Daily Answers

1-across – Polar animal’s stomach? : BEAR

3-across – Performing culinary operation on – foolishly – rock pigeon : PRECOOKING

9-across – In conversation, much time shared by you and me : OURS

10-across – Eggs and lice covering rancid president’s workplace : OVALOFFICE

11-across – Cheers that man, earlier sad, starting to brood : DOWNTHEHATCH

15-across – Sluggishness, batting: time to win it back? : INERTIA

16-across – Dog’s cross: that is, a little labradoodle : SPANIEL

17-across – Unbroken, like a Manx cat? : ENDLESS

19-across – Colloquially, largest; most like the ocean? : TIDIEST

20-across – Some sets of twins resemble each other : DOUBLESMATCH

23-across – Trade ideas, wild wishes : DESIDERATA

24-across – Illegally assist a venture : ABET

25-across – Flights that may lead to landings? : STAIRCASES

26-across – Step back, seeing Afghans, Abyssinians, etc? : PETS

1-down – Dilapidated sideboards getting batterings : BROADSIDES

2-down – So, hardware flying around? : ARROWHEADS

4-down – Region including villas in exclusive resort areas, primarily? : RIVIERA

5-down – Blearily recalls wine in large amounts : CELLARS

6-down – Ministry of Defence to get ‘non-clerical’ if Foreign Office to retire bureaucrats : OFFICIALDOM

7-down – Everyman is to receive visitor, finally: one bearing large showy flowers : IRIS

8-down – Celt’s outburst can be heard : GAEL

12-down – Champion with spine, usually? : TITLEHOLDER

13-down – Note, twice: establishment for racehorses where multiplication is demanded : TIMESTABLE

14-down – Hot drinks or dry Rieslings? : FLATWHITES

18-down – I will be found in Balkan state: bold to move to find unwelcoming place : SIBERIA

19-down – Well-earnt rest, leisurely accepting support : TRESTLE

21-down – Poems praising systems of regulation not started : ODES

22-down – Accept only part of repurchase agreement, being in the Black? : ASEA

1-across – Supports – or declines to intervene? : STANDSBY

5-across – Gives a place to grad – MIT spellbound : ADMITS

9-across – ‘Relaxing’? Terrifying! : CHILLING

10-across – Weighty and large stones : GRAVEL

11-across – African shivering with cold; time: 10.35? : DECIMALFRACTION

13-across – What’s found in first-aid kit? In part, swab and a gel : BANDAGE

14-across – I and others are … or used to be …? : WERE

18-across – Reportedly deserves coffee in large quantities, here : URNS

19-across – Meal prepared with headless fish for Abraham’s son : ISHMAEL

23-across – Patient type is fast at work, case bringing professional pride : JOBSATISFACTION

24-across – Peninsula? Wrong answer : CRIMEA

25-across – ‘Plaiting twists’: some youngsters talk this way : PIGLATIN

26-across – Star is earnest, did you say? : SIRIUS

27-across – Without changes, Benedict’s regularly failing, in my view : ASISEEIT

1-down – Break away from some predecessors, being revolutionary : SECEDE

2-down – One coin per person : APIECE

3-down – Sam and Everyman cover up problems : DILEMMAS

4-down – Report by young fellow: is he perhaps from S. Asia? : BANGLADESHI

6-down – What the Coen Brothers do is straightforward : DIRECT

7-down – Accounts consisting of utterances : INVOICES

8-down – Unwisely realigns with US author : SALINGER

12-down – Urchins having sport, largely, in itinerant funfairs : RAGAMUFFINS

15-down – Lays open the topics : SUBJECTS

16-down – Somewhat nastier, overprivileging bluer blood in élitist reactions, primarily? : SNOBBIER

17-down – Removes crusted matter from stinking sled case : DESCALES

20-down – Golden Gate – first, cake! : GATEAU

21-down – Circus venue’s not quiet: audience finally seeing ‘Piggy’ : BIGTOE

22-down – Allow granny to hang loose? : UNKNOT

1-across – Shows articles needing revision : RECITALS

5-across – Bows found in war chest : ARCHES

9-across – Guiding bovine in German : STEERING

10-across – T-bone? Quite the opposite; it’s a rice dish : PAELLA

11-across – Then I get how playing vuvuzela perhaps is epic : GONEWITHTHEWIND

13-across – Diana Ross’s colleague is kind of chicken : SUPREME

14-across – Hide from ultimately hideous family : SKIN

18-across – This kind of jazz makes you leap back : TRAD

19-across – Great syrups for VIPs : BIGWIGS

23-across – Bizarrely, some cheer tabloid : HERECOMESTHESUN

24-across – Taking heads – extremely impatiently – ghastly husband, this Henry? : EIGHTH

25-across – Remove somewhat obese para, temporarily : SEPARATE

26-across – Drank heavily, like an ornamental fish? : TANKED

27-across – Easiest trips taking in Italy, in my view : ASISEEIT

1-down – Quit – and enlist once again? : RESIGN

2-down – Charlie rests, then does housework : CLEANS

3-down – Deliberately lose boxing match – no longer bold – waste : THROWOUT

4-down – Thinking ahead, men trim logs ornately : LONGTERMISM

6-down – Red Queen’s absorbing a bookworm? : READER

7-down – European capital’s underworld’s dark, they say : HELSINKI

8-down – Deputies’ reputations not good : STANDINS

12-down – Samples including Everyman’s – I’m disgusted – pointless diversions : TIMEWASTERS

15-down – Ethicist squirming, most uncomfortable : ITCHIEST

16-down – Model and monarch in Iberian kingdom: bit of a dish? : TARRAGON

17-down – The quickest learners hurl foodstuffs at senior teachers : EGGHEADS

20-down – Finally finishes plastic surgery with the sharpened tool : SCYTHE

21-down – Who speaks for author who’s pegged it in largish car : ESTATE

22-down – Consume food – not seriously, you say? : INGEST

1-across – Brings in reductions – in confusion : INTRODUCES

6-across – Characters in the picture Gladiator, for example : EPIC

9-across – They’re accompanied by country music and silence, bizarrely : LINEDANCES

10-across – Woman, one looking unchanged in the mirror : ANNA

11-across – Defend vessel in contest : CHAMPIONSHIP

15-across – Brought together, in a church service, English and Dutch : AMASSED

16-across – Looking vacant, initially giving affected wave, His Majesty : GAWKING

17-across – Flies to Niagara, taking in country : ESTONIA

19-across – Lead putting energy into public relations? Give up! : PRECEDE

20-across – Side on border; America in charge; take the consequences : FACETHEMUSIC

23-across – Three learners maintaining university is quiet : LULL

24-across – Sloshing space, Asian? : CASPIANSEA

25-across – Give life to Lord : SIRE

26-across – This makes a button do its work? That’s sad : DEPRESSING

1-down – Everyman will start to specify afflictions : ILLS

2-down – Skipping intro, make-up of rock music’s smallest section? : TONE

3-down – A joke that’s been told often? Told ten such, sadly : OLDCHESTNUT

4-down – Not identified, curiously mundane … : UNNAMED

5-down – … getting flat later in the day : EVENING

7-down – Comedian’s necessity: drink on the job, son : PUNCHLINES

8-down – Reportedly fake aches? Here’s some drinks! : CHAMPAGNES

12-down – Six men we can corrupt; they’re Americans : NEWMEXICANS

13-down – Fats Waller altered natural features : WATERFALLS

14-down – Choosy, wanting item : PARTICULAR

18-down – Not especially impressive batting statistic : AVERAGE

19-down – One choosing to be more generously proportioned? : PLUMPER

21-down – Ace! It’s flipping fizzy wine! : ASTI

22-down – Primarily, ferocious animal’s nasty gnasher? : FANG

1-across – Wild excitations and thrills : INTOXICATES

9-across – Slice of Kashmiri cottage cheese : RICOTTA

10-across – After November, say, one’s eaten more crackers : NUTTIER

11-across – Nick wanting direction, disheartened, embracing Conservatives’ leader : NOTCH

12-across – Make music, sad and quiet : PIPEDOWN

14-across – Record me in retreat: ‘One denies responsibility’ : DISCLAIMER

15-across – It’s a flipping sparkling wine : ASTI

17-across – Compulsion to cleanse failing to start : URGE

19-across – In advance, rustling up salad of rock pigeon : PRECOOKING

21-across – Poignant, timeless article describing female relative : HAUNTING

23-across – King and queen on a Swedish coin : KRONA

25-across – Opera’s musicians including Dutch thinker : ERASMUS

26-across – Boiling fruit for exciting social engagement : HOTDATE

27-across – Fiancé and messy bo’sun bathed : HUSBANDTOBE

1-down – Prompts marksmen to find targets here, did you say? : INCITES

2-down – Vietnamese festival that starts year offspring mostly accepted in irritable fashion : TETCHILY

3-down – Medical procedure that follows whiskey? : XRAY

4-down – Secret kind of trick : CONFIDENCE

5-down – Sound of disapproval twice at the outset, Everyman’s one to be taught a lesson : TUTEE

6-down – Old rakes initially wearing smart clothes: they’re after wives : SUITORS

7-down – Female relative, imperious, departs; merriment stifled at first : GRANDDAUGHTER

8-down – Source of refreshment befuddled king and writer : DRINKINGWATER

13-down – In a Nissan, the writer’s on island somewhere in S Pacific : MICRONESIA

16-down – Time for quiet: pet dog becomes talking animal : COCKATOO

18-down – Grand old university buffet offering Hungarian stew : GOULASH

20-down – Pick out one very good behind : ISOLATE

22-down – Newspaper X : TIMES

24-down – Country. Habitable …? African desert, primarily! : CHAD