Daily Answers

1-across – Meet South African model returning before start of fashion year : SATISFY

5-across – Try getting place in athletic 23 : SHOTPUT

9-across – Join university side, leaving in the morning : UNITE

10-across – Charm hostage over a time : CAPTIVATE

11-across – Party has a politician that’s informative : REVELATORY

12-across – Heat black fossil fuel : BOIL

14-across – Remaining excellent : OUTSTANDING

18-across – Firework in love story about foreign land : ROMANCANDLE

21-across – Works a treat, reversing to include charge : TASK

22-across – No pay rise, as few agree arrange­ment before final letter to Europe : WAGEFREEZE

25-across – Feature sensible dinner service : CHINAWARE

26-across – Old first to be present : EXIST

27-across – Left top off groups of bananas as meals : LUNCHES

28-across – Nominal time in strange ritual : TITULAR

1-down – True Conservative shape : SQUARE

2-down – Pinch article about one empty vehicle : THIEVE

3-down – Entranced by time before spring : SPELLBOUND

4-down – Leaders of yesteryear approach captain helming tourist vessel : YACHT

5-down – Curtains put up across mantle regularly pulled apart : SEPARATED

6-down – Notice of death from mosquito bite : OBIT

7-down – Non-physical complaint head of medicine dismissed wrongly : PLATONIC

8-down – Old record those people keep for study of religion : THEOLOGY

13-down – Tender name broadcast as expression of love : ENDEARMENT

15-down – Hooligans drop onto a path leading south : TEARAWAYS

16-down – Crazy mount rearing following quiet procedure : PROTOCOL

17-down – Love calling for exclusion : OMISSION

19-down – Den raised after a bit of excitement in the air : AERIAL

20-down – Fool rejects shuffling with no clubs : JESTER

23-down – English opening race perhaps : EVENT

24-down – Clean with volcanic dust : WASH

7-across – Worked to gain experience under malign influence? : DEVILLED

9-across – Army colonel’s last two rooms reasonably priced here : HOSTEL

10-across – All but one of team in Lord’s practice session succeeding? : NEXT

11-across – Article added to champion Scot’s memorabilia : VICTORIANA

12-across – Conclusive statement about Irish flyers : AIRMEN

14-across – Hot meal enlivened with a drop of neat alcohol : METHANOL

15-across – Read out two letters too many : EXCESS

17-across – Faithful man of God admits brief deception : STRICT

20-across – Quirky novel set in secret hideaway : LOVENEST

22-across – Hare in poor health close to exhaustion : RUNLOW

23-across – Complex first stage for heating engineers? : GASFITTERS

24-across – Sightseers here perhaps inclined to knock back a little drink : PISA

25-across – Trace sister pinching a case of champagne : NUANCE

26-across – Reflective nature of mystery plays with mass participation : SYMMETRY

1-down – Screen rock legend holding his head in empty theatre : TELEVISE

2-down – Clue from winner eclipsing Boatman’s last : HINT

3-down – In Madrid, the consistent team? : ELEVEN

4-down – Electrical device starts to adjust tension 19 fiddled with first : RHEOSTAT

5-down – Appraisal Nutmeg’s given in online post? : ESTIMATION

6-down – Supported building, somewhere youth can go, as Spooner might have it : LEANTO

8-down – Leave European Community, breaking restraint on power : DECAMP

13-down – Jester may take this Scandinavian drink with added extra : MICKEYFINN

16-down – We put in hardened seed to produce plant : SWEETPEA

18-down – Addict invested in retro fashion bags : TROUSERS

19-down – Balance books for ladies : OTHERS

21-down – Impenetrable work leads to awkward questions, upsetting editor : OPAQUE

22-down – Have the audacity to reject initial synopsis : RESUME

24-down – Rome’s commoner people brought sandwiches : PLEB

7-across – Works of Shakespeare special : SONNETS

8-across – Is aware of discussing one patient’s operation : NOSEJOB

9-across – Rubbish! Best to leave quietly and say nothing : TOSH

10-across – She dreads wearing tiara : HEADDRESS

12-across – Artwork : MYBED

13-across – More difficult in larger form : GNARLIER

15-across – Caught by tabloid’s bluff : CRAG

16-across – Try to take off, but freak out : GOAPE

17-across – Representing American marketplaces : FORA

18-across – Attacks with a ‘furious fastid­iousness’, ultimately — fine to ignore flaws : ASSAULTS

20-across – Sly individual leaving stand : STALL

21-across – Show active disrespect for one poor critic’s conclusions — teased outrageously : DESECRATE

22-across – Stops but still in front : BARS

24-across – Is sure to be injured — athlete’s back put out again : REISSUE

25-across – Makes Charlie see art fancifully : CREATES

1-down – Work’s been mounted, look … as sport : POLO

2-down – Secured hat, being windy : INTHEBAG

3-down – Made an impression and got fellow going : ETCHED

4-down – Paddy on the way? : ROADRAGE

5-down – Take great delight over one in show : REVEAL

6-down – One’s embarrassed for ages : EONS

11-down – Roads sound here mainly : AEGEANSEA

12-down – Acknowledges Kelvin in bar : MARKS

14-down – Admit when Rolf’s taken in : ENROL

16-down – Whip-round by group for driver? : GOLFCLUB

17-down – Light hit lover with force on head : FLAMBEAU

19-down – Judge, after tip-off, goes by — heading for Specsavers? : ASSESS

20-down – Model gets disheartened over artist’s range : SIERRA

21-down – Parliament’s reduced intake : DIET

23-down – One can’t fly? Try cycling! : RHEA

1-across – One may go up in a few ticks : TIMEBOMB

5-across – Alluring, one’s castle : GLAMIS

9-across – Plain, nothing to excite cockney : NOFRILLS

10-across – Sort of chest that may be scraped : BARREL

12-across – Order thesaurus in online form? : EDICT

13-across – Relatives reform, being adaptable : VERSATILE

14-across – British legislating blasted for its bad language : BILLINGSGATE

18-across – Staying in bed, say, a great honour for a body : LYINGINSTATE

21-across – The Commonwealth: it could hardly be more distant from Britain : AUSTRALIA

23-across – Refuse left by dyke builder : OFFAL

24-across – Giving a signal to be lining up for hearing : CUEING

25-across – Officer rank needed to win a seat? : MAJORITY

26-across – Getting to the end of this exhausts one’s patience : TETHER

27-across – Flag when monarch’s aboard ship : STREAMER

1-down – Sensitive to pain in small boat : TENDER

2-down – Almost making a mess of cake : MUFFIN

3-down – Looking offended, finding bit of toenail in small fish : BRISTLING

4-down – Man forcefully expelling one with ill will : MALEVOLENTLY

6-down – Some small Amazonian animal : LLAMA

7-down – Alarming to be treated as almost irrelevant : MARGINAL

8-down – Served in the army? Not one joined : SOLDERED

11-down – Dancing, a girl hadn’t to lose all momentum : GRINDTOAHALT

15-down – Italian speaking in a whisper : SOTTOVOCE

16-down – Respectably neat, is one less likely to be infected? : CLEANCUT

17-down – Teacher locked up, being wasted : MISSPENT

19-down – Assert a company must employ female : AFFIRM

20-down – One taking piano course? : PLAYER

22-down – What storms do, circling northern mountains : RANGE

1-across – Top wise man’s present in photo: Ivory Coast’s borders breached in dubious triumph : PYRRHICVICTORY

9-across – Wandering eyes of men only New York must briefly restrain : NYSTAGMUS

10-across – Food from Jesus himself : SUSHI

11-across – Upset voter and the result is obvious : OVERT

12-across – Stories circulating about current ban : OSTRACISE

13-across – Readily available tinsel uncovered by a boy : INSEASON

14-across – Tell Philistine to banish love that’s weak : INFIRM

17-across – Pets regularly bite? Avoid! : ESCHEW

19-across – So what’s new? Court is to exercise discretion : SHOWTACT

22-across – Find oneself nothing French to eat cooked outside : ORIENTATE

24-across – Party leader pursues old edu­cational institution’s growth : POLYP

25-across – Shear predator : SHARK

26-across – Heading west, not even admitting making a mistake, shows bravado : DERRINGDO

27-across – Commotion after sticky stuff sent in to fix infernal paving : GOODINTENTIONS

1-down – Him backed around me in one part so comical? : PANTOMIMEHORSE

2-down – Bacon as artist cleared sketches framing the woman : RASHERS

3-down – Pick up and treat irregular pulse : HEARTRATE

4-down – Usual big green space or much smaller one : COMMONOR

5-down – Unmoved by fashionable tailored suit : INSITU

6-down – Musky product served up in an oriental setting : TESLA

7-down – Sins of old age were his: terrible sins hidden by king of France : ROSSINI

8-down – A posh term for linguistic faux pas? : MIXEDMETAPHORS

15-down – Fresh run of paper : NEWSPRINT

16-down – What may replace toes here : SHOETREE

18-down – Mexican American’s elegant before a rejection : CHICANO

20-down – Fast or rising support for everyone, say : ALLEGRO

21-down – See 4 : GARDEN

23-down – Turned up, primarily dropping even knickers : NAKED