Daily Answers

9-across – No subject gets trim in steel tempered by sun : THEMELESS

10-across – Spot large roomy place : MOTEL

11-across – Rock ’n’ roll classic clue stuffed with wicked content : LUCILLE

12-across – Superior aid distribution or rapid transport : AIRDROP

13-across – Fish-eater’s brother close up : MONK

14-across – Glowing with colour, one possibly cycles a bit : IRIDESCENT

15-across – Which might reveal one’s inner thoughts of careless penmanship? : INKBLOT

17-across – China capped electric leads on memory microchip : CERAMIC

19-across – Not a straightforward critic of unrestricted, wide press coverage of Independent : SIDESWIPER

22-across – See 23 : DISC

23-across – Record down in the charts? That can be a real pain : SLIPPED

24-across – Provisional playwright drops leading character: one is contracted : INTERIM

26-across – Lives in Lille’s changed together with a former immigration HQ : ELLIS

27-across – Darn leisure activity? : CROSSWORD

1-down – Theoretically, it makes us universally central : PTOLEMAICSYSTEM

2-down – Maligned dove I can keep up in the air? : PEACENIK

3-down – See 13 : SEAL

4-down – Creature that’s drained of water’s, er, done for : SEWERRAT

5-down – See 26 : ISLAND

6-down – Jury briber supporters dividing capital return : EMBRASOR

7-down – He wrote back to addressee, finally : STERNE

8-down – It makes Cyclops, cryptically, about the ultimate in crossword’s unsubtle humour : SLAPSTICKCOMEDY

16-down – No more fencing for camp men about to retire? : LASTPOST

17-down – MASH director, who wants paying : CREDITOR

18-down – Man flu, old style, you could say, post operations here : MAILROOM

20-down – Doctor Sorrows is boring : DRILLS

21-down – Charge contained by concise reference work? : INDICT

25-down – See 15 : TEST

9-across – Saw around soft fold in limb : APPENDAGE

10-across – Come to an open stretch of water : REACH

11-across – Corked claret accompanying last of wine that’s sweet : TREACLE

12-across – Wind force then a problem — in this? : TEMPEST

13-across – Team’s flank : SIDE

14-across – Awful motor designed for second-class racing : FORMULATWO

16-across – Dance preceding tango in newspaper? : FOXTROT

17-across – Agent apprehending prisoner, reflected in looking glass : MONOCLE

19-across – Superior to beat sovereign : OUTRANKING

22-across – Composer not working by royal pronouncement? : ORFF

24-across – Neighbouring houses cheery in wartime Britain : BLIGHTY

25-across – Arc of the horizon, a spot overshadowing much, not half hot : AZIMUTH

26-across – Trademark and name required to access network : LOGON

27-across – Drug users as cover for chief of police? : ACIDHEADS

1-down – Supporter totally fab, so made for game of team selection : FANTASYFOOTBALL

2-down – See 6 : APPENDIX

3-down – Slam-bang? : KNOCK

4-down – A sports official wearing shoe — or not? : BAREFOOT

5-down – Upright but not opening — I’m unsure it’s part of the gut : RECTUM

6-down – Mild complaint, as part of book appearing whiny? : GRUMBLING

7-down – Perfectly round number, that’s clear : PATENT

8-down – Yonder item identified? Never mind! : THATSONEOFTHOSE

15-down – See 18 : BREATHING

17-down – Segmented language? : MANDARIN

18-down – Letter quick to reveal didgeridoo player’s technique : CIRCULAR

20-down – See 8 : THINGS

21-down – Important flat part of a calculator : KEYPAD

23-down – Suspect confined by himself is hysterical : FISHY

1-across – Story that has no beginning, that has no end — Jesus, that is a writer! : AGATHACHRISTIE

9-across – It would be stupid if mother leaves, in a manner of speaking : IDIOMATIC

10-across – Better picnic : OUTDO

11-across – Some womanising Arab … : OMANI

12-across – … still giving pussy a drink : CATATONIC

13-across – Willing, after a fashion, when not playing host : AWAYGAME

14-across – Serious, lonesome and heartless man : SOLEMN

17-across – Among undesirable persons : LEPERS

19-across – Those leading clubs ruffed Omar Sharif’s spade in new game of bridge : CROSSING

22-across – Keeping away from extremely tempting liaison diabolique : ISOLATING

24-across – Nag mouse-like creature : SHREW

25-across – Store in the middle of the winding road : HOARD

26-across – Light setback in vote: rift escalating : SETFIRETO

27-across – Anne McGregor is, perhaps, being alarmist : SCAREMONGERING

1-down – Compiler to slip into a clever and attractive person : ABITOFALLRIGHT

2-down – Valid core degrees for woodcutter : ALIBABA

3-down – Disturbed mind in bigger one that’s really big : HUMDINGER

4-down – Tunnel across in uneven combat : CATACOMB

5-down – Read out list of ingredients quietly — lost for time : RECITE

6-down – Games of shaven swine? : SPORT

7-down – Vivid in future, possibly : INTENSE

8-down – It’s a safe bet car now got damaged, if held by juvenile : YOUCANTGOWRONG

15-down – Fanatical Philistine has first leaders swapping leaders : OBSESSIVE

16-down – Cow not left in lowland : FRIGHTEN

18-down – Picaroon’s not on? That could be dull : PROSAIC

20-down – Is priest following god, one from the Middle East? : ISRAELI

21-down – Oriental offering obscure problem : DIMSUM

23-down – As a source of dread leading to ophiophobia : ADDER

1-across – Story told to encourage when caught in this? : TAILBACK

5-across – Old dictator took vehicle over backwater : CAESAR

9-across – Dictator’s henchmen sorting postage : GESTAPO

10-across – Saul’s blowers? : BELLOWS

11-across – Is short, they say — short of discipline : LACKS

12-across – Possibly last drink is more than brackish : SALTWATER

13-across – Perhaps 1p under fails, giving away more than intended : FREUDIANSLIP

17-across – Front wheelwright? : SPOKESPERSON

20-across – It takes one to settle abnormal dressing requirements : TOILETSET

22-across – With love _three can affect the atmosphere : OZONE

23-across – Creatures making a lot of tricks in a turn : ANIMALS

24-across – She’s a model on the game : BRIDGET

25-across – Music produced by some person at an instrument : SONATA

26-across – People wearing necklace, whereon they are distressed : BEAMENDS

1-down – Leg got twisted in crosspiece : TOGGLE

2-down – Being of fashionable school? : INSECT

3-down – Money republic raised for a place to dine : BRASSERIE

4-down – For election of members? : CROSSPURPOSES

6-down – Permit to be without depth and quiet? : ALLOW

7-down – Throw over discussion, keeping student at ease : SMOOTHLY

8-down – Decree for others about to tear inside : RESCRIPT

10-down – Carrier of cannon balls? : BILLIARDTABLE

14-down – Some log in prepared for a new term : NEOLOGISM

15-down – Lost without heroin — on Sunday smokers need them : ASHTRAYS

16-down – Attitude is shown up in draught : POSITION

18-down – Many an instrument playing in Llaregyb : MORGAN

19-down – New arrivals heard of accommodation on board : BERTHS

21-down – Make it lawful to bring back corporal punishment by head teacher : ENACT

8-across – As a baby, Victor introduces himself? : IMMATURE

9-across – Boy meeting love on the rebound ending in affair, going out now : ONAIR

10-across – Worry one on board? : FRET

11-across – After horseplay, wake up with mare — cover your face! : WEARMAKEUP

12-across – Articles removed from one of 7 that’s solid : STURDY

14-across – Look to entertain European king, after backing vocals in the moonlight? : SERENADE

15-across – One zooms around Belgian capital, seeing lines on a map : ISOBARS

17-across – Hairy thing faced extinction initially, certainly around US city, ending in death : EYELASH

20-across – Birds on Jack, they say, in an instant? : ROBINSON

22-across – Number including unity, one or the other : EITHER

23-across – Man recently dug up right vegetable consumed by four-eyes, we hear? : RICHARDIII

24-across – See 25 : LANE

25-across – If Spurs primarily not there, getting confused with the Arsenal 7? : WHITE

26-across – A golfer’s round including first of putts to get ahead : LEAPFROG

1-down – 7 meets air after a storm : EMIRATES

2-down – See 25 : HART

3-down – Disheartened, one fleeing landing strip : RUNWAY

4-down – ’E’s looking more sickly after an upset, in return of illness : RELAPSE

5-down – Insect eating mollusc, once : FORMERLY

6-down – Grave in which a sovereign, 23 found buried? : PARKINGLOT

7-down – Cryptically go for the sod? : GROUND

13-down – Given failure to trap a number of bees heard circling his potty, its contents discarded : RUBBISHBIN

16-down – Wait to invest in wine, being cautious : RESERVED

18-down – Way has been wild, fine for antelope : STEENBOK

19-down – 7 — a pitch impressing Liverpudlian, ultimately : ANFIELD

21-down – Brave old giant not quite standing to punch shattered jaw : OJIBWA

22-down – 7 welcomed by Man United, a hit evidently? On the contrary : ETIHAD

24-down – Long sentence somewhat ungrammatical, if effortless : LIFE