Daily Answers

8-across – File case of overemotional guff : FOLDEROL

9-across – Pigment good in water : SEPIA

10-across – See 24 : RACE

11-across – New variation, including a hundred old pieces : VICTORIANA

12-across – Fat queen in store … : LARDER

14-across – … very different partner in philosophy? : THINKING

15-across – Metal once found in bottom of fruit? : PLUMBUM

17-across – See 25 : INSIGHT

20-across – Laxative one girl fed to another : MAGNESIA

22-across – One banked on needing loco — did one? : ENGINE

23-across – Serving as correction, speed of light accelerating : CHASTENING

24-across – Kick people out, event usually for children : SACK

25-across – Conclusion can’t be reached — sigh! : NOEND

26-across – Piano piece, both grand and upright, thrashed out : THESHARD

1-down – Only items of quality, every one for my pleasure : NOTATALL

2-down – Covered by maid, ledge gathering dust : IDLE

3-down – See 22 across : DRIVER

4-down – Humour, vacuous amusement in setting : PLACATE

5-down – Baltic Sea? No, it turns north : ESTONIAN

6-down – A little sign left in vault : SPRINKLING

7-down – Preacher’s ecclesiastic weapon : CANNON

13-down – Finished nursing little girl, cut : DIMINISHED

16-down – Dizzy playing tunes on jazzy day : UNSTEADY

18-down – Running water options on craft, type of carrier : HANDCART

19-down – Teacher in a flap upended coffee-maker : BARISTA

21-down – How formula for poison is written in capital city : ATHENS

22-down – Little predatory bird, swallow biting leg off : EAGLET

24-down – Reportedly plant weed somewhere in London : SOHO

1-across – Film Aussie’s welcome to screen about animal : GROUNDHOGDAY

9-across – Practised fitting coats of Parisian : ADEPT

10-across – Bravado deserted guilty party : DERRINGDO

11-across – It’s viewed as what followed Labour’s Callaghan era? : FOOTAGE

12-across – Store silicon in warehouse : DEPOSIT

13-across – Rough copies spread in clergyman’s office : EPISCOPATE

15-across – Ancient Middle East kingdom, way back : EDOM

18-across – Frank or Stuart more than once plugs American news channel : ANNE

19-across – Early period in 1 across? : FIRSTLIGHT

22-across – Inclination to leave out the front entrance : ENCHANT

24-across – Theatre about to host prancing Tina Turner? : PAINTER

25-across – Curiously wild at greeting a crashing bore : TIDALWAVE

26-across – Eyeballs possibly globes, but not black : OGLES

27-across – At lido, pose in pants? It’s what strippers do : DESPOLIATION

1-down – A pope’s man metamorphosed in a novel : GREGORIAN

2-down – Away fixture is better : OUTMATCH

3-down – Jog in a revealing state around Germany’s capital : NUDGE

4-down – Point grasped by star American historian : HERODOTUS

5-down – Almost caught flu : GRIPPE

6-down – Debates lacking energy in the Guardian : ARGUS

7-down – Return of Puck with wonderful puzzle : BAFFLE

8-down – Mechanical saw bishop lifted : BOTTOM

14-down – It may be shot or longer drink, holding a party : PAINTBALL

16-down – Drug from figure with a short amount of coke : DIGITALIN

17-down – Composer from Britain penning number one : ALBINONI

18-down – People staying dry without a bit of clothing in scripture : AVESTA

20-down – Refuse to carry hard kind of metal : THRASH

21-down – Hammer in part of building work : WALLOP

23-down – Naughty so-and-so, say, twirling bum : CADGE

24-down – Letters of Euripides showing devout image : PIETA

9-across – Alien and ET do lunar dance : OUTLANDER

10-across – PC swap in Prime Suspect investigated for this : CRIME

11-across – Prime parts of London avoided panelling scandal, exposing negligence : LAPSE

12-across – It’s reported when breaking : NEWSEVENT

13-across – Change Morse and Lewis? : COPPERS

14-across – Boatman’s seen in image this way: forever young : AGELESS

17-across – Faith leaders in bedclothes, not judges : IMAMS

19-across – At work, prime cut of animals saved in this : ARK

20-across – Hollow surprise, with new head of squad at end of Prime Suspect : SENSE

21-across – As Saturnalia is to a Roman in prime : FESTIVE

22-across – Prime cut behind pig’s head — remove its skin : PREPARE

24-across – Perhaps cold cuts from an endless easterly — that’s a shame : ANTIPASTI

26-across – The end of French at the origin of Huguenots : DEATH

28-across – Prime-time entertainment genre: could be Pointless for seniors? : SOAPS

29-across – Russian river has daily alert : OBSERVANT

1-down – Twist or pass Round One : COIL

2-down – Drink plugged by prime plug : STOPUP

3-down – Pianist prime minister : PADEREWSKI

4-down – A fellow’s a fine fellow : ADONIS

5-down – Clue to minor problem : DRAWBACK

6-down – Prime Suspect claimed ID left unused : ACME

7-down – Prime entertainment with Mr T and A-team’s leader edited out : NINETEEN

8-down – Prime attraction showing prime cut, perhaps : MEAT

13-down – Prime cut from roach — ie fillet : CHIEF

15-down – Example of prime-time enter­tainment: these characters are densest : EASTENDERS

16-down – Tablet, which is reportedly very strong : STELE

18-down – Lianas curled around a treetop: it produces bark : ALSATIAN

19-down – A rebirth, with prisoner released from loathing : AVERSION

22-down – Extremely short after money taken from prime minister : PRIEST

23-down – Boatman, a rear admiral, climbing a mountain : ARARAT

24-down – Space for transubstantiation, not the front of church : APSE

25-down – Pale second : POST

27-down – Blockbusters taking prime slots in this TV show : HITS

4-across – Narrow stripe in piece of meat round end of skewer : STREAK

6-across – Country conserving head of prehistoric freshwater creature : TERRAPIN

9-across – Lowest points in faulty drains : NADIRS

10-across – 11, perhaps, fixed games with sailor : MEGASTAR

11-across – Musician playing clarinet with cop : ERICCLAPTON

15-across – Conservative and old Indepen­dent bath prepared to shack up together : COHABIT

17-across – Record part of poem in lounge : RECLINE

18-across – Food arrives on recycled black tiles : COMESTIBLES

22-across – Attention surrounding girl married to country’s ultimate diplomat : EMISSARY

23-across – Drug setter took after surgery : OPIATE

24-across – Money taken by business making a pastry dish : TURNOVER

25-across – Female diner rearranged china : FRIEND

1-down – Wonderful hospital leaving well-funded structure : FABRIC

2-down – Plates holding British : DEBENTURES

3-down – Beer enthusiasts about to drink a good new brandy : ARMAGNAC

4-down – Scene 10 rewritten as a punishment : SENTENCE

5-down – Warning issued by Conservatives infiltrated by far-right movement : REDLIGHT

7-down – PM’s meagre salary halved : PITT

8-down – Standard number assigned to soldiers : NORM

12-down – Stake money on northbound Underground before departure : ANTEMORTEM

13-down – Staff drowning feeble king in watercourse : MILLRACE

14-down – Ridiculous debates about base of solid frame in dormitory : BEDSTEAD

16-down – Money found with stolen ammunition : BUCKSHOT

19-down – Bring in setter’s drink! : IMPORT

20-down – Bottom of well covered by moist leather strip : WELT

21-down – Sporting fixture on river is level : TIER

8-across – Beat queue, you say, to disappear outside : VANQUISH

9-across – High priest’s wit : ESPRIT

10-across – Before temperature fell, sun’s unnatural : STRAINED

11-across – Advanced problem about end of universe : HITECH

12-across – Lower reputation extremely likely with empathy : UNDERSTANDINGLY

15-across – Monster? Bit of a titchy dragon : HYDRA

16-across – Like fashion award in Birmingham? : ASTON

20-across – Tailored configuration for each issue with faulty Italian OS : PERSONALISATION

21-across – After instrument goes from cold to hot, it buzzes : HORNET

23-across – Special sailor’s regret? To retire destroyer : SABOTEUR

25-across – Mountain of metal and wood : ALPINE

26-across – Vegas out to employ worker with benefits : VANTAGES

1-down – Car takes a right into the drink : MARTINI

2-down – Conservative, they say, votes for this after watching TV for too long : SQUAREEYES

3-down – Lasagne’s first put into family oven : KILN

4-down – Gorge on cheese : CHEDDAR

5-down – Incredibly modest, this group of Christians : METHODISTS

6-down – Look, it’s Mark! : SPOT

7-down – City green : LINCOLN

13-down – It can be tied then, ie switched, to reinforce : STRENGTHEN

14-down – Amazon fish treats cooked under gas : NEONTETRAS

17-down – About 150 gatecrash function for kicks : RECOILS

18-down – Following end of chase, evil US criminal is hard to find : ELUSIVE

19-down – Flowers share purposes : LOTUSES

22-down – Catch adult wearing nothing : NAIL

24-down – Eccentric don put on black tie : BOND