Daily Answers

1-across – Rats! One’s spurned for love, close to distraught state : VERMONT

5-across – Conservative certainly not about to be socially aware : RIGHTON

9-across – 24 down is found at the end of this puzzle : SWORD

10-across – Ecstasy and speed? Swallowing flipping LSD, get weed out : ERADICATE

11-across – Desperate housewives go wild, so excited about fellow’s clothing : GOLFWIDOWS

12-across – Old lady’s going to walk : MALL

14-across – Improvement in how sappers are deployed? : REFORMATION

18-across – Pervert tries high definit­ion porn, but not you or I! : THIRDPERSON

21-across – Nerdy, dry, oddly re­pressed Christian Scientist : EDDY

22-across – He gets rid of lots of gold, tossing in ore etc : AUCTIONEER

25-across – Getting boundaries in early, English batsman’s a revelation : EYEOPENER

26-across – US tennis player’s return kicking right at first : EVERT

27-across – Take a punt on this lake, with yen to catch aquatic creature : LOTTERY

28-across – Understanding 10 x 3 only partially : ENTENTE

1-down – Roman sex guru’s a mug : VISAGE

2-down – Search for food, turning to large caviar sandwiches : ROOTLE

3-down – Quaint style’s back after odd Orwell novel : OLDEWORLDE

4-down – Movement that’s in time runs to a climax : TREND

5-down – Back what the children’s guardian must do : REARWARDS

6-down – Carriage door’s sound : GAIT

7-down – Time, an hour after midnight, to get music and liqueur : TIAMARIA

8-down – Annoying lover of Heather may well! : NEEDLING

13-down – Most uncommon to cover news in tropical region : RAINFOREST

15-down – The commonness of the fellow! Rule by the Prince of Wales’s no good, the Queen admitted : FREQUENCY

16-down – Delayed returning to wrap present that’s heavenly : ETHEREAL

17-down – Stew for American front­iersmen? : WILDWEST

19-down – English runner always going in opposing directions : SEVERN

20-down – Horse put in pen to struggle : WRITHE

23-down – Picked up wrong cake : TORTE

24-down – Goalie stripped off and raised arm : EPEE

1-across – Severely punish, making someone accept work forcibly? : THROWTHEBOOKAT

8-across – Drink coming in dribble at back of pub : BOOZE

9-across – Region of intellectuals including exceptional lad : MIDLANDS

11-across – American philosopher, this writer entertained by Elizabeth and Charles? : EMERSON

12-across – Any number put in rank alongside Eastern VIP : GRANDEE

13-across – Past would include gross conduct you’d expect from yobs : AGGRO

15-across – Action of bailiffs in school? There’s anguish, not half, about that : DISTRAINT

17-across – Someone who is ignored — object? : NONPERSON

20-across – Bank at sea? Say nothing, little troublemaker! : SHELF

21-across – Big leader off, free to move around as outcast : REFUGEE

23-across – Cricketer outside his own country, spinning in theatre of combat : WARZONE

25-across – Games I’ll run, sticking to the rules excessively : LEGALISM

26-across – Section of rock, cold mat­erial : CLINT

27-across – One chum gets one agitated and all that sort of thing : ETHOCGENUSOMNE

1-down – Social conventions awfully stern, restricting compet­ent fellow : TABLEMANNERS

2-down – Sound of horse in river : RHONE

3-down – Ethos went sloppy — one should get things sharpened up : WHETSTONE

4-down – Sheltering in coal scuttle is little primate : HOMINID

5-down – Derek, an artist, establishing wine stores : BODEGAS

6-down – Order whale-hunter to finish early and beach in time of war : OMAHA

7-down – The final minutes of football? That could briefly make our tour! : ADDEDTIME

10-down – Among atheists he is pink : LEFTOFCENTRE

14-down – Neglectful learner out getting drunk to sink towards the floor : GENUFLECT

16-down – Others with agitation mounting about Conservative limits : RESTRICTS

18-down – Time to get stuck into a bit of dressmaking or cooking? : STEWING

19-down – Journalist gets first sniff of scandal probing cardinal : NEWSMAN

22-down – Fertiliser put on with summer month coming up : GUANO

24-down – Nothing holy? Hesitation to give biased description of people’s religion : OPIUM

1-across – Poor Mary had to drink Coke at first with three different men? More, generally : TOMDICKANDHARRY

9-across – Outgoing partygoer enters rude text : EXTRAVERT

10-across – Chaos as fun gets out of hand : SNAFU

11-across – Opposed putting house next to road before priest retires : HOSTILE

12-across – One having sex in China — parrot or ape : IMITATE

13-across – Gunman in bar in Hull, 24 worker : ROD

14-across – Some hair possibly set in these? : LOCKETS

17-across – Choose common bit of rock ’n’ roll as dance music : ELECTRO

19-across – One that’s out in front line position : STRIKER

22-across – Mad short story about celebrity : STARDOM

24-across – Bird from the mudflats : EMU

25-across – Page doesn’t start describing enemies about to relent : EASEOFF

26-across – Is unable to accept the Guardian’s running arms show : COURANT

28-across – After breaking bail, writer provides evidence refuting 8 : ALIBI

29-across – Transmission of Radio 4’s success with broadcast worth inclusion : SHORTWAVE

30-across – Public rehearsal performance of Doctors, not Casualty : GENERALPRACTICE

1-down – Old rockers on about female outlaw’s full-blown affair : THEWHOLESHEBANG

2-down – Writing about the wrong sort of spirit : METHS

3-down – Fancy a chart-topping single : IMAGINE

4-down – Those maintaining opposition to 19s : KEEPERS

5-down – Compound removing some of the dirt inside turn-up : NITRIDE

6-down – Hospital stupidly copies care home : HOSPICE

7-down – Language used in theatre by Lawrence director tailored to fit again : READAPTED

8-down – We’re so together, you texted, having turned 24? I don’t know about that : YOUVEGOTMETHERE

15-down – Pilgrim is able to keep fresh shirt on ice, initially : CHRISTIAN

16-down – New hotel at top of town has everything : THE

18-down – See 16 : LOT

20-down – More off-the-wall endless sex occupying king and queen : KOOKIER

21-down – Audible neigh, say, from horse at Hickstead? : REFUSAL

22-down – Give aid to gullible person over the phone : SUCCOUR

23-down – A note in cry of bird briefly living in water : AQUATIC

27-down – Dramatic part for violin or cello : AMATI

1-across – Conservative leader punching riffraff, I read — heartless creature : MOCKING

5-across – Spinner translates as which meaning? : WASHING

9-across – Plant digit on distance to encompass street : MISTLETOE

10-across – Highly strung cross-dresser? : VIOLA

11-across – A vile secretion it isn’t, hurriedly exclaimed? : SNOT

12-across – Losing our screws behind middle of cabinet is shameful : INGLORIOUS

14-across – Operation, why : BYPASS

15-across – An allotment of cedar, but usually mayflower : ARBUTUS

16-across – Disgraced President Obama caught out touching Miss Universe on two fronts : MUBARAK

18-across – Find swimmer swigging it on closure of boozer : RARITY

20-across – Man of noble birth, yet gutless, getting personal in Oxford, say : COUNTYTOWN

21-across – Water, a drink that’s not very strong : AQUA

24-across – Lay to rest individual indefinite number managed to return : INURN

25-across – Ground-breaking invention carries rubbish, if secured : SCARIFIER

26-across – Figure holding painting back to get on vehicle : ENTRAIN

27-across – English college, drained of ale, recalled the king’s dying moments? : ENDGAME

1-down – One’s carrier? Something more to say? It’s a disease : MUMPS

2-down – Detention somewhat like a trifle, say? : CUSTODY

3-down – To say it’s landlocked is somewhat misleading? : ISLE

4-down – Run OK, ten stages negotiated, runner up? : GETONESSKATESON

5-down – Contest won hands down? : WHEELBARROWRACE

6-down – Natural phenomenon, magnificent quantity consuming river, one going on and on and on? : SEVERNBORE

7-down – Settle on going into hiding under Iranian leadership : IRONOUT

8-down – Item often misplaced by good girls : GLASSES

13-down – Misspell it, Rumania — a country : MAURITANIA

16-down – See 5 across : MACHINE

17-down – Cheer J loudly, but then ____, for the flowers : BOUQUET

19-down – Drink booked with 1 across 23, roughly speaking? : TEQUILA

22-down – A shade short, shake hands : AGREE

23-down – See 1 across : BIRD

1-across – Tree dweller’s westbound US ruffle work : POSSUM

4-across – Puck immersed in pool — oxygen goes clear : LIMPID

9-across – Artist’s audio version of Dark Cloud, Earth : PAUL

10-across – Warned feaster: Signs of sleep as herbal mixture takes hold : BELSHAZZAR

11-across – 9 25’s rather pedestrian description of 7 : TAKING

12-across – Riding on rocks, kept in shape by pressure only : NONRIGID

13-across – Slippers on, if your houses represent someone : PERSONIFY

15-across – Put up support and lag : HANG

16-across – See 15 : BACK

17-across – Harry Price to accept rewritten obit: Life still to come : PREBIOTIC

21-across – It affects liquidity of carbon residue on reversing bolt : CASHFLOW

22-across – Superior’s in a good mood? Don’t talk rot! : UPPISH

24-across – Harlot, hope abandoned, had by bad people : POORHEALTH

25-across – See 9 : KLEE

26-across – Show can almost be bought : TINSEL

27-across – Spar deployed around isle : SPIRIT

1-down – Lap dancing, familiar actress shows humour : PLACATE

2-down – People of the far north welcoming Latin dish : SALMI

3-down – In France one twice traps bum, not being initiated : UNBEGUN

5-down – Which, in Guangzhou, covers ancient Chinese text : ICHING

6-down – Don’t bow to make such an effect as a player : PIZZICATO

7-down – Study medic over a hospital extension : DRAWING

8-down – See 11 : ALINEFORAWALK

14-down – Bag bracelet rings right, which is sweet : SACCHARIN

16-down – Confirm wild animal escaped? : BEAROUT

18-down – Stop painting and reacquaint yourself with an old skill! : BRUSHUP

19-down – Pakistan’s opener in cricket survey? : INSPECT

20-down – Rip off clothing item : FLEECE

23-down – Game, digitally rude sort : POKER