Daily Answers

1-across – Check section of fire insurance : REIN

3-across – Old fellow satisfied, calm, drinking beer in reflection : METHUSELAH

9-across – ‘As you’d say, the whole thing?’ ‘A few’ : SOME

10-across – Questionably demand list separated into unconnected items : DISMANTLED

11-across – Boredom beaten: dessert’s announced in fancy part of hotel : BEDROOMSUITE

15-across – Pickles plays the fiddle : SCRAPES

16-across – German, let down in the end, scowls and scowls : GLOWERS

17-across – Former lover takes care of spreads : EXTENDS

19-across – Foolish – as in, inefficient : ASININE

20-across – Germ attendee disseminated in public function : MEETANDGREET

23-across – Thrash musicians getting rich pastries : CREAMHORNS

24-across – Relish with which duck and root vegetable knocked back : MAYO

25-across – Inadequacy shown by nephew wearing suit in untidy state : MEAGRENESS

26-across – In announcement, apprehend – in the main? : SEAS

1-down – Revolted by former First Family: they’re in the White House Garden : ROSEBUSHES

2-down – Everyman’s to act as chair? That’s unreasonable : IMMODERATE

4-down – Puzzles, games in play : ENIGMAS

5-down – Amateur served up food somewhere in N Germany : HAMBURG

6-down – Authorizing, penalizing : SANCTIONING

7-down – Loud, ultimately; lady ululating, primarily? : LULU

8-down – Mask and whip : HIDE

12-down – Phone Empire about blockbuster : OPPENHEIMER

13-down – Cautious ponder : DELIBERATE

14-down – Claims señoras sit around : ASSERTIONS

18-down – Brood, feeling blue: you need a rest : SITDOWN

19-down – Not initially gaping, small canopies : AWNINGS

21-down – Second piece of recording equipment making racket : SCAM

22-down – Welsh actress taking part: Greek character : ZETA

1-across – Audibly gawps in flight : STAIRS

4-across – Careful now, girlfriend : STEADY

8-across – Liz seen by the French border in holy town : BETHLEHEM

9-across – £1,000 in German currency : GRAND

11-across – Those seen in total swelter, sore, endlessly struggling? : SUMOWRESTLERS

13-across – Knowledgable, listening to the radio : TUNEDIN

14-across – Requisitions fruity drinks : PRESSES

16-across – I will leave banlieue swirling in clouds : NEBULAE

18-across – Revolted by Harry offering flower : DOGROSE

20-across – It’s enumerated poorly? : UNDERESTIMATE

23-across – Abrupt, harsh split : SEVER

24-across – S. American, somewhat peculiar gent, in essence : ARGENTINE

25-across – Journalist with ‘no weight’ rejected: fair? : BLONDE

26-across – Commercial extremely detailed on Bravo. ‘Extremely’? : ADVERB

1-down – Help to circumvent bachelor’s woeful utterances : SOBS

2-down – Appelation reckoned to indicate something’s authentically ‘natural’, primarily? : ARTISAN

3-down – Doddery older mole, one that’s admired by others : ROLEMODEL

4-down – During first half of supper, DMs me about desserts : SUMMERPUDDINGS

5-down – Group of rowers fed, we can hear : EIGHT

6-down – Here you may store socks and pants : DRAWERS

7-down – Time to cut – and put to rest – uninspired play : THEWINTERSTALE

10-down – Fragment of asteroid? Is asteroid bringing cataclysm? : DISASTER

12-down – Comedians cancel date with a hint of shame : STANDUPS

15-down – England having wet weather, pervasive liquid finally permeated : ENGRAINED

17-down – Trouble: bishop lived up to expectations : BEDEVIL

19-down – Thrice, Everyman having temperature taken, being old : ONETIME

21-down – Arles, Rouen regularly ignored; it’s all been seen before : RERUN

22-down – Rosemary? That lady’s bold : HERB

1-across – Angler hopes for this amount of information, we’re told : BITE

3-across – Club alight: might ash be found there? : WOODLAND

9-across – Last bits of Christmas cake, privately, by the coast : SEASIDE

11-across – Run and shove, pocketing one pound on the way back : PUBLISH

12-across – Sly cats at work, they cause things to change : CATALYSTS

13-across – Ruled, showing signs of age : LINED

14-across – Book pricier option in hotel : AROOMWITHAVIEW

16-across – Pure, holy band is playing Gershwin piece : RHAPSODYINBLUE

20-across – Removed middle section of electrical flex from speaker : CORED

22-across – Soldiers given orders to go around duck : COMMANDOS

23-across – Couple eating last of cracker that is plain : PRAIRIE

24-across – Starters of rice in stock, oregano to taste, onion …? : RISOTTO

25-across – In large part, admitting two poor grades with unassuming manner : MODESTLY

26-across – Gradually move back, say, adder regularly sidestepped : EDGE

1-down – ‘ABCs’ is, put another way …? : BASICS

2-down – Display exuberant paintings etc, stuck up in eatery : TRATTORIA

4-down – Part of layover’s awfully managed : OVERSAW

5-down – Put down dopiest oddball : DEPOSIT

6-down – Salad bar’s boss, awfully unabashed : ASBOLDASBRASS

7-down – Condescend to remove first of specs from blueprint : DEIGN

8-down – Tail winds had owls shedding from both wings : SHADOW

10-down – Everyman will take into account editor’s ‘Badly thought out’ : ILLCONSIDERED

15-down – One devout woman, old-fashioned, overwhelmed : INUNDATED

16-down – Chef’s instructions: pieces of endive and chicory … filling … ready to eat : RECIPE

17-down – They detail stevedores : DOCKERS

18-down – Endless, timeless – and godless! : IMMORAL

19-down – Residue and mineral deposit collected on the land : ASHORE

21-down – Procure fresh weaponry and back Frenchman : REARM

1-across – Numerous Dutch rejected old go-getter : DYNAMO

4-across – Primarily ostentatious soirée comprising actors’ rambling speeches? : OSCARS

8-across – Artist’s unusual term describing mark : REMBRANDT

9-across – Gum unpasteurised? Not entirely : PASTE

11-across – Nationals chant of Russia in revolution : SOUTHAFRICANS

13-across – A baron puts to sea, we’re told, goes down by rock : ABSEILS

14-across – Unimaginative writer, ‘dated’: that’s cutting : HACKSAW

16-across – Game play : OTHELLO

18-across – Fizzy cocktail in can : SLAMMER

20-across – Gossip: purveyor of beachwear catching cold? : SCANDALMONGER

23-across – Homo sapiens leaving baboon to find tool : DRILL

24-across – 007’s adventure: duck! : GOLDENEYE

25-across – Horrified, as some windbag has telephoned : AGHAST

26-across – Holy person unchanged, in equilibrium : STASIS

1-down – Either end of dayroom providing somewhere to sleep : DORM

2-down – Siemens’ corrupt adversary : NEMESIS

3-down – Frenchman with awfully cruel air, temperamental : MERCURIAL

4-down – Wonderful, for it told us how to dance : OUTOFTHISWORLD

5-down – Sign showing absence of growth in Italian island : CAPRI

6-down – Class war with no leader, revolutionary scoundrels : RASCALS

7-down – Unusually lithe thing opts to become famous : INTHESPOTLIGHT

10-down – After Spain, a flight attendant losing energy – thence to Italy? : EASTWARD

12-down – Charlie excited, having boozed it up : CAROUSED

15-down – Familial emblem incorporating a horse and Everyman, most weather-beaten? : CRAGGIEST

17-down – Judicial investigation making sense : HEARING

19-down – Ones going through exams with felt tips : MARKERS

21-down – Greek character, one down in the mouth? : DELTA

22-down – Verbally make fun of golfers’ items : TEES

1-across – Shows emotion as layabout’s dropping piece of litter : SOBS

3-across – A road race, one through island heading west: it’s within your reach : ATTAINABLE

9-across – Gemstone from old friend : OPAL

10-across – Administered a sporting venue, went to seed : RANAGROUND

12-across – Oriental oak represented in body of water : LAKEONTARIO

15-across – Soldier’s own : PRIVATE

16-across – Tennis ace in ceremony, abrupt, acting up : MCENROE

17-across – Make second purchase of wind instrument that’s not about : REORDER

19-across – On two occasions, firm crazy for tropical food : COCONUT

20-across – Device shrinking, about to become quiet : CONTRAPTION

23-across – Arrest aunt misbehaving in eatery : RESTAURANT

24-across – Primarily, men attending godliest infant? : MAGI

25-across – In biblical books, Lawrence is moved to find assertions of facts : STATEMENTS

26-across – Pass out, seeing venomous menaces : ASPS

1-down – Party-pooper ruins wine : SPOILSPORT

2-down – Spider letting no light through glass: number will depart : BLACKWIDOW

4-down – Pub grub done perfectly – that is, including starter of scampi : TOASTIE

5-down – Form of Tehran A-Z that shows Nazareth? : ANAGRAM

6-down – Bigoted pastime offering nasty moment? : NARROWESCAPE

7-down – Panted audibly, being unhappy : BLUE

8-down – Everyman’s beginning to get doddery regularly: one going round in circles : EDDY

11-down – Couple of things fiddler does to curry favour : BOWANDSCRAPE

13-down – Leaders’ laws announced : PRINCIPALS

14-down – Stitch up peripheral creatives after time in Caribbean location : WESTINDIES

18-down – Stretch on the house, move unimpeded : RUNFREE

19-down – In décor, one tends to show flashy item : CORONET

21-down – Symbol of love seen in bedrooms, on-and-off : EROS

22-down – A small island with a vast stretch of land : ASIA