Daily Answers

1-across – Famous bell, swapping E for A and G first thing? : BIGBANG

5-across – See 9 : PETTING

9-across – Discovery of youth attaching metal tag, finally, to tamed elephant? : HEAVY

10-across – Old lady cold during strip: that’s shockingly obvious : FLAGRANCY

11-across – Endless nuts on tree by game of rivalry : LOCALDERBY

12-across – 9 wickets among 9 or 10, perhaps? : OVER

14-across – Upset as dance hall rented out, a hundred packed in : DISCONCERTED

18-across – See 13 : PROPORTIONED

21-across – Carry sledge, only finishing winter sport : LUGE

22-across – Comply with the last of compulsory orders in cell : LYMPHOCYTE

25-across – One occupying bar stool, youngster’s personal development? : PUBICHAIR

26-across – Refuse to accept name in the vernacular : SLANG

27-across – Yellow beast maintaining energy, smothering lips in gravy : EGGYOLK

28-across – Farmer’s store, where Holy Father has dropped her off : HAYLOFT

1-down – See bottomless pit in plot : BEHOLD

2-down – Look good with weapon : GLANCE

3-down – Composition of London air Cockney ultimately inspired? : ANYOLDIRON

4-down – Error cutting short old man : GAFFE

5-down – Bet on brilliant leader breaking leg, then try to gamble with numbers : PLAYBINGO

6-down – Tread on one city of Lebanon : TYRE

7-down – Introduce something new — bar like an egg : INNOVATE

8-down – Edgy pair out where everyone’s come out? : GAYPRIDE

13-down – 12 20 one in pool, posterior proudly on display : GENEROUSLY

15-down – Tangle of tack and rusty old ship : CUTTYSARK

16-down – A half of leek among some peas, say — that is for dessert : APPLEPIE

17-down – Postprandial request to perform joke about vacant gay bishop : DOGGYBAG

19-down – Gathering a bundle up, fix live wire : DYNAMO

20-down – See 12 : WEIGHT

23-down – What a bird might do to get fish : PERCH

24-down – Each hoop, but only every other ring : ECHO

8-across – Some issue about judge and our temporary residences : SOJOURNS

9-across – Leaders coming from north, as usual, resting up in Pacific island : NAURU

10-across – Man is one that’s insulted, being oddly selective : ISLE

11-across – Hard demand about barbecue, so arranged in part of garden : HERBACEOUS

12-across – Extended garden in new way : RANGED

14-across – Relatively slowly cut about half of bush that’s profuse : ABUNDANT

15-across – Closely knit bunch batting, mature but losing wicket : INGROUP

17-across – Fatty acid must be emptied out, I submit : ADIPOSE

20-across – Climber found in only one part of garden : ASCENDER

22-across – See 11 : BORDER

23-across – Is intrepid, wildly encouraged : INSPIRITED

24-across – Game that gets exciting at match point : SNAP

25-across – Where one’s led astray, not in bed : UPTHE

26-across – Spirit, French counterpart of whisky : EAUDEVIE

1-down – Vote was rigged, splitting hard cash for director on board : COXSWAIN

2-down – Flower got from bed : ROSE

3-down – Ogre concealed in plant : ORCHID

4-down – Artists turned up in record in form of dance music : CSARDAS

5-down – Adventurously revised, eliminating parts of story considered worthless : UNVALUED

6-down – Wonderful son, unusually pure — daughter likewise : SUPERDUPER

7-down – Part of subscription mut­ually set up for season : AUTUMN

13-down – See 25 : GARDENPATH

16-down – At sea endures a submarine : UNDERSEA

18-down – Envisaged sequence of events — oddly, no race is included : SCENARIO

19-down – In legal document he had manifested embarrassment : WRITHED

21-down – All one can consume, no end of drink? That’s bad : SINFUL

22-down – Villain that might create problem in camp : BADGUY

24-down – Part of play got by audience and understood : SEEN

1-across – Fish caught by hillbilly — one at home in the water : DABCHICK

5-across – Outspoken spoken passage : STRAIT

9-across – Names forgotten by stonemason working majestically : MAESTOSO

10-across – Dystopian author gets nothing right, fortunately : ORWELL

12-across – Down drink? Whose ale for 21? : NICOLAADAMS

15-across – Singer’s knockouts? : LULUS

17-across – Bird in pool dropping back — one having wash : KITTIWAKE

18-across – Lofty’s organised chaos : GRANDIOSE

19-across – Going west, drag empty coach in ravine : GULCH

20-across – Spotted animal trapped? Get latest info here : NOTICEBOARD

24-across – Pipe for pirate with a head for heights : HOOKAH

25-across – Spot marker — it’s outside leisure centre after Olympian lord avoids conflict : COEXISTS

26-across – Poet with the ancient mariner? : POPEYE

27-across – Reactionary Russians — dire 5 with SS? : TSARISTS

1-down – Go on with melody, nuts implore? : DEMONOLOGY

2-down – There’s always room in one part of pub or another : BEERCELLAR

3-down – Husband and mother of Artemis put up here? : HOTEL

4-down – Officers plunder store for something to wear : COSSACKBOOTS

6-down – Credulous — but inwardly hard and assertive : THRUSTING

7-down – Lincoln with his first or second son : ABEL

8-down – Masefield’s crafty request, Spooner’s cover point : TALL

11-down – Carrot cooked with safest sources of energy? : FASTREACTORS

13-down – Kippers on these? Mostly wan plonkers : PALLIASSES

14-down – Chapelgoers force detective to probe consecrated bread : METHODISTS

16-down – New Year tends to make us inactive : SEDENTARY

21-down – Packer’s best friend? : BOXER

22-down – See 8 : SHIP

23-down – I say, parking place for poultry : COOP

1-across – Newspaper staff cuts? : HACKS

4-across – Playing what instrument is found in the wood? : HAWTHORN

8-across – Protracted wait may egg gentleman on to err : LONGENGAGEMENT

10-across – Prayer for space agreement : ENTREATY

11-across – Lethargy sets back squaddies : STUPOR

12-across – Probes due for condition the morning after? : SOBEREDUP

15-across – Time demands things to do : TASKS

17-across – Poetic work gets no backing at place of entertainment : ODEON

18-across – One whose quarry is sought and abused? : STAGHOUND

19-across – He was involved in jailbreak in biblical times : ELIJAH

21-across – Short prince adjusts blue vestment : CHASUBLE

24-across – King moves into cash trade involving shady dealing : MONKEYBUSINESS

25-across – Said to have erred, Catholicism is characteristic of a problem : SYNDROME

26-across – On reflection one’s not quite resolute enough : LOSER

1-down – Ye shall possibly appear on time, around 2061? : HALLEYSCOMET

2-down – An artist has to study horses : CONSTABLE

3-down – European without married quarters : SWEDE

4-down – Eights hid from influxes of water : HIGHTIDES

5-down – Contend for one’s due? : WAGE

6-down – Marginal produce of sewer? : HEMSTITCH

7-down – Hurriedly appear prior to delivery : RUNUP

9-down – Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing : CROSSDRESSER

13-down – Plundered and did a bunk before getting dismissed : RANSACKED

14-down – Where to indulge in bingo? : PLAYHOUSE

16-down – The unsteady begin seeing with glasses : STUMBLERS

20-down – Figure to press young beginner : IRONY

22-down – Calm for the working of the spirit? : STILL

23-down – Tory disaster caused by one lacking experience : TYRO

1-across – Phone home? : MOBILE

4-across – Restraining orders protecting unruly set from health hazard : ASBESTOS

9-across – Oversized pair of soldiers : GIANT

10-across – Stop short before plant gets split up, disastrously : BALKANISE

11-across – Sociable supplement comprehending our genus : BONHOMOUS

12-across – 26’s last of fruit drink : TWINE

13-across – Head of Treasury meeting worker in Russian Mint — one fomenting unrest? : TROUBLEMAKER

17-across – Type of Tory member : IMPREGNATION

20-across – Latterday Mesopotamian infidel reviled a quiet Israelite for starters : IRAQI

21-across – Resolve to scatter straw around — and fur : DETERMINE

23-across – Boar’s head simmered, stewed and cut up : DISMEMBER

24-across – Unperceptive and overweight in Germany : BLIND

25-across – Senior politician’s first to interrupt labourer : MINISTER

26-across – Undercover operation securing heart of numerical sequence : STRING

1-down – Maybe get false memory? : MEGABYTE

2-down – Egghead’s colour range largely replacing centre of Bronx : BRAINBOX

3-down – Races into smallest room for game of chance : LOTTO

5-down – Novelist’s hilarity at Shakespeare’s suicide : SELFSLAUGHTER

6-down – Raised weapon constraining song’s eruption : EXANTHEMA

7-down – Matters of no consequence right up one Roman street : TRIVIA

8-down – Female monarch given the Spanish monetary unit : SHEKEL

10-down – A god read about in scripture is sure to rot : BIODEGRADABLE

14-down – Trees hugged by tramps display irregular quality : BUMPINESS

15-down – Hot sauce summoning up one tear, twice : PIRIPIRI

16-down – Cook insufficiently good: not a likely winner : UNDERDOG

18-down – Dim sow upset by what she lacks? : WISDOM

19-down – Boy pinching a tract from strongman : SAMSON

22-down – Disprove vegetable growth’s reversal : REBUT