Daily Answers

1-across – Drivers get through distance that’s unnatural : MIRACLE

5-across – No peace till one’s buried : HATCHET

9-across – Melon, rotten fruit : LEMON

10-across – Board wanted to get you on board : GANGPLANK

11-across – Her husband-to-be was a slippery customer : CINDERELLA

12-across – Trunk not to be opened roughly : ORSO

14-across – Resolute mob rioting is vexatious : TROUBLESOME

18-across – Seeking computer technology is inviting trouble : ASKINGFORIT

21-across – Precious way to start a letter : DEAR

22-across – Housecoat a stone’s throw away? : PEBBLEDASH

25-across – Weed, crushed, smells oddly : GROUNDSEL

26-across – Schoolteacher’s random call? : HEADS

27-across – Showing no emotion over divine corpse : DEADPAN

28-across – Commend phone function to roam : APPROVE

1-down – Out of spite, start to malign girl : MALICE

2-down – Make one think again : REMIND

3-down – Competitor cannot broadcast about match : CONTESTANT

4-down – Excellent performance on course for high-flyer : EAGLE

5-down – Fragment of Messiah heard, part of a cycle : HANDLEBAR

6-down – Get a peep inside binder : TAPE

7-down – Top-level clearance : HEADROOM

8-down – Assume control of Special K and overeat : TAKEOVER

13-down – Be sacked — and guillotined? : GETTHECHOP

15-down – Less popular time to be on shore, presumably, with boy : OFFSEASON

16-down – Players got on, plastered : BANDAGED

17-down – Musical would be fine, if shortened : OKLAHOMA

19-down – Tries hard with a cereal : HASAGO

20-down – Restrained? Cheats appallingly : CHASTE

23-down – A block picked up is wood : BALSA

24-down – Very light haircut a bargain? : SNIP

7-across – Criminal admits licking something fried : CROUTON

8-across – Best man didn’t notice a formality in speech : MRRIGHT

9-across – Sell car back : FLOG

10-across – Back, then racket forwards in sport : SECONDROW

12-across – Quiet table switching political allegiance twice? : ALLAY

13-across – Shooter in star causing unnecessary distress : ALARMIST

15-across – What queen has, sacrificing knight for rook : CROW

16-across – Group rooted to the spot, force people to speak? : COPSE

17-across – Obstinate type, cross : MULE

18-across – Husband into juvenile behaviour? Not much! : FARTHING

20-across – Loose horse, another on the outside? : BAGGY

21-across – Blaze initially beyond fury, something exceptional needed to contain it — might this help? : FIREBREAK

22-across – Focus of beam, say, without a light : EASY

24-across – Unfamiliar rule written by enemy, detailed : FOREIGN

25-across – Article quite new? Not this : ANTIQUE

1-down – Test for a lover to embrace : ORAL

2-down – Residence in block, a squat : BUNGALOW

3-down – Warm actors, not cold in play : TOASTY

4-down – Hearing case, figure in dock : TRUNCATE

5-down – Two characters together, like sheep : DIGRAM

6-down – I’m relieved only a small number reported? : PHEW

11-down – Drink in artificial glass, we hear? : CHAMPAGNE

12-down – Tube from Chelsea, or taxi? : AORTA

14-down – Crack attack : SALLY

16-down – Game reserve is breeding buffalo, originally in captivity? : CRIBBAGE

17-down – Land seen in charming drawing? : MAGNETIC

19-down – Failed state? : TURKEY

20-down – Monarch inviting all into the bedroom for sport : BIKING

21-down – Trifle with dessert : FOOL

23-down – Hit idler : SLUG

1-across – Stand in place on island in river : DEPUTISE

5-across – Minister losing head meeting American — one on perilous journey : ICARUS

9-across – Place for parliamentary beast — slob’s a clue : BOLSOVER

10-across – Big cloud making one under the weather in part of London : BILLOW

12-across – Sweet little boy seen taking the lead : SPOTTEDDICK

15-across – Drink tea when meeting doctor : MOCHA

17-across – Ethical business — or one getting some taken for a ride? : FAIRTRADE

18-across – Heretic Tories naughtily invading student organisation : NESTORIUS

19-across – Roof worker returning with new enthusiasm? : RELIT

20-across – What Jacob wrenched from Esau, being the cannier, I fancy : INHERITANCE

24-across – Small message prohibiting certain headgear : BANTAM

25-across – Cleaner has everyone locked in entertainment hall : BALLROOM

26-across – The second drink ending in disaster : LATTER

27-across – This place, with the others around it, is heavenly : ETHEREAL

1-down – Like English chaps in financial difficulty, in shame : DEBASEMENT

2-down – Slip in the bedroom : PILLOWCASE

3-down – Dodgy operator catching river fish : TROUT

4-down – The fops glide around — can’t go any faster : SPEEDOFLIGHT

6-down – Bat, maybe, showing hesitation to pursue insect : CRICKETER

7-down – Start making bread? : ROLL

8-down – Broadcast from name-dropping Channel 4 presenter : SOWN

11-down – Evil vicar’s abused scripture — minister may hear from me : CIVILSERVANT

13-down – Female, exhausted, see, temptress first off to have emotional experience : FALLINLOVE

14-down – Good source of energy alternative — fellow briefly giving its description? : GEOTHERMAL

16-down – Hate in province with rabble rising in the grip of a troublemaker : ABOMINATE

21-down – Mark’s hat worn by daughter : TILDE

22-down – Report of competent shepherd : ABEL

23-down – Upcoming strike creates difficulty : KNOT

1-across – Socialist supporter securing a British isle : FABIAN

4-across – Good person keeps longing for container : SACHET

9-across – Landlady’s army : HOST

10-across – Mineral cup — one dropped by academic before end of ceremony : CHALCEDONY

11-across – Look hard, taking in 5, and go hungry : STARVE

12-across – Drug arrest in dog Latin? : CANNABIS

13-across – Litigant’s unsophisticated argument : PLAINTIFF

15-across – Plant nothing in drink : ALOE

16-across – Reliable sort of music : ROCK

17-across – Mark with sorrow, keeping Catholic back from crop protector : SCARECROW

21-across – Church painter, perhaps, or reformer : CHARTIST

22-across – Have words with motorist of sorts, catching cold : BICKER

24-across – Stupid stories about journalist’s headmaster : DUMBLEDORE

25-across – Capital of 15, mostly, getting turban adjusted : ULAN

26-across – Things discharged from cortege, startlingly : EGESTA

27-across – Sound of instrument gives sign : SYMBOL

1-down – Concerning anterior part of flat iron dropping one off : FRONTAL

2-down – See 25 : BATOR

3-down – Old emmet’s nice mess absorbed : ANCIENT

5-down – A headless whale keeping a number of secrets : ARCANA

6-down – Chair duly arranged to be driven by liquid : HYDRAULIC

7-down – Part of roof covering spaces that may be stretched : TENSILE

8-down – Hardening Muslim leader receiving 100 — one hundred — a hundred divided by one : CALCIFICATION

14-down – Cop for fit that’s beyond remedy : INCURABLE

16-down – Find new home for ambassador held up by wake : REHOUSE

18-down – Tough composer endlessly set in stone : RUBBERY

19-down – Supreme general : OVERALL

20-down – Strip joints given time : DIVEST

23-down – Drink, in the old days, uplifted cartoonist : CRUMB

1-across – Ends up overwhelmed with glory, which is very sweet : GOLDENSYRUP

9-across – Done being Pacino fan? : ALLOVER

10-across – Put a stop to power plant’s strategy for bridge : ENDPLAY

11-across – Labour’s bound to reveal the exploitation business : SWEATSHOP

12-across – Spooner could polish off this limerick writer, son, in a stroke! : CLEAR

13-across – Parrot house downsized after first signs of economy cuts : ECHO

14-across – Stressed but having fewer wrinkles than you should? : UNDERLINED

16-across – Political clique’s go-go fun — far out : GANGOFFOUR

19-across – See 12 : SOUP

21-across – Hairstyle covers very retro crew member : BOSUN

22-across – Say euro is around about $1,000, gross : EGREGIOUS

24-across – Retiring Kitty’s oddly shy, producing lamb’s ears : STACHYS

25-across – Finding composer’s taken to court : VERDICT

26-across – Women met with pre-arranged authorisation : EMPOWERMENT

1-down – Midas-like grip necessary to get rid of employee? : GOLDENHANDSHAKE

2-down – Blue-green, large old vessel : LOVAT

3-down – Are rocks, therefore, like pottery? : EARTHEN

4-down – Author of romances claiming page has English construction : STEEPLE

5-down – Scorn queen? Brummie would, with one fine-tuned clue : RIDICULE

6-down – No forward-looking scientist freely goes to an oil plant that’s nameless : PALAEONTOLOGIST

7-down – Nuisance Hardy appropriates pair of shorts : HASSLE

8-down – Cross Henry I appearing in Byrd composition : HYBRID

15-down – Nowt wrong with singular joint settlement : TOWNSHIP

16-down – Fail to progress sculpture : GOBUST

17-down – Worry, saying: That will make a fine cut : FRETSAW

18-down – Away from the estuary, excited motorist loses lead : UPRIVER

20-down – Feeling common to language : PASHTO

23-down – Prickly shrub’s stick pierced by sun : GORSE