Daily Answers

1-across – Brief extract from impressive unfinished book : EPITOME

5-across – Find fault with round metal tool : NITPICK

10-across – Motif retraced around part of stringed instrument : FRET

11-across – Master’s translated letter for hands-on worker : SEAMSTRESS

12-across – Soldier carrying artist’s sign : GEMINI

13-across – Old Ottoman guide, a bore, going to a sultanate in Arabia : DRAGOMAN

14-across – Spooner’s other half meeting old king in confined space : CUBBYHOLE

16-across – Carry clubs in small container : CADDY

17-across – Overweight women given a death sentence : FATWA

19-across – Pain relief for north American with broken leg detained in the Far East : ANALGESIA

23-across – Food fit for leave-taking? : FAREWELL

24-across – Soup recipe secured by painter : BORSCH

26-across – TT : ONTHEWAGON

27-across – Infant born before sailor gets by in the end : BABY

28-across – Condition endlessly applied to limits of the law : STATUTE

29-across – Shingle broken up for old printing type : ENGLISH

2-down – Newcomer’s music upset audience finally leaving concert hall, say : PARVENU

3-down – Source of thread in suit woven for someone from central Africa? : TUTSI

4-down – Champion footballer visiting a hospital : MESSIAH

6-down – Points in short typeface set up ready for use : INSTAL

7-down – Puncture found after rope breaks : PERFORATE

8-down – Eccentric person eating only skimmed milk-based sauce : CUSTARD

9-down – Sly dog dangled bananas for insect : DADDYLONGLEGS

15-down – Cricketer initially happy about the headgear : BOWLERHAT

18-down – Touching stove isn’t funny! : AGAINST

20-down – Country where bell sounds rise before long : LEBANON

21-down – Popular copper to transport unwelcome nocturnal visitor : INCUBUS

22-down – Dump serving as nest for tiny bird ascending : PEEWIT

25-down – Insurgent put base of bomb in rock : REBEL

9-across – Lie initially told every second by party supporter : TALLSTORY

10-across – Lie told for whom in France? : PORKY

11-across – Witch hunt based on lie under oath: say that’s not right : PURGE

12-across – How to counter lies online in a climate when facts are deemed unimportant : POSTTRUTH

13-across – Where you might fabricate truth, or the end of reality : FACTORY

14-across – Corrupt imprisoned politician expelled, losing nothing, is one in the know : INSIDER

17-across – Positioned with prejudice … Boatman is excluded : BASED

19-across – Gathering for church service with uncrowned head of state : MAS

20-across – Replace sound of funky drum­beat with a master track’s first cut : REDUB

21-across – Stars from the French movie finally to confront awful lies : ETOILES

22-across – Attitudes fixed in time, oddly in dissent : MINDSET

24-across – Boatman, shouldering hod etc, I rebuilt shared house : COHABITED

26-across – Leader of Parliament adopts untruths and fancy footwork : PLIES

28-across – Bullish attitude to truth: you are allegedly excluded : CANDO

29-across – Club act has change of heart: he’s involved in scam : TRUNCHEON

1-down – Blow a high note: put in valve : STOP

2-down – Cycle rickshaw carrying dean, say : CLERIC

3-down – As one seen circling a star is con­demned as idolater : ASTEROIDAL

4-down – Firm without any deceit to speak of generates yield : COMPLY

5-down – Old clothing for young goyim, regularly seen on the cricket field : GYMSLIPS

6-down – Pants on fire, missing point of argument : SPAT

7-down – Underdog, abused but connected to reality : GROUNDED

8-down – Something read in Deuteronomy? This is not true : MYTH

13-down – Lie about moral strength : FIBRE

15-down – Quail flock found in tight plastic binding : SHRINKPACK

16-down – Give the lie to root in U-turn : REBUT

18-down – Freeing from fear of old truth in government : SOOTHING

19-down – Falsify view of security service on country : MISSTATE

22-down – Fabricated clue for a cheese : MADEUP

23-down – Despicable types of false witness wasting time : SWINES

24-down – See 1 : COCK

25-down – Either way, it’s a mistake : BOOB

27-down – See 19 across : SING

1-across – Random motion of particles when speed is altered : PEDESIS

5-across – Punishment not supported, basically : HANGING

9-across – Short story about not switching energy : CONTE

10-across – Computer entry a pundit corrected : INPUTDATA

11-across – One, following destruction of Reims, is close to death : INEXTREMIS

12-across – Extremely insensitive : DEAD

14-across – Very early form of cocaine belonging to French? : CRACKOFDAWN

18-across – Street cred possibly involves a hush-hush manufacturing advantage : TRADESECRET

21-across – Still, a reticent person needs a change of heart : CALM

22-across – Reverend’s mistake: lovey-dovey type is married : SPOONERISM

25-across – Old Cicero’s untidy file : CROCODILE

26-across – Say backing away from offence is a shadowy area : UMBRA

27-across – ‘Brummie King’ breaks shower dish : RAMEKIN

28-across – Plea from French criminal : DEFENCE

1-down – Excursion — choose to cut both ends off : PICNIC

2-down – Rough end absorbed by outstanding city : DUNDEE

3-down – A better means of seeing the sights : SPECTACLES

4-down – Do exceptionally well in cutting a Victorian adventure novel : SHINE

5-down – Seasonal worker’s dance, a groundbreaker, about to get backing : HOPPICKER

6-down – Shock over bananas : NUTS

7-down – A Yardie’s ground, supposedly : IDARESAY

8-down – Shielding us, having disposed of a large sum of cash : GUARDING

13-down – Dicky, given article and box, improvised : OFFTHECUFF

15-down – Revocation of a legacy, one associated with Piedmont organisation : ADEMPTION

16-down – Racer shares coach : STOCKCAR

17-down – Here are the ins and outs of a large office : MAILROOM

19-down – Historian, a big swinger : GIBBON

20-down – Run through one’s barrier : IMPALE

23-down – One and minus one, continuously : ONEND

24-down – Diamond tip : ROCK

1-across – Live to become father : BEGET

4-across – Nags husband foully, we hear : HENPECKS

8-across – Completely fail to take the Underground, son? : GODOWNTHETUBES

10-across – Pollutant in a Jersey ditch? : ACIDRAIN

11-across – Encouragement to start releases : LETSGO

12-across – Shin keeps itching in fleece : SHEEPSKIN

15-across – One bald unexpected remark : ADLIB

17-across – Spread over Spain : PASTE

18-across – Take an age to score a single : TWENTYONE

19-across – Popular artist’s cover announced : RAPPER

21-across – A small cat, not one from an Indian state : ASSAMESE

24-across – Promenade in accordance with law : CONSTITUTIONAL

25-across – Wanders listlessly, very keen for space travel : MOONSHOT

26-across – Such surgery scares a lot — not all coming back : LASER

1-down – Prose garbage, rewritten for the stage? : BEGGARSOPERA

2-down – So singled out for piety : GODLINESS

3-down – London tourist attraction, one exerting a pull : TOWER

4-down – Bash gate as one way to get out : HITWICKET

5-down – Carol and boyfriend? : NOEL

6-down – Old taxi worker in high spirits : EXUBERANT

7-down – 3s, for which one has permanent possession : KEEPS

9-down – Cheat who hands out too many cards? : DOUBLEDEALER

13-down – Time for a friendly game of football : PRESEASON

14-down – Muse tends to confuse — it’s inevitable : NEEDSMUST

16-down – Details not finalised, so one’s led into error : LOOSEENDS

20-down – Sort of finish picture : PHOTO

22-down – Poor Lear, interrupted by one from another play : ARIEL

23-down – Sound sad, vision being cut short : SIGH

5-across – They may draw diners in and earn some cash, totally without tips : AROMAS

6-across – Less than striking action in game’s nadir : GOSLOW

9-across – Holy, as reflected by almost all doctrine : SACRED

10-across – Relating to the elements, reach­ing exciting conclusions once carbon’s extracted : CLIMATIC

11-across – Draw, as rule, after switching sides : LURE

12-across – Mastered an amended part of commercial vocabulary : TRADENAMES

13-across – Centres of population, as found in the rest of the across answers : INNERCITIES

18-across – Equivalent of money, including capital, that is at the upper limit of growth : TIMBERLINE

21-across – Letters regularly falling out of mailbags, unfortunately : ALAS

22-across – Starting to create family in which you are reportedly growing up : MATURING

23-across – Seabird needed by grateful mariner : FULMAR

24-across – Vocal performance in opera included by impresario sometimes : ARIOSO

25-across – Soon switched my name, such as Brendan : ANONYM

1-down – Number of characters in Romeo and Juliet older than Juliet? Just so : FOURTEEN

2-down – Outlaw said in France to be gang member : BANDIT

3-down – Part of scale that is least likely to collapse : SOLIDEST

4-down – A large group of hunters ending off a domesticated mammal : ALPACA

5-down – Cooling system in a vehicle that’s helpful for summer? : ABACUS

7-down – Apply bleach when covering it : WHITEN

8-down – Almost fight over articles about cold fatty snack : SCRATCHINGS

14-down – Rise late, perhaps — or before all the others : EARLIEST

15-down – Allowing to get licence, finally, and catch fish : ENABLING

16-down – Producer of drone group of spies used to trap villain : CICADA

17-down – It spells end of vegetation, when put on a tree : NAPALM

19-down – Virus that is pierced by old medical instrument : BOUGIE

20-down – Initially formed euphemism from guy mostly concealing name : EFFING