Daily Answers

9-across – Typecast in play, initially hope for change : PETTYCASH

10-across – Away from the borders, raid a hostile state : IDAHO

11-across – Chair here : AINTREE

12-across – Oversexed pair flopping with film : PRIAPIC

13-across – Poet in old film : OVID

14-across – One could get fleeced here in court — lawyers principally stick together : WOOLSTAPLE

15-across – Careful of the short gap at end of runway : THRIFTY

17-across – Understand about opening heart in solemn procession : CORTEGE

19-across – Team given extra exam : ELEVENPLUS

22-across – Greta’s short dress : GARB

23-across – This thus inhibiting business graduate? : EMBARGO

24-across – Fish dish, head removed, filled with new parsley, perhaps : GARNISH

26-across – Turned over papers by the light : IDLED

27-across – Around time of arrival of train, leap out : PERINATAL

1-down – Festive polka he’d danced, an unexpected turn-up : SPEAKOFTHEDEVIL

2-down – Entering police speed trap, one gets nearer : STINGIER

3-down – Dreadful-sounding colourist : DYER

4-down – Type of sporting grey coat : CATEGORY

5-down – Red line covers a page in centre of worship : CHAPEL

6-down – Diplomat’s car back shortly : MINISTER

7-down – Male creature and baby get much more intense : RAMPUP

8-down – Arrogant, having an IQ of 150? : TOOCLEVERBYHALF

16-down – Non-contributory benefit for railway staff? : FREERIDE

17-down – Insistent solicitors are cold with people displaying emotion : CHUGGERS

18-down – Waste energy on coat I took in : EMACIATE

20-down – Blame for spilling marmalade, just having opened preserve : EMBALM

21-down – Speed effortlessly through part, not needing this? : PROMPT

25-down – Speaking plainly, not top level : RANK

1-across – Meal for four? : AFTERNOONTEA

8-across – Widely differing characters added to journal’s material : ORGANZA

9-across – Gutsy man went ahead, leaving wife behind : ENTERIC

11-across – England insignificant in past : BLIGHTY

12-across – Husband caught in fighting ultimately sent sideways : ATHWART

13-across – Capital for indigenous Aussies? : EUROS

14-across – Aristos expert with their fists? : ARCHDUKES

16-across – Many ladies feel uneasy, draping area with moveable sheets : LOOSELEAF

19-across – Measuring instrument’s forte, subtract one : METER

21-across – Militant god takes a look inside : ZEALOUS

23-across – Abandon cat : THROWUP

24-across – Forceful Republican enters in fall : DRIVING

25-across – Italian course is a fiddle, short­ened right at the start : RAVIOLI

26-across – American artist held by desperate criminal in Hollywood musical : EASTERPARADE

1-down – Rearing bats with greater spleen? : ANGRIER

2-down – Fish from narrow waterways missing river : TENCHES

3-down – Ideally suited tag line for forger? : READYMADE

4-down – Last overseas contributor to home game : OMEGA

5-down – Recognised bags children nicked : NOTCHED

6-down – Single out animal sanctuary, English branch first : EARMARK

7-down – With extra glass and large drink, took it easy after golf : DOUBLEGLAZED

10-down – Tactics Harpo contrived with dire outcome : CATASTROPHIC

15-down – Diner’s companion’s first to celebrate, bursting into song : CAFETERIA

17-down – Instrument from old vehicle in front of Audi : OCARINA

18-down – Narcissist, say, is wearing too much : EGOTIST

19-down – Gunners pursuing doctor through Czech region : MORAVIA

20-down – Supply power to breakdown equipment : TOWROPE

22-down – Tabloid : SUGAR

9-across – Plant, during historical period, run inside spy organisation : CINERARIA

10-across – See 20 : CARTA

11-across – Source of news heard in 1045 and 1115, for instance : TIMES

12-across – See 26 : MIRABILIS

13-across – They’re out every year, you said, breaking records : ANNUALS

14-across – Opening of games at Scottish town that got off to flying start in 1930 : GATWICK

17-across – Noted runners from previous era hurrying back : HARES

19-across – In 2001 he computed a bit less than 45 minutes? : HAL

20-across – Agreement commemorated in 2015 revised as act : MAGNA

21-across – Lecherous racist misbehaving around end of century : SATYRIC

22-across – From 2020, produces scores in sections over short time : BISECTS

24-across – Fun starting in 1913 irritated a lot left out : CROSSWORD

26-across – Dispersed in mass burial in 1666 : ANNUS

28-across – MP in 1983, initially, he was recalled for 1984 : BLAIR

29-across – Eve of historic event in 1916, for which date’s varying with year : EASTERDAY

1-down – Historical tax for one joining union in 1707 : SCOT

2-down – Call number set up, like a moment­ous step taken in 1969? : ONEMAN

3-down – France’s extremely dated monarch, unwelcome visitor : TRESPASSER

4-down – Prepares for 2027 and 2029, for example : PRIMES

5-down – 16th-century music distracted capital over half a century : MADRIGAL

6-down – Article penned by second-century bishop, one undermining union : SCAB

7-down – Military exercises that started to link two countries in 1988 : DRILLING

8-down – Parts of every year produce confusion, so to speak : DAYS

13-down – Since 1882, it marks success in tests for trees : ASHES

15-down – Properties split among people in 1117 : TIMESHARES

16-down – Takes off a Romantic author : KEATS

18-down – Like some numbers, within moderation always : RATIONAL

19-down – Male, having no heart about middle of 60s, was intimidating : HECTORED

22-down – Like hundreds of dates accepted by male singer, American tough guy : BADASS

23-down – Preserve commercial area in country since 1867 : CANADA

24-down – Hint, having book set in 1728, say : CUBE

25-down – Small rescue vessel, in 1945, lib­erated part of the British Isles : SARK

27-down – By the sound of it, a Channel Island providing oversea refuge in 1746 : SKYE

1-across – Notice society girl wearing ring : DISMISSAL

6-across – Start of virulent fever is uncertain : VAGUE

9-across – Pennies I organised in a heap : PILED

10-across – It’s popular because the Queen’s inside — that’s not true! : INSINCERE

11-across – Light infantry in degrading defeat : DEMOLITION

12-across – Known in Scotland and in the Home Counties : KENT

14-across – Threatened staff with a first-class degree : MENACED

15-across – Improve hospital in Cornish town with no parking zone : ENHANCE

17-across – Gossip allowed back to get personal property : CHATTEL

19-across – Her sins revealed in such hallowed places : SHRINES

20-across – Madness of king’s advancing years : RAGE

22-across – Corrupt grown-up English count : ADULTERATE

25-across – Maestro presenting opera at home in Ulster : TOSCANINI

26-across – Entertain European in Italian restaurant : TREAT

27-across – Forced rebel leader to be accepted by peacemaker : DROVE

28-across – Homicide drowning novice in more rum : STRANGLER

1-down – Tricked theologian to keep up on ecstasy : DUPED

2-down – A canal Sam renovated in Spain : SALAMANCA

3-down – Rude show entertains the Spanish : INDELICATE

4-down – Old Bob’s inclined to be very formal : STILTED

5-down – Pupil is a bit pliant : LISSOME

6-down – Very last trade : VEND

7-down – Given church land, bishop bursts into song : GLEBE

8-down – Standing vertically? : ERECTNESS

13-down – Prince not getting up for a dance : CHARLESTON

14-down – Spice assessed and softened by soaking : MACERATED

16-down – Iron panel forged to unequalled standard : NONPAREIL

18-down – Young men found old Penny in the little girls’ room : LADDIES

19-down – Serviceman finds one in metal alloy : SOLDIER

21-down – Angus touchily withholds enthusiasm : GUSTO

23-down – Landlord has no right to come in : ENTER

24-down – German bolted down mountain pass : GATE

7-across – They make good theatre — broadcast with reprise, even : REPAIRERS

8-across – Books into endless misery at Fawlty Towers? : HOTEL

9-across – Foundations of life on radio — ‘diverting, robustly educational, informative’ — that’s him : LORDREITH

10-across – Love is an entry for a sound relationship : ADORE

12-across – Petronas and Exxon initially put fish back to get source of oil : PEANUT

13-across – Shelves for books : RESERVES

14-across – Documentaries about losing minors’ letters in train : EDUCATE

17-across – In this way, prose would be got up, daringly exposed : TOPLESS

20-across – Perhaps annual staff meeting for partners in Reading : BOOKCLUB

22-across – Feminist bishop found in Latin bible, perhaps : LIBBER

24-across – See 4 : BLOCK

25-across – So long introduction to text, before contents of book, led oddly to Dickens character : TOODLEPIP

26-across – Grumble: lacking money, say : UTTER

27-across – Index in book makes desperate editor cry : DIRECTORY

1-down – Slim volume put back in centre section of bureau : REMOTE

2-down – Acerbic novel Conrad’s written about Italy : SARDONIC

3-down – Book by Sartre in translation : ARREST

4-down – Spooner says cad’s loud music is why he can’t start his book : WRITERS

5-down – Margin of book, its left edge on top : BORDER

6-down – Bold and loud, not able to listen? : FEARLESS

11-down – Was book’s content order intended to be restrictive? : ASBO

15-down – Barely a trickle of prose, a little limited in variation : DROPLETS

16-down – Follow spoken narrative : TALE

18-down – Book for music: TS Eliot losing special composition about brother : LIBRETTO

19-down – Boatman has absurd identity: lost and lifeless : ABIOTIC

21-down – Unexpected twist in US version of Pound: king taking knight : KICKER

22-down – Shelf with foremost of reference books : LEDGER

23-down – Outgoing type of regular mermaid girl, eh? : EMIGRE