Daily Answers

9-across – A small drink including minimum of table wine for starters : ANTIPASTI

10-across – Scrub backs in the lower area, various vertebrae : ERASE

11-across – Utter fool to get help : SUCCOUR

12-across – More war-wounded, number hard to forget? : EARWORM

13-across – Channel slips by this? : GULLY

14-across – Extreme agony among legation trained to embrace sport : INGROWING

16-across – Man of God in Ireland, eg reformed chief executive : DIRECTORGENERAL

19-across – Army rank rejected in case of gerund being a lexicographical oddity : GHOSTWORD

21-across – Small group covering article in soil, turned over : TRIAD

22-across – See 14 : TOENAIL

23-across – See 25 : HEARING

24-across – Man bit arm : PIECE

25-across – Cutting hedges optional — sense avoiding the thorny bits? : SELECTIVE

1-down – Long canine in Dracula, I guess, as long when oddly shaped? : SAUSAGEDOG

2-down – Label outlining conclusion of anal pedant : STICKLER

3-down – Weird seeing something brown in blue : SPOOKY

4-down – Druggie into Jailhouse Rock : USER

5-down – Free design smeared on grey : DISENGAGED

6-down – Slowly drain English river and Irish county : WEARDOWN

7-down – Thespian, one supporting someone with a ladder : JACOBI

8-down – See 23 : TERM

14-down – Faith being questioned in party heading for office, amid dubious claims : ICONOCLASM

15-down – Avaricious type like godhead coming in earlier after greedy principal : GOLDDIGGER

17-down – Salts with it in boxes : CITRATES

18-down – Having scratched bottom, chance to embrace scent around rear of khazi, causing inflammation of nose : RHINITIS

20-down – Specialist with bat or jemmy, perhaps? : OPENER

21-down – Suspicion surrounding Beethoven’s Ninth in electronic music : TRANCE

22-down – Mistake reporting Italian river in Bangkok? : TYPO

23-down – Break in end of paragraph where N-Z found to include L : HALF

7-across – Capital, once a way to make an artist : BONNARD

8-across – Set aside sci-fi film ring : ANNULET

9-across – Big shot: How annoying to be rejected : STAR

10-across – Thrift makes old man cut drink : HUSBANDRY

12-across – Bear stall : STAND

13-across – Not like Cambridge cherry loaf? : REDBRICK

15-across – Sort of bordering on tense : EDGY

16-across – Much abbreviated service offered by some councils to motorists’ family group : PRIDE

17-across – Provided partially overlapping state singer : PIAF

18-across – Get back into the habit of playing to lecher : RECLOTHE

20-across – Second heat gets crowd : SWARM

21-across – Oil neck part with hesitation? : PETROLEUM

22-across – Clio’s motorway exploit? : MUSE

24-across – Puts on shades : SCREENS

25-across – Ego-less, trembling internal light : LANTERN

1-down – Son welcomed by fashionable party-giver : HOST

2-down – Cry from wolf, perhaps, breaking gate : ENTREATY

3-down – Mythical sea monster, camouflaged — blooming thing! : ORCHID

4-down – Ground: land used to bring rider to earth : UNSADDLE

5-down – Top champion horse raised : MURDER

6-down – Females gathered for drink : BEVY

11-down – Divine drawing of lots of egrets smeared with oil : SORTILEGE

12-down – Spades have advantage on grass : SEDGE

14-down – Wrong to follow cocaine appeal : CHARM

16-down – Cup certain to be too big for its container : POTBOUND

17-down – One in nursery, possibly cultivated yam wearing coat : PLAYMATE

19-down – Refuse transport for patient : LITTER

20-down – Craft’s auxiliary masts tops stuck in bridge : SAMPAN

21-down – Four suits put in case? : PACK

23-down – Fail to stick with one channel sea feature : SURF

9-across – With time, successor of both : THEIR

10-across – Father goes to Minorca, having break that’s all-inclusive : PANORAMIC

11-across – Horse-drawn vehicle industry : DILIGENCE

12-across – Scrap when Communist is told to be quiet! : SHRED

13-across – I meant a change to liven things up : ANIMATE

15-across – Short of shotguns? : SAWNOFF

17-across – No, no, not here! : THERE

18-across – Due to take bus back : SUB

20-across – Appeal in two ways : REFER

22-across – Pause as priest turns a key : RESPITE

25-across – Fool’s rude, that’s for certain : ASSURED

26-across – Panic, losing head, and slip : ERROR

27-across – Design pet device, but not what it seems at first : DECEPTIVE

30-across – Judge a little speed to be about right : ARBITRATE

31-across – Symbol of sovereignty King Charles had to acknowledge : CROWN

1-down – Endless reading for a boss : STUD

2-down – Worst type of underground heating? : HELLFIRE

3-down – End of spinnaker in large sailing ship : BRIG

4-down – Painless exercise for dogs : SPANIELS

5-down – Ernest goes out for records : ENTERS

6-down – Angry expressions that call for solutions : CROSSWORDS

7-down – It grows more by development : EMBRYO

8-down – Drug found in a police department : ACID

13-down – His professionalism may be brought into play : ACTOR

14-down – Improve meal or I eat out : AMELIORATE

16-down – Given the sack with enthusiasm : FIRED

19-down – Subsidiary offices of the Forestry Commission? : BRANCHES

21-down – Inferior sort of poker, perhaps? : FIREIRON

23-down – Score as a writer : SCRIBE

24-down – Make attractive object — a listening device : ENDEAR

26-down – Dutch product manufactured to be sent North : EDAM

28-down – Old northerner caught in a trap : PICT

29-down – Mount found in Estonia, oddly enough : ETNA

1-across – Perhaps Siamese, but not Thai food, here? : CATCAFE

5-across – Very wonderful edition, which can be folded : SOFABED

9-across – Backed at high price to cover kilometres on a slope : RAKED

10-across – Took a break, having minor illness: sacked! : CHILLAXED

11-across – Kicking me out, man un­known: his revenge? : MONTEZUMA

12-across – At first, railway invested in just sufficient rail : BARRE

13-across – Cavern rent by large split : CLOVE

15-across – Unprincipled position spoken in friendship : AMORALITY

18-across – Putting off the calming of excitement? : DEFERMENT

19-across – Time after time, winning card one doesn’t play : TACET

21-across – With dry wit, his life’s said to be carefree : WRYLY

23-across – Criminal broke into cart, a bloomer : WAKEROBIN

25-across – Violent criminal, a sheep rustler? : RAMRAIDER

26-across – Precisely correct article about source of rice : PATNA

27-across – Gasp — that woman not suitable for 1 across : PANTHER

28-across – Small bottle gets rid of a torment : SCOURGE

1-down – Cup perhaps parted from saucer amicably : CERAMIC

2-down – Aristo seizes a head of state in rising : TAKINGOFF

3-down – Rotten way to ride, clear of sides : ADDLE

4-down – Stir up anger about stratagem that finally failed : ENCOURAGE

5-down – Nazi thugs arresting film star : SPICA

6-down – Putting in every effort, drunk at party : FULLBLAST

7-down – Underwear rebellion? : BOXER

8-down – Decrepit stranger has empty day to fill : DODDERY

14-down – Ancient city destination for one dismissed? : EARLYBATH

16-down – Fringes dated on ladies’ clothing : OUTSKIRTS

17-down – Where Guantanamo’s endlessly wrong — it holds a baby : INCUBATOR

18-down – Daughter spreading powder, a blob on the end of her nose? : DEWDROP

20-down – Torment breaks character — how much can one bear? : TONNAGE

22-down – Subverting enemy country : YEMEN

23-down – American’s teeth so much cleaner, they say, given dentist’s request? : WIDER

24-down – Such furniture needs a bit of care, probably : REPRO

1-across – Handy expressions of approval : PLAUDITS

5-across – Maroon thread : STRAND

9-across – One-sided view from a correspondent? : POSTCARD

10-across – Badly set university course, that’s plain : STEPPE

12-across – Girl comes back with something useful : ASSET

13-across – They ask questions of pitmen after cutback : EXAMINERS

14-across – Repetition is, after all, Peter Piper’s speciality : ALLITERATION

18-across – Weighed out prescribed food? : BALANCEDDIET

21-across – Wife of Perseus, wrongly named Dora : ANDROMEDA

23-across – He leads many to sin : DEVIL

24-across – Is about to get up, but flags : IRISES

25-across – Nuts are found in them — and bolts : SCUTTLES

26-across – Motor found on fire, perhaps : ENGINE

27-across – As an afterthought, changes the songbooks : PSALTERS

1-down – Timber producer of high standing until found to be heartless : POPLAR

2-down – A southern university river rises where Francis came from : ASSISI

3-down – Told he can become involved in an Olympic event : DECATHLON

4-down – They provided new items here and original Christmas gifts : THREEWISEMEN

6-down – Everybody’s playtime? : TUTTI

7-down – Sweet and perfect to order : APPLEPIE

8-down – Oil and vinegar is bound to help the wound : DRESSING

11-down – Progress with amorous overtures? : MAKEADVANCES

15-down – Like stories that can lead to novel : ANECDOTAL

16-down – Case is essential up in Lincoln : ABLATIVE

17-down – Winter sport Aussie cricketers are famous for? : SLEDGING

19-down – Develop part of a revolver : EVOLVE

20-down – Their function is to secure quiet in class : CLASPS

22-down – Once a rough expanse of water : OCEAN