Daily Answers

1-across – Commonplace kind of crossing? : PEDESTRIAN

6-across – Old tribesman regularly used lion’s claw : INCA

9-across – Turnips! I am displaying austerity : PURITANISM

10-across – Hands back in exchange : SWAP

11-across – Apportion old rule encountering demonstrator and streakers : METEORSHOWER

15-across – Soil, grit mostly mixed for platforms : OILRIGS

16-across – At first, soldiers and meditators; ultimately, rulers – awfully intense! : SAMURAI

17-across – Flipping artificial intelligence to arrest gangster leading Balkan state : ALBANIA

19-across – Food options hotel bar detailed for musician : MENUHIN

20-across – Key vehicle pulling another in part of airport : CONTROLTOWER

23-across – Takeaway where French is spoken : TOGO

24-across – Still, that’s how a very brief debate is? : MOTIONLESS

25-across – Auditor’s opposed to advance payment : ANTE

26-across – Give speech to drinkers, depicting what’s often included in tab : ADDRESSBAR

1-down – Everyman engaged in second clarifying remark in tweets : PIPS

2-down – One creating stain, we’re told, is dreadful : DIRE

3-down – Who creates backdrops representing singed trees? : SETDESIGNER

4-down – They smuggle strips of carpet : RUNNERS

5-down – Adult, tension rising, swears : ASSERTS

7-down – Why we snort dubiously is significant : NEWSWORTHY

8-down – Poisonous creature’s hosting ‘topless’ version: slander! : ASPERSIONS

12-down – Shun big name, resolving to see people in general : HUMANBEINGS

13-down – Peculiar avocations in Canadian province : NOVASCOTIA

14-down – Questionable, seeing military demonstration when it’s dark : FLYBYNIGHT

18-down – A Lord Lieutenant, elderly, taking time taking everything in : ALLTOLD

19-down – Less cheerful: French sea swallows specs, swim cut short : MOODIER

21-down – Perhaps Basil’s tucked into feather bed : HERB

22-down – Powerful person in sports arena : TSAR

1-across – When dancing, use rural reels: that’s how it has to be : RULESARERULES

8-across – Goodness is a liability, ultimately : ISAY

9-across – Mad monk, ill, mixed a drink : ALMONDMILK

10-across – It’s hot, it’s cold, they say : CHILLI

11-across – Lay in rum supply for VIP : LUMINARY

12-across – Beg pardon: soldier in a game’s on methamphetamine? : APOLOGISE

14-across – Intruders somewhat disrespectful : RUDE

15-across – Making a comeback, be aware of geeky type : WONK

16-across – Where paw-print cushions may be found: one of them might cause upset? : UNDERDOGS

20-across – Roast rib bone’s increasingly superior : SNOBBIER

21-across – Model gun is toy : TRIFLE

23-across – ‘Moon-starer’, fancifully? : ASTRONOMER

24-across – A small island force? I doubt that : ASIF

25-across – Building morale, he roars in actors’ space : REHEARSALROOM

1-down – Spooner’s tear in breeches, old fruit : ROSEHIP

2-down – True: Left decapitated monarch : LOYAL

3-down – Pain sandwiches the French ripping to shreds : SLATING

4-down – Rural museum’s don’s written about twins of old : ROMULUSANDREMUS

5-down – In the morning, Frenchman’s about to baptise once more : RENAME

6-down – Daily in France, tailless dog’s eaten dessert spread : LEMONCURD

7-down – Place entertained by jerk’s binge : SPLURGE

13-down – Playing blinder, George Henry who flew to Paris? : LINDBERGH

15-down – Where it’s never desperately short of royals, to start with? : WINDSOR

17-down – Captivate with eleventh rallentando : ENTHRAL

18-down – Element of bile is ursodeoxycholic matter, initially : GALLIUM

19-down – Queen’s looking up ‘brown pigment’ : SIENNA

22-down – Everyman’s seen with a strategy game : IMAGO

1-across – Not half handsome, newspaper employee overate : GORGED

5-across – Basic epicurean concoction heaped atop moussaka’s exquisite layers, primarily? : BECHAMEL

9-across – Skipping starter, meat with endless wine; amaretti and grappa at the end: heavenly dining! : AMBROSIA

10-across – Run into rowdy place to drink : TROUGH

11-across – Filleted bass stuffed with chopped oregano, old fruit : BLOODORANGES

13-across – Gull purée : FOOL

14-across – Fruit in beds after All Fools’ Day : APRICOTS

17-across – Diva unhappy with diet, wanting something with flavour? : ADDITIVE

18-across – Flipping doctor, a large fatty block : LARD

20-across – What to serve with cheese? Best nuts not finished : CREAMCRACKER

23-across – Knocked back champagne with duck: time for fish : TURBOT

24-across – Fervently eyed turf where cheap booze is found : DUTYFREE

25-across – Lustier, prone to cause more satisfaction : HEARTIER

26-across – Give sustenance to naked luckless vagrant : SUCKLE

2-down – A little luncheon meat – I’ll pay : ONME

3-down – In speech, actor Oldman, one who’s thin on top, gets a biscuit : GARIBALDI

4-down – Snack food hidden in cupboard is costly : DISCOS

5-down – Fanatic relaxed ban restricting hot cocktail : BRANDYALEXANDER

6-down – They supply food in renovated terraces : CATERERS

7-down – A small hard growth is a squirrel’s treat : ACORN

8-down – They’re found in kitchen playing best reggae : EGGBEATERS

12-down – Club grumble in game : WOODGROUSE

15-down – Fattening fizzy cola borne by orifice, essentially : CALORIFIC

16-down – Unexpectedly, Stoic bit into almondy treats : BISCOTTI

19-down – Fish from Alaska tested : SKATES

21-down – Type of ale that’s light, one for the road : AMBER

22-down – Everyman getting a large repast : MEAL

1-across – Shake up failing orangeries : REORGANISE

6-across – Bird’s hiding in hibiscus : IBIS

9-across – Student getting in to poor folk’s banter : PLEASANTRY

10-across – Country’s drier, we’re told : EIRE

12-across – Ordained priest taking jab next to outhouse : ESTABLISHED

15-across – Manages a warning : HEADSUP

16-across – Drunkard now offering defiant expression : SOTHERE

17-across – Shifting a drop of Sancerre in wine glasses might help them focus : RETINAS

19-across – Most of newspapers getting letter: ‘Flog, in advance!’ : PRESELL

20-across – Sportsman angers as aid redistributed : ANDREAGASSI

23-across – A practice exam delivered orally: that’s crazy : AMOK

24-across – Clobber living things – desire’s suppressed : BELONGINGS

25-across – Frame that’s worn over shoulder : SASH

26-across – More toasts raised here? : STATEROOMS

1-down – Criticises what hip-hop artist does : RAPS

2-down – Fictional captain looking up for a sign : OMEN

3-down – Vocalist, Spice Girl, slopes off part-way through : GOSPELSINGER

4-down – Incessant refusal in Lyon: diners get no soup in the end : NONSTOP

5-down – Writers’ second copies’ entertaining energy : SCRIBES

7-down – Song, live, enthralling: indeed, indeed : BRIGHTEYES

8-down – Primarily slender perennials, encroachers extraordinaire, dwelling within England’s landscaped lawns, sadly! : SPEEDWELLS

11-down – Body part: it gets rubbed up. Wait around : LITTLEFINGER

13-down – Who’s not to be trusted, nastier than rascal? : CHARLATANS

14-down – Meticulous, firm, Everyman had promises to pay later : FASTIDIOUS

18-down – Recommend extremely self-satisfied Frenchman leaves : SUGGEST

19-down – Deal to collapse : PASSOUT

21-down – Details concerning nickel written up : INFO

22-down – Goddess seen in Ellis Island : ISIS

1-across – Hope network’s designed to be aware of best practice : KNOWTHEROPES

10-across – No time for getting tied up in pastime : ANGLING

11-across – Some bigwig ran a dancehall in Spanish city : GRANADA

12-across – Rose, shunning society, travelled by canoe : OARED

13-across – ‘Differently honestly’? : ONTHESLY

15-across – Copy published after T S Eliot initially conceals act of plagiarism : TRANSCRIBE

16-across – Farmyard youngster that’s just over a foot : CALF

18-across – Characters in expensive picture, Ben-Hur perhaps : EPIC

20-across – Girl – not a medallist, we’re told – to make a sudden rush : SALLYFORTH

22-across – Popular actors take these weapons : LONGBOWS

24-across – Schoolchild’s twisted effrontery, rebellious : PUPIL

26-across – After disruption, setter’s most brusque : TERSEST

27-across – Cassock’s slightly altered for cavalryman : COSSACK

28-across – Entered, dimly tingling with purpose : DETERMINEDLY

2-down – African nation, one with capital in Abuja? : NIGERIA

3-down – The Observer embracing Right, that is most odd : WEIRDEST

4-down – Uttered casual greeting, being drunk : HIGH

5-down – Newspaper, Independent, covers no-good rubbish boxing movie : RAGINGBULL

6-down – Primarily: poet : PLATH

7-down – Perhaps pens epistle, angry initially in Welsh city : SWANSEA

8-down – Perhaps Rev. Spooner’s butterflies, skippers, etc? : MANOFTHECLOTH

9-down – A key held aloft, cryptic Arthurian figure : LADYOFTHELAKE

14-down – Time to study Scott, perhaps – lecturer’s wanting to hold back : TREADWATER

17-down – Slightly smelly Greek characters felt shame finally in unexpected ways : OFFPISTE

19-down – Everyman blushes, admitting sanitation ultimately neglected : IGNORED

21-down – Artist putting blame on shade of brown, that’s not unknown : RAPHAEL

23-down – Chicken serving one rejected in French city : BREST

25-down – Culinary ingredient regularly extracted from saccharin : ACAI