Daily Answers

1-across – Pays attention to compliments : REGARDS

5-across – Criminal waits to put an end to the job : SAWTOIT

9-across – Blemish beneath skin of onions cut out : CONTUSION

10-across – Poet’s admission to chateau denied : AUDEN

11-across – We’re told to put together basic bird food : YOLK

12-across – Heralds launch report of noblemen’s overthrow : COUNTSDOWN

14-across – Bizarre sport’s body’s hiding : FAROUT

15-across – Knock not deliberately fast : RAPIDLY

16-across – Officer slow to check everything’s in order : COLLATE

18-across – Gets out of limitless task nursing invalid : AVOIDS

20-across – One way to transcribe solo, in fact? : TONICSOLFA

21-across – Litre spilt by Jack’s companion carrying a can : JAIL

24-across – Last of rabbits in burrow finding a place to sleep : ROOST

25-across – Muckiest stones, extra black, blocking gate, regularly removed : GRUBBIEST

26-across – Unfinished document about uniform put down : DEFLATE

27-across – Sea god suppressing yen to attempt seduction : TRYITON

1-down – Hard or easy to move : ROCKY

2-down – Lots of nerve cells giving crew back trouble : GANGLIA

3-down – Family of cooks providing basis for sauce : ROUX

4-down – Verbal gaffe that might make a trainer uncomfortable? : SLIPOFTHETONGUE

5-down – Unexpected turn, as a sand flea exposes geological feature : SANANDREASFAULT

6-down – Could cod be the answer to Bunny’s question? : WHATSUPDOC

7-down – Two top awards, first with no primary colour : OLDGOLD

8-down – Something given by letter X, illusory, lacking force : TENANCY

13-down – Where horses may run during All Saints’ Day, a North American location : NOVASCOTIA

16-down – Progressed easily up, ignoring note provided : CATERED

17-down – Fielder way past his best? : LONGOFF

19-down – Terms for the regions set up by faction initially exiled : DIALECT

22-down – Language giving joy, without going to extremes : LATIN

23-down – Follow youth leader after gong for service : OBEY

1-across – Country home completed — one’s in it : INDONESIA

6-across – Psst! Gather round — he’ll easily work without one : AWORD

9-across – See 6 : INYOURSHELLLIKE

10-across – Touch flesh in these shows : HINT

11-across – Look stupid! — Posh in metal : SCANDIUM

14-across – When sick, agree poor Norma could be seen by one : OPERAGOER

15-across – Notice nothing about her : LINDA

16-across – Moved slowly — big end’s conked out : NOSED

18-across – Agreed to walk out, though highly thought of : TREASURED

20-across – Complaint about essentially nude pin-ups — they’re ripped : BEEFCAKE

21-across – Top male in pack’s one : ACME

25-across – Bugged car so there’s no privacy from the outset, right — with this : SNOOPERSCHARTER

26-across – Sees said locations : SITES

27-across – Like to keep close to Mike — friend’s very poorly : ABYSMALLY

1-down – Like Joyce, a woman who has no boundaries : IRISH

2-down – Wish to part over leading lady : DOYENNE

3-down – Appearing around country makes sense : NOUS

4-down – Work out cricket team’s not old : SUSS

5-down – Cameron/Osborne’s last three blunders — 11, 12 and 13, of course : AMENCORNER

6-down – After lengthy delay, strong man carries on — extremely grateful at time : ATLONGLAST

7-down – What one thinks about super-religious head : OPINION

8-down – Paradise Lost — man dared to play around : DREAMLAND

12-down – Constable’s work mainly gets better with drugs : LANDSCAPES

13-down – Another empty house to rent : SOUTHKOREA

14-down – Doctor upset writer’s taking exercise in people carriers : OMNIBUSES

17-down – Go on date in US town during month abroad : STEPOUT

19-down – Quote cut during actual performance : RECITAL

22-down – All but topless sooner than expected : EARLY

23-down – Head down south, be away — it’s painful! : ACHY

24-down – China’s money tree : PALM

1-across – Lay speculators in a state after losing pots ruinously : SECULAR

5-across – Provided far too much within dance : GAVOTTE

9-across – Souvenir of priest immersed in humanitarian charity : RELIC

10-across – Way to check an official inquiry : MEANSTEST

11-across – Store bully managed to take customers for a ride : TROLLEYBUS

12-across – Aromatic substance found in herbal medicine : BALM

14-across – Alienation from agreements not lacking substance : ESTRANGEMENT

18-across – A sad quagmire to engineer for a Sunday : QUADRAGESIMA

21-across – Young lady removing outer clothing for attendant : AIDE

22-across – Tommy and Bobby make a big splash : CANNONBALL

25-across – Operation dreadfully toilsome to the right side of tummy : ILEOSTOMY

26-across – Some without first experience holding party to be a scene of depravity : SODOM

27-across – Overturned records encourage ostentatious display : SPLURGE

28-across – Cricketer, who found acclaim with The Bat : STRAUSS

1-down – Try to use dodgy guarantor : SURETY

2-down – Green alluvial flat : CALLOW

3-down – Not bright enough to tackle slur indirectly : LACKLUSTRE

4-down – Peculiar game : RUMMY

5-down – As well as being surrounded by revolutionary guards, they are waiting for a conference! : GRADUANDS

6-down – Endorsement to cut tax is introduced : VISA

7-down – Generate wrong impression of a young person : TEENAGER

8-down – Judge is in Paris getting one to marry : ESTIMATE

13-down – He preaches that sin and remorse are not in order : SERMONISER

15-down – Costume made initially to get a part performance : RIGMAROLE

16-down – A sign of where swimmers are finally getting changed : AQUARIUS

17-down – Definite deception inherent in strong promotion : HARDSELL

19-down – A form of convertible gold on deposit : LANDAU

20-down – Censures poor investment in building society : BLAMES

23-down – Uproar heard from poet : NOYES

24-down – Reveller half cut on drugs : USER

1-across – Sleep indecently with hem wrapped round her bottom? Au contraire! : MEPHISTOPHELES

8-across – Loon gets out : GENTS

9-across – At last, reduction in night tariff? : PRINCEOF

11-across – Something filthy with twisted tail provided on board : LUCIFER

12-across – Another Etonian’s got to it : THERETO

13-across – Lodge may be not so hectic : MANIC

15-across – Crippling debt in such a bank loan, interest not greedy to begin with : DISABLING

17-across – Magazine never lost heart to Corbyn’s penultimate position in Labour : NEWYORKER

20-across – The kind of communication that gives compiler back trouble : EMAIL

21-across – Follower runs back into safety location : ACOLYTE

23-across – After food, sound sleeping produces vigour : PIZZAZZ

25-across – See 9 : DARKNESS

26-across – Basin emptied and filled with uncooked beef : BRAWN

27-across – One must be sensible with logo design : NOBLESSEOBLIGE

1-down – One power-hungry Arab enters a new calm age : MEGALOMANIAC

2-down – 13 form pressure flap : PANIC

3-down – Couch stuffing controversial topic, actually : IPSOFACTO

4-down – Pointed exchange between sections of bureaucracy : TAPERED

5-down – Supports lip-refashioning treatment finally covered by NHS : PLINTHS

6-down – Hammer squared might follow said host : EMCEE

7-down – Best hotel price had uncovered secrets : ESOTERICA

10-down – Pastille chez Google? Un problème : COUGHLOZENGE

14-down – Young King Edward may be getting partners on vessel into alliance : NEWPOTATO

16-down – BBC coverage of central Highlands cattle : BEELZEBUB

18-down – Look up Her Majesty’s Custodians : KEEPERS

19-down – Mature about East German comeback : RIPOSTE

22-down – Part of a shirt left rustic : YOKEL

24-down – Fiddle in! : AMATI

9-across – Car taking record for deceleration? : BRAKEDISC

10-across – Morning getting close? Correct : AMEND

11-across – Catty female : TIGRESS

12-across – A French and a Western leader are in the dark : UNAWARE

13-across – Young Victorian heroine caught in a lie : ALICE

14-across – Soft grain, inferior but still highly esteemed : PRICELESS

16-across – Highly strung, one whose life may be in the balance : TIGHTROPEWALKER

19-across – Fido’s upset the paint! : DISTEMPER

21-across – Personal column? : SPINE

22-across – Avoid showing fright when catching the ball : FORBEAR

23-across – A game little insect : CRICKET

24-across – Get rid of undergrowth : SCRUB

25-across – Kind of 23 where one’s quickly in and out : TIPANDRUN

1-down – Daydreaming, make wrong bet at cards : ABSTRACTED

2-down – Hanging about with a number, fishing : DANGLING

3-down – Withdraw from the general uprising : RENEGE

4-down – Exposes pretentiousness : AIRS

5-down – Cross-examiner? : SCRUTINEER

6-down – Father’s unhappy over girl in California : PASADENA

7-down – Troops master the threat : MENACE

8-down – Fringe left off the shelf : EDGE

14-down – In a way, property is wealth : PROSPERITY

15-down – Mineral water for Londoners : SERPENTINE

17-down – They reared up in classic race : THEDERBY

18-down – Thieves commonly said to filch female underwear : KNICKERS

20-down – Jean-Paul’s wrongful arrest : SARTRE

21-down – Goes in to fashion and being well-groomed : SOIGNE

22-down – How to lose weight quickly : FAST

23-down – A head on one’s shoulders : CAPE