1-across – Storybook character turned out bad and, emerging, ran : GINGERBREADMAN

9-across – Blocks the rowers’ seats : THWARTS

10-across – Was diet confused with sex? : EXISTED

11-across – Making a little ballerina nervous is foolish : INANE

12-across – Order member’s compass in sultanate : ORANGEMAN

13-across – Course taken by each pupil, held authentically by the Lord Chancellor : GREATSEAL

14-across – Raw food served by South American husband to me … : SUSHI

15-across – … like crab that’s cold? : NIPPY

17-across – Two relatives I’ve brought back from the mountain : NANDADEVI

20-across – Hegel’s interpretive method, in a manner of speaking, takes one chapter : DIALECTIC

22-across – Pope’s crown from Ireland”s capital in place of Irish kings : TIARA

23-across – Leading question, perhaps, to which wet hero at sea? : WHERETO

24-across – Rock singer is the French number one after learning … : LORELEI

25-across – … heavy metal material composed for guitar on record : CORRUGATEDIRON

1-down – Solving this may be depressing : GETTINGONEDOWN

2-down – Prison novel initially giving Archer total exposure : NEWGATE

3-down – Home established in primitive setting with determination : EARNESTLY

4-down – Demonstrated how to suit a particular individual? : BESPOKE

5-down – Look directly as I shout aloud : EYEBALL

6-down – Keen to have one foot in the grave? : DYING

7-down – A goddess, losing heart, encountered sun god rising : ARTEMIS

8-down – One making divine to carry holy books, establishing a bond with others : IDENTIFICATION

14-down – Exhausted character who’s mad about Guardian compiler : SHATTERED

16-down – Inactive treatment for rank smell : PLACEBO

17-down – Number at wit’s end with hunger for a short while : NOTLONG

18-down – Spoon allowed as personal adornment : NECKLET

19-down – One who helps in centre for inalienable rights : ENABLER

21-down – Islamic leader’s always poetical about me : EMEER

1-across – Don’t commit suicide just yet, not there – with me officially there changing direction, said Hamlet : ABSENT

5-across – See 1 : FELICITY

9-across – See 1 : THEEFROM

10-across – Dog called Sarah, a first for this country : SALUKI

11-across – Right greyish lineage cropping up again : RECRUDESCENT

13-across – Fish from lock, we hear : CHUB

14-across – Cut of meat going a little way into a closed circuit : LOINCHOP

17-across – Bags bits of barrels : BREECHES

18-across – Commit suicide – be Plautus’ Asinus, unlike Macbeth : PLAY

20-across – The cowboy milieu with 18 boy in 18 : WESTERNWORLD

23-across – Don’t let Scots lad get small bird : BANTAM

24-across – Taking turns or otherwise, French comedian gets on : ROTATION

25-across – End of American expression? : TERMINUS

26-across – See 1 : AWHILE

2-down – Furniture of French game, they say : BUHL

3-down – River crustacean to the French abhorrent : EXECRABLE

4-down – Not a rich tea – cooked more than a biscuit? : THRICE

5-down – The rest is silence : FAMOUSLASTWORDS

6-down – Table where Yorkshire river rises poisons food : LISTERIA

7-down – Small quantity, including oil, cured stomach pain : COLIC

8-down – Make : TOKENWOMAN

12-down – Report of key journalist – beer where Yorkshire river flows : WHARFEDALE

15-down – Cloak for wife, South African style : CAPEDUTCH

16-down – See 18 : THEROMAN

19-down – Place for bestowal of ring – or garnet? : GRETNA

21-down – Add ’em up on pole : TOTEM

22-down – See 18 : FOOL

1-across – Serious lack of comic scripts : NOJOKINGMATTER

9-across – A Scandinavian wearing no make-up : NORWEGIAN

10-across – Film actress in the dress circle : GARBO

11-across – They may be used to make a stool : TOOLS

12-across – Old colour scheme : APARTHEID

13-across – Establish oneself in women’s concerns : ENSCONCE

14-across – His leader expresses his opinion : EDITOR

17-across – He should honour his agreement to the letter : TENANT

19-across – Fool’s speech in production of Lear : NONSENSE

22-across – Taken in hand by the stockholder? : HORSEWHIP

24-across – Bones placed in a circle : RADII

25-across – Hard-hearted king whose widow was merry : LEHAR

26-across – Double description of a batman? : INSERVICE

27-across – Takes part in games of hide-and-seek? : PLAYSHARDTOGET

1-down – The bar, of course : NINETEENTHHOLE

2-down – Desert springs keep them going : JERBOAS

3-down – Board and lodging’s cheaper with controls : KEEPSDOWN

4-down – In use, can turn into a problem : NUISANCE

5-down – Handy reference book : MANUAL

6-down – Drunk in snug : TIGHT

7-down – Receiver heading for one’s home – it”s serious! : EARNEST

8-down – Soldiers on the march? : BORDERREGIMENT

15-down – Run away twice? Not this soldier! : DESERTRAT

16-down – He does his writing in bars : COMPOSER

18-down – Warn off Harry – it may have a tusk! : NARWHAL

20-down – Getting approval from the head? : NODDING

21-down – He is taken in by a bearded Indian chief of the desert : SHEIKH

23-down – Not late, but nearly lost a point : EARLY