Daily Answers

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

1-across – One with good cause to be a fare dodger? : HUNGERSTRIKER

10-across – Home schooling makes sense : INTUITION

11-across – Low-down beam, large only at one end : INTEL

12-across – Devil of a stalemate in court : DEUCE

13-across – Info caught in material on file reveals crisis : EMERGENCY

14-across – Old AC/DC popular song covers in show : EXHIBIT

16-across – Group of motorists with articles about gas pipe? : TRACHEA

18-across – Why things go wrong in ground cabbage dish : SODSLAW

20-across – Ace fish wraps in cooker : COSTARD

21-across – Knowing where to spend a penny, then another : INTHELOOP

23-across – Better soldiers leaving in the open air : OUTDO

24-across – Primate seized by bird, nimbly from behind : INDRI

25-across – Ordered a wine list — it’s sizable for gourmands : WAISTLINE

26-across – How to make new doors fail test of reliability : BREAKONESWORD

2-down – Little nude cavorts around virgin : UNTOUCHED

3-down – Outspoken men making an appearance : GUISE

4-down – Pierre’s really ditching very dated clothes : RAIMENT

5-down – Touching line from male who’s been on sunbed? : TANGENT

6-down – Fishy product occupies schooner, say : ISINGLASS

7-down – John Bull’s back in wealthy English institution : ELTON

8-down – Nice wine and a lot of hard liquor for someone like me : KINDREDSPIRIT

9-down – Tease in literary work, not easily understood : PLAYHARDTOGET

15-down – Dancers here are in dances — she may be one of them : BALLERINA

17-down – Try to keep lithe, training to be so? : HEALTHIER

19-down – Promoters of health resort show influencers here : WHOSWHO

20-down – Flip over how big an accessory is? : CAPSIZE

22-down – Henry’s house party in revolutionary groove : TUDOR

23-down – Where nail may be caught, getting pulled : ONTOW

7-across – Within cult, I’m a target for threats : ULTIMATA

9-across – Open spaces in Asian city holding nothing eastern : AGORAE

10-across – Story about Rome’s beginning as capital of Italy some time ago : LIRE

11-across – Small ignoramus I brought before head for indecency : SMUTTINESS

12-across – Excited expression of character in Hamlet, not king or queen : YOICKS

14-across – Son thus goes into country, returning for flowers : NARCISSI

15-across – Private places in clubs, protected by present distributor : SANCTA

17-across – Priests holding mass for religious feast : LAMMAS

20-across – They work tirelessly, packing cut fruit in Gold Coast’s centre : AUTOMATA

22-across – Preserve vessel for oil : CANVAS

23-across – We want these figures about English team, right? : DESIDERATA

24-across – One part of it produces things like doughnuts : TORI

25-across – Unfinished clue I’m altering, about utopian’s head in clouds : CUMULI

26-across – It produces reaction — litmus changes before its conclusion : STIMULUS

1-down – Badly in love, is in this state : ILLINOIS

2-down – Cast objects to cut : DICE

3-down – First couple in Arizona initially leaving another part of US for a third : KANSAS

4-down – Tiny creatures European found in ancient part of central Asia : BACTERIA

5-down – Nice column represented chaps running local government in America : COUNCILMEN

6-down – In neighbourhood of Italian town I tossed off fruit drink : CASSIS

8-down – Graduates left university in a minute part of UK : ALUMNI

13-down – Fault-finding survey about old port : CENSORIOUS

16-down – They have parallels, giving thanks when receiving a prize in error : TRAPEZIA

18-down – Scaly cobras disturbed more than just me : SCABROUS

19-down – Cold unfortunately trapping one in port : CALAIS

21-down – Source of issue among computer users : UTERUS

22-down – Operated in group with lots of intelligence — they’re full of brains : CRANIA

24-down – In this way, energy’s extracted from so-called melting pot : THUS

1-across – In class this boy when ordered sat, the creep : TEACHERSPET

9-across – What makes page dirty? A sort of bonk-lit : INKBLOT

10-across – Swedish scientist is retired tennis champion : SIEVERT

11-across – Wickedness accepted by rich man: time to sell up : DISINVEST

12-across – No Tolkien character gets backing to sing : CROON

13-across – A comedy show about to drop pet cat : PUMA

14-across – Secretive, after spilling cereals without paying attention : CARELESSLY

16-across – Trick ref and get United flying — on a roll : SUBTERFUGE

19-across – Buffoons lowering the odds of seeing these? : UFOS

21-across – Inserting end of chisel, make bigger hole in sphere : REALM

22-across – Evoke birdsong, not one of the top three we hear : CALLFORTH

24-across – Port and cheese nicked, neither finished : BRISTOL

25-across – May baby’s nature appear at first unusual? : TAUREAN

26-across – Unequally carve up goose, madly merry tucking in : GERRYMANDER

1-down – Filthy carpet may eventually appear excellent : TAKESOMEBEATING

2-down – Curfew fully obeyed with no extra charges? : ALLIN

3-down – Greek goddess accepting one of her characters as mistress : HETAERA

4-down – Run over me, stopping short as a favour : ROSETTE

5-down – Child’s hero follows papa as a minister : PREACHER

6-down – Suggesting better clothes shouldn’t be put on, being drunk : THEWORSEFORWEAR

7-down – Dessert’s up: at last spoon out and get a move on : GIDDUP

8-down – Mean to be wasting years? Not altogether : STINGY

15-down – Newton was to emerge to get into motion : GEOMETER

16-down – What operators wear in prison? : SCRUBS

17-down – University department failing to employ Conservative : FACULTY

18-down – Festival — it lifted a Roman province : GALATIA

20-down – Turn cross, receiving hard riddle from one : SPHINX

23-down – Establish there’s nothing in cash : FOUND