Daily Answers

9-across – The first victim? : APRILFOOL

10-across – Left in hollow to give birth : CALVE

11-across – Men in game who are easily manipulated : PAWNS

12-across – One short of a majority? : SEVENTEEN

13-across – Not entirely biased? : PARTIAL

14-across – Taking off from sound in this direction : BEARING

17-across – Arab in small car : SAUDI

19-across – In a team he doesn’t pull his weight : COX

20-across – Open new container of pasta : PENNE

21-across – Walk ungainly past front of truck for garbage : TWADDLE

22-across – Horny Scottish supporter : UNICORN

24-across – Limit on search for food assumed by soldiers : FORAGECAP

26-across – Dread slithering snake : ADDER

28-across – Change dress for hours of work : SHIFT

29-across – Be unsteady, vital lace coming undone : VACILLATE

1-down – Insect lived quietly : WASP

2-down – Farmer, good man in an argument : GROWER

3-down – Like some ads to be withheld for security : CLASSIFIED

4-down – Briefly ask advice of diplomat : CONSUL

5-down – Does it store things taken off your hands? : GLOVEBOX

6-down – I study religious figure : ICON

7-down – African with some spice wrapped in sugar? : ALGERIAN

8-down – Girl cuts end off trousers : JEAN

13-down – Assume one opens the letters : POSIT

15-down – Relevant program on TV about Blair regularly skipped : APPLICABLE

16-down – Pick up article in valley : GLEAN

18-down – Brave being involved in a fraud : UNAFRAID

19-down – Forcing to break ice cover : COERCIVE

22-down – Clear case? : UNPACK

23-down – Torture alternative: to bargain : ORDEAL

24-down – Commotion, following American warship : FUSS

25-down – Old German received at hospital : GOTH

27-down – Bank’s not entirely free finance : REEF

8-across – Girl finding Vauxhall, say, and Oval on the 26, perhaps? : CAROLINE

9-across – Native American, old and wise : OSAGE

10-across – See 2 : BITE

11-across – Barking noted with terminus in Upminster, best Underground station : BONDSTREET

12-across – One asking Paddington, say, to eat horse : BEGGAR

14-across – Legendary bull’s home pumped with oxygen thus, as preservative : CREOSOTE

15-across – First of trains passing through Monument as a rule : STATUTE

17-across – Appear clumsy in golf with a wedge, ending in bush : GALUMPH

20-across – Both end with Underground in Barking : ROUNDTHE

22-across – Temple, a resident there is welcomed in by father : PAGODA

23-across – Master of creativity, heart rate around about a hundred : ARTTEACHER

24-across – See 20 : BEND

25-across – For example, Nobel Prizes we deigned to accept : SWEDE

26-across – Duke of Wellington at Waterloo, one ahead of a sovereign : VICTORIA

1-down – Plain, fine letters sent in the post : MANIFEST

2-down – Black eye initially violet, forming bruise on skin : LOVE

3-down – Feller’s call to take leadership from merchant bankers in Bank : TIMBER

4-down – Poor white American taking wine with spoon : REDNECK

5-down – Climber from Stanmore going down the tube : MONSTERA

6-down – Airbrush out borders in removing Pennsylvania city : HARRISBURG

7-down – Bored, it’s suggested? Take down Waterloo : DEFEAT

13-down – Might granny shove off? : GETKNOTTED

16-down – Flyer values monitors and adjusts a chemical : TITRATES

18-down – Particular doctor painted on canvas, primarily : PEDANTIC

19-down – Workers’s home in High Barnet? : BEEHIVE

21-down – Flood is over the grass : ONRUSH

22-down – Crime, good and exciting : PIRACY

24-down – Error on the Tube, perhaps? : BOOB

1-across – What gambler may do, missing unknown signs : PLACARDS

5-across – Assurance from a doctor about pallor in odd places : APLOMB

9-across – Is it driver James or MP Jeremy reported persecution? : WITCHHUNT

11-across – Religious adversary, not half grotesque : ANTIC

12-across – Hedonistic ways of husband, following dainty pair of girls : PRIMROSEPATH

15-across – Warning what a misandrist wants? : OMEN

16-across – African in evening wear and I attack Scot : DJIBOUTIAN

18-across – Unfriendly bird’s way to kick horse, say : COLDTURKEY

19-across – Poet’s lost face, having wagered money : ANTE

21-across – Hoping to get a small ratio using integers : ASPIRATIONAL

24-across – Big star back to bowl a slow delivery : DRAWL

25-across – Deplores what top managers are paid? : EXECRATES

26-across – Loves entertaining composer, not one to dramatise : OVERDO

27-across – Fellow feeling inhibited accepts to lightly touch setter’s back : SYMPATHY

1-down – Assistant with navy, one of many on board : PAWN

2-down – Key element of air for singer : ALTO

3-down – Stick bill on present : ADHERE

4-down – Muttered furiously, poked by weighty girl with a stick : DRUMMAJORETTE

6-down – Paul left distraught, making some scoff : PLATEFUL

7-down – Invalid, incorrect legal document one cuts : OUTPATIENT

8-down – Shot or pass defender’s stifled : BACKHANDER

10-down – Annoyingly, criminal stole my investing money abroad : TROUBLESOMELY

13-down – Bird eats hot dog, possibly uncertain : TOUCHANDGO

14-down – Fiddle with glass covering hotel — you can see through it : CELLOPHANE

17-down – Dawn light caused a shock : STARTLED

20-down – Ruler and predecessor of Sun King, one with power : SATRAP

22-down – Don’t delete this shot’s frame on film : STET

23-down – See tablets pharmacy’s packaging : ESPY

1-across – Bare-legged, perhaps, avoiding ugly leer of despicable person : BADEGG

5-across – With right to be called, let it end badly : ENTITLED

9-across – Buzzer and horn sound about right for Russian course requirement : BEETROOT

10-across – Press ID : PAPERS

11-across – Bride can suss out contact information : BUSINESSCARD

13-across – Wind and fire wiping out half the network system : WIFI

14-across – Regularly repair musical instrument’s sound receivers : EARDRUMS

17-across – Success with other arrangement so far : HITHERTO

18-across – Bias of south-facing gardens : SKEW

20-across – High on drugs, ruins the environment : SURROUNDINGS

23-across – This source of insect sounds almost a type of food : TIMBAL

24-across – Willing in the morning to empower : AMENABLE

25-across – Once more fire in nerd-like fashion : REKINDLE

26-across – Internet mob organisation : ENTOMB

2-down – Top copy chased by Times : APEX

3-down – Found Basil Faulty in east of France hotel! : ESTABLISH

4-down – Bereavement between the covers of gay magazine : GLOSSY

5-down – Perhaps French camping call centre restricted agreement : ENTENTECORDIALE

6-down – Record attempt to cover pole in fabric : TAPESTRY

7-down – Subject to choice, but not quite : TOPIC

8-down – Regularly repair musical instrument’s sound amplifier : EARTRUMPET

12-down – Four in cast mutinied, like Piglet : DIMINUTIVE

15-down – Proof of wanton tartiness : RESISTANT

16-down – Anxious heart of Putin: his currency finally devalued : TROUBLED

19-down – Southwestern enterprise zone vacated in allergic response : SNEEZE

21-down – Man of religion employed by Arab billionaire : RABBI

22-down – Type of rock garden looked a mess to begin with : GLAM

1-across – Growth-restricted marsupial gets tense before jump : ROOTBOUND

6-across – Year in prison shade : CYAN

8-across – Colouring agent’s no good without positive temperature : DYESTUFF

9-across – Indication of impact: scattered red dust : POWDER

10-across – Complaint of Cruel Sea’s debut production : ULCERS

11-across – Is a ham put out to carve, son? : OVERACTS

12-across – Articles about next Greek deity : ATHENA

15-across – Experience flu outbreak that’s not common : TASTEFUL

16-across – USSR in a mess, following pressure from an older European state : PRUSSIAN

19-across – Work on engine to remove cocaine traces? : DECOKE

21-across – After drink, rock group has drugs for another group : SUPREMES

22-across – Nameless wild flower : VIOLET

24-across – Is perversely advanced still : SILENT

25-across – Up to date on focus again : RECENTRE

26-across – Refreshment left for bird : TEAL

27-across – City game after US guy’s comeback : CAMBRIDGE

1-down – August: put gold back : ROYAL

2-down – Pornographic old book site : OBSCENE

3-down – University representative’s sad song? : BLUES

4-down – Frank, given space, gets ahead : UPFRONT

5-down – Act to hold newspapers down : DEPRESSED

6-down – Bully with bar on end of rope is a danger to cattle : COWBANE

7-down – Astonished by one-way fold : AWESTRUCK

13-down – Quite sour, off colour : TURQUOISE

14-down – Aix exploded atomic device, no question about it : AXIOMATIC

17-down – Stop circling source of Ugandan rivers — it’s bizarre! : SURREAL

18-down – No way drink is medicine! : NOSTRUM

20-down – Boasted about name being made regal : CROWNED

22-down – Minister against electric current saloon? : VICAR

23-down – High spot — of English year, that is : EYRIE