This crossword No. 25543 clues and answers were published on Fri 27 Jan 2012 and the puzzle can be visited by following The Guardian Cryptic Crossword No. 25543 link.
All Across Clues and Answers:
1-across – It’s not cheap to build a monument : CENOTAPH
5-across – Sea off Tripoli with a leitmotif? : THEMED
9-across – Oddly puts on pretensions of being at a higher level : UPSTAIRS
10-across – Writer of letters to the Queen? : MAILER
12-across – Dances with a shadow minister : BALLS
13-across – Each test one plays is artistic : AESTHETIC
14-across – Minister the senior service finds dotty, as is the coalition : GOVERNMENTAL
18-across – Brief turn by Waller, loud with 12, needing extra hands : SHORTSTAFFED
21-across – Digital sketch? : THUMBNAIL
23-across – Sound of sound poet : NOISE
24-across – Fruit may be elevating, though not entirely : RAISIN
25-across – Red not English, but may be hidden in the closet : SKELETON
26-across – Tropical ailment? : CANCER
27-across – Old college learned about student with several languages : POLYGLOT
All Down Clues and Answers:
1-down – Caroline’s first partner, a man of substance : CHUBBY
2-down – Get cosy with a food provider? : NESTLE
3-down – Model raced to practise athletics, maybe train … : TRANSPORT
4-down – … track for each chap went variably with a variable : PERMANENTWAY
6-down – Former minister seen in the Carlton or the Athenaeum : HEATH
7-down – Contend with French actor turning up in the distance : MILITATE
8-down – Order heartless lady requires at once : DIRECTLY
11-down – Molesworth’s version of It is a truth universally acknowledged … ” : ASANYFULEKNO
15-down – Enter scruffy friend without end : ETERNALLY
16-down – Description of strange coteries? : ESOTERIC
17-down – Answer for a punctured tyre? : SOLUTION
19-down – Arm spoilt in more ways than one? : PISTOL
20-down – Note returned by a cheese-maker : RENNET
22-down – She’s about to live free — or the converse? : BRIDE
This crossword has in total 28 where 14 are across and 14 are down.