocked back by family member breaking into song : TIAMARIA

25-across – Decisive strike with daring German spirit : KOBOLD

26-across – Pick flavoursome apple that’s warmer : ELECTRIC

27-across – See 26 : HEATER

1-down – Something soothing spoken by man in the corner in a holiday home : BALMORAL

2-down – Threw party, embracing new game : HANDBALL

3-down – Signs midday’s about time when lunch is taken? : NOTATION

5-down – Contests securing figure London theatre parts : COMPONENTS

6-down – Lady setter in trim condition picked up : EILEEN

7-down – Ragamuffin staggering out of bounds : URCHIN

8-down – Troubled diet, or danger, is this? : EATING

13-down – An indication of assent over car’s current age : ANNODOMINI

15-down – Bagging 500 in opening spell of bowling is excessive : OVERDONE

16-down – Highlight from fight, including its location : BRINGOUT

17-down – See 8 : DISORDER

19-down – See 1 : CASTLE

20-down – Burning tar by lounge : ABLAZE

21-down – Channel’s special feature : STRAIT

1-across – Certain to restrain organised workers in a stitch-up : SUTURE

4-across – Most eccentric groups of soldiers in company dealing with communications : BARMIEST

9-across – Like a mansion said to be damp and unhealthy : RHEUMY

10-across – VIP’s report? : BIGNOISE

11-across – One has ice cream melting? Eat it! : MACARONICHEESE

13-across – Criticism coming with IT? I celebrate converting for use with computers : DIGITISING

14-across – Miscellany in large book needing no introduction : OLIO

16-across – Bank in decline with lake drying up : SIDE

18-across – Danced, as repeatedly instructed : QUADRILLED

21-across – Dogs as exceptional sniffers can help, left to go free : AFFENPINSCHERS

23-across – Within a month be replaced by six who could lay down law in Rome? : DECEMVIR

24-across – Dish awful Tories! : ROESTI

25-across – Rubbish prize reported in broadcast : DISPERSE

26-across – One’s admiral slain finally at sea : NELSON

1-down – Semi-slave, endlessly cheeky revolutionary : SERF

2-down – Chinese food — something boring, not much good? : TREPANG

3-down – Forces surrounding some fortifications : RAMPARTS

5-down – Errant Don, I, with a fiasco for the fans? : AFICIONADOS

6-down – Northern city half filled with superior old people : MANCHU

7-down – Animal occupying English lea collapsing on the ground : EPIGEAL

8-down – What’s to come of shrubby plant that died after short time? : THEBEYOND

12-down – Leader of bloggers is to curse, put out when one’s included little-known words? : OBSCURITIES

13-down – Daughter is put to bed and kept inside, separated : DISBANDED

15-down – Whine and sob terribly — can this bring luck to one of couple? : WISHBONE

17-down – Very good stars showing blemishes : DEFACES

19-down – More than one wild animal, see, climbs : LORISES

20-down – Awful moan that is indicating isolation and anxiety : ANOMIE

22-down – European or American in book title : FINN