Daily Answers

1-across – What’s to forgive? : PARDON

4-across – Poor firm in a cheerful mood : HARDUP

9-across – Power line in front of boat : PROW

10-across – It’s one evil fuse box : TELEVISION

11-across – Island represented by Oberon : BORNEO

12-across – Record collection formed by shrewd American composer : ARCHIVES

13-across – Arson clue possibly revealing criminal : LARCENOUS

15-across – One spy that is now clear : ISEE

16-across – Start to sink lower in boat : SCOW

17-across – Brief report translated for Welsh fans : NEWSFLASH

21-across – Settle Beethoven’s concerto? Not entirely : ENSCONCE

22-across – Area of low pressure in the Channel? : TROUGH

24-across – I have lead for phone receivers — without change : FIVEPENCES

25-across – Place for second prize : SPOT

26-across – Make fun of articles in this country : GUYANA

27-across – Round shot in tree or shrub : MYRTLE

1-down – Climbing frame formed by erecting a piece of wood? : PERGOLA

2-down – Argument over a name for a tree : ROWAN

3-down – Exhausted couple boarding old vessel : OUTWORN

5-down – Notice failing to provide guidance : ADVICE

6-down – Is music centre occupying sad sack? : DISMISSAL

7-down – I want to hear from you in the linguistics unit : PHONEME

8-down – Blackpool attraction — cheap reusable rock : PLEASUREBEACH

14-down – Awkward note on 4th of July : CROTCHETY

16-down – Louis XIV registered last in Strasbourg : SUNKING

18-down – Content with shaking fist? Speak about it : SATISFY

19-down – Gentleman of Verona taking end of clothes brush aside : SIGNORE

20-down – A new cleric from South America : ANDEAN

23-down – Start filming here? : ONSET

1-across – What beer maker does by the book : HEBREWS

5-across – Delivered from appalling deceit by rector : RECITED

9-across – Fire’s worse than this, they say : FRYINGPAN

10-across – Briefly, it is going to make fabric : TWILL

11-across – Omit captain : SKIP

12-across – Where to buy a jumper? : FLEAMARKET

14-across – Foreigner’s reason to travel : SENORA

15-across – Journalist’s self-introduction to make a stir : IMPRESS

16-across – Fixed arrangement with Edward : PLANTED

18-across – Good worker on railway platform : GANTRY

20-across – Throw fruit at singer : CHUCKBERRY

21-across – Fool of a fielder finally dropped : GULL

24-across – Old railway company acquires one ship : LINER

25-across – Flowing stream meets obstruction in its canals? : AMSTERDAM

26-across – Contemptuously treat group going to break up : DISBAND

27-across – Ruin meal, introducing a bit of controversy : SCUPPER

1-down – Lifts paper he’s holding : HEFTS

2-down – Stall: obtain herb here, they say : BUYTIME

3-down – Concerned to trap seabird : ERNE

4-down – Law of give and take? : SUPPLYANDDEMAND

5-down – Agonising errors ruined children’s game : RINGARINGOROSES

6-down – Stealing pet that’s briefly asleep? : CATNAPPING

7-down – Cause to laugh about river becoming thin stream : TRICKLE

8-down – Wrong suit led is weakening : DILUTES

13-down – Country OK? No, rather bad : NORTHKOREA

16-down – The best came first, drunk : PICKLED

17-down – Maul poor current students and one old one : ALUMNUS

19-down – Make conveniently bigger summary : ROUNDUP

22-down – Primate said to be capital : LEMUR

23-down – Exercise and sport in the country : PERU

1-across – Put in order: fish, one small fish, gutted : CODIFY

4-across – Put in order, keeping a model satisfied : PLACATED

9-across – Mob’s intention to hold absolutely nothing back : MAFIA

10-across – Learner on farm looking to the future : LONGRANGE

11-across – Classical position of president in square-dancing : ARABESQUE

12-across – Chicanery surrounding start of Hanoverian period : WHILE

13-across – Man used to going Dutch? : GRASSWIDOWER

17-across – Well-travelled commanders grouse about petty officer, drunk : COSMOPOLITAN

20-across – Welcome the way Derby’s turned out : HOWDY

21-across – Passage used by ground staff to publicise game? : AIRBRIDGE

23-across – Recurrent investment of new group from the East in traditional fuel : CONTINUAL

24-across – Puts up money to release sporting accessories : BAILS

25-across – Small bowlers for long-haul travellers? : SPACEMEN

26-across – Displayed last of art framed by retired artist : STAGED

1-down – Offensive politician a soldier knocked over in the loo? : CAMPAIGN

2-down – Agreement to limit combat leads to discharge : DEFRAYAL

3-down – Light feminine sparkly material … : FLAME

5-down – … unusually clean material for soldier : LANCECORPORAL

6-down – Revolution in Cuba reformed law there : CARTWHEEL

7-down – No German follows you in France to find a station : TUNEIN

8-down – Fuel runs out before rival ends : DIESEL

10-down – Possibly a kilolitre brew of liqueur is made : LIQUIDMEASURE

14-down – During function, Liberal joins right-wing plot : STORYLINE

15-down – Regularly sits up pining, burning the midnight oil : STUDYING

16-down – Not well up in prose? : UNVERSED

18-down – Strikes gain strength, it’s said : WHACKS

19-down – Country’s official staff arrested by troops : RWANDA

22-down – Counter Murphy’s raised, for example : REBUT

7-across – Despondent about you in France, stuck with tariff and unable to take any more : SATURATED

8-across – Call round : SHOUT

9-across – Sang loudly with band, due to being drunk : BELTEDOUT

10-across – Type of writing of period seen regularly : PROSE

12-across – Note my oddly original word : ETYMON

13-across – To want not a cent? Weird this is in both the US and Canada : LAKEERIE

14-across – Top pieces of literature in bookcases, recording and retelling yarns : LIBRARY

17-across – Habitat of Tasmanian devil, evolving with limited parts lost : SAVANNA

20-across – Capital writer, initially keen to meet aristocrat, loses head and gets kiss after a month : KARLMARX

22-across – Potentially constituent narrative ultimately lost for reader : LECTOR

24-across – Old penny dreadful seen as impenetrable : DENSE

25-across – One has bras etc in drawer! : DRAGQUEEN

26-across – Stir up novel so it ends in twist : BLEND

27-across – Cutlet of muscle core, chopped thin, zebra’s head and veal, even : SCHNITZEL

1-down – Genius of story books : TALENT

2-down – One who buys key American book by King : CUSTOMER

3-down – Study follows paperback’s plot : GARDEN

4-down – Continuations of story speak of search for sources of water : SEQUELS

5-down – Book about gravity’s reach in translation : CHARGE

6-down – ‘Mystery novel’ in quotes : QUESTION

11-down – Vegetable in book? Radish? : OKRA

15-down – She jointly made Columbus sail and able to roam : ISABELLA

16-down – Learn from a book: note, a hardback : READ

18-down – Stories in books : ACCOUNTS

19-down – Passage from a booklet : EXTRACT

21-down – Opposed to opening, dropping, opening, dropping? : LOSING

22-down – Old story offers a clue to boot : LEGEND

23-down – Epistolary novel: badly written letters in yarns? I opt out : OLEVEL

8-across – Privately, artist arrived? : INCAMERA

9-across – Break up as miserable, ending in divorce : PAUSE

10-across – Back in March, courthouse, school and shop all closing : HELP

11-across – Victoria, say, welcoming almost everyone with posh greeting : SALUTATION

12-across – Revolutionary pitched with other ranks on the counter : CASTRO

14-across – Domestic equipment silent after breaking in America : UTENSILS

15-across – Trees in a thicket cleared initially : ATFIRST

17-across – Suspiciously civil originally, a snake unfortunately constricts : ASKANCE

20-across – Infirm, old or ancient at the outset, terrible state : COLORADO

22-across – Player finding water in Aber­deenshire before birdie : DEEJAY

23-across – Loading old weapon, smarten oneself up a little : SPRINKLING

24-across – Donkey uninjured, rescued by yours truly : MOKE

25-across – Mug people making pianos? No way! : STEIN

26-across – Cheating male ultimately in wild rut with lady : ADULTERY

1-down – Virgin Queen’s gone in to communicate : INTERACT

2-down – Stay in temporary home that’s affected : CAMP

3-down – Building company securing tenements after evacuation, we must leave : LETSGO

4-down – Heartless love, something superficial and hard about it : CALLOUS

5-down – Perfectly clean vessel, topsail partly up : SPOTLESS

6-down – Place with book stores has maybe shown up : PUTTOSHAME

7-down – Wind after winter, therefore, ends: spring back : RECOIL

13-down – Extinct arthropods, one preserved in lobster, it could be? : TRILOBITES

16-down – How far across? Most vulnerable man is hiding : SPANKING

18-down – Items pulled, unhinged : CRACKERS

19-down – Break wind idly and hiccup audibly, ordering starters : HOLIDAY

21-down – Pages breaking free skimmed off counter : OPPOSE

22-down – Trench expected shortly to get disease : DUGOUT

24-down – Final move for couple : MATE