Daily Answers

1-across – Excellent English poet capturing hearts : CHAMPION

5-across – Order to strike – caught leaving at top speed : ALLOUT

10-across – Left river, in past, slowly : LARGO

11-across – Pleased, having stumped one former PM : GLADSTONE

12-across – Bird article written in pencil, unwisely : PELICAN

13-across – See crushed ice does : DIOCESE

14-across – Book different course, following Heath, perhaps : ROBINSONCRUSOE

18-across – Mixed up metal dealer with war poet : WALTERDELAMARE

20-across – Theatre role about Kit Carson, for example : TRAPPER

23-across – Shakespearean actor, one in musical : OLIVIER

24-across – Mean male, an intermediary : MIDDLEMAN

25-across – Old-fashioned old man penning note : DATED

26-across – Fish seen round mouth of river? It’s a wonder : RARITY

27-across – See it run off, hungry : ESURIENT

1-down – Check across a border for a religious leader : CALIPH

2-down – Sadly I fall, poor hoax victim : APRILFOOL

3-down – Exile for writer : PROSCRIBE

4-down – Imagine records involved the Mafia? : ORGANISEDCRIME

6-down – Catch girl with nothing on : LASSO

7-down – Ring precinct for gas : OZONE

8-down – Temperate? Not half, before daughter wavered : TEETERED

9-down – Main directions given by all the bridge players? : CARDINALPOINTS

15-down – Jogger grabbing a rest : REMAINDER

16-down – Struggle in Queer Street? This may give you some protection : SERVIETTE

17-down – Pair watch for unfaithful type : TWOTIMER

19-down – Extremely clever to reword trust : CREDIT

21-down – Run to avoid large snake : ADDER

22-down – Guide the Italian aboard vessel : PILOT

1-across – What a judge should be, as a precaution : JUSTINCASE

6-across – Helpful hint about run, journey : TRIP

10-across – Returning once more, artist falls : NIAGARA

11-across – Stock farmer galloped and caught her : RANCHER

12-across – Athletic contest in Irish town curtailed after 6, unfinished : TRIATHLON

13-across – Gather donkey seen on a motorway : AMASS

14-across – Hymn blessed defeated Isles : ADESTEFIDELES

18-across – Student holds her Oscar nervously : RHODESSCHOLAR

20-across – Article about one female burglar : THIEF

21-across – Golfing term for a handicap : ALBATROSS

24-across – Search for a recreational activity : PURSUIT

25-across – Put down roots outside a major US port : SEATTLE

26-across – Phone engineer around noon : RING

27-across – A place where people meet in Paris? : RENDEZVOUS

1-down – David’s close friend, judge, old biblical character : JONATHAN

2-down – Religious teacher bathed one : SWAMI

3-down – Taunt Alexis for popping off inside and continually changing? : INASTATEOFFLUX

4-down – Unusually slow rate of movement in cold, bitterly cold, lake : CRAWL

5-down – Pieces of music composed about a daughter and son : SERENADES

7-down – Learns during proper dry run : REHEARSAL

8-down – Study training scheme : PERUSE

9-down – With everything recorded by Satchmo, et cetera? : ANDALLTHATJAZZ

15-down – Previously bottled near Loire : EARLIERON

16-down – Worry about fellow, the Parisian in a port down under : FREMANTLE

17-down – Sideboards, ones employed backstage : DRESSERS

19-down – Proust’s strange torpor : STUPOR

22-down – Stationed in vile digs, initially : BASED

23-down – In the open, perform better : OUTDO

1-across – Sent a message about Slovenian tourist destination : CABLED

4-across – Desert that woman? On the contrary : RATHER

10-across – Brings up in houses built across river : NOURISHES

11-across – Count’s child at university : TOTUP

12-across – Unfashionable shed one rejected : OUTCAST

13-across – Starts to avoid key meals : LUNCHES

14-across – Groom’s award in sport? : MANOFTHEMATCH

17-across – The most tongue-tied manages this without the slightest exaggeration? : TOSAYTHELEAST

21-across – Royal attendant has no time for messenger : COURIER

22-across – Urge simple changes involving uranium : IMPULSE

24-across – Love game, possibly last in series : OMEGA

25-across – I must be protected by guns regulation : ORDINANCE

26-across – I may pose a problem for a dog : SETTER

27-across – Stand by wife, a sly type : WEASEL

1-down – Charlie, on French river, making soup : CONSOMME

2-down – Lacking sharpness, trombone, say, in club? : BLUNTINSTRUMENT

3-down – Girl from Israeli port brought over around one : ERICA

5-down – Social worker, woman, having short chat before the baby’s born : ANTENATAL

6-down – Struck senior teacher – possible punishment to get prominent media attention : HITTHEHEADLINES

7-down – Meal for old man, among others : REPAST

8-down – Roofing material which church required : THATCH

9-down – A squalid property surrounding yard provides sanctuary : ASYLUM

15-down – Charm of fiesta can, somehow : FASCINATE

16-down – Light ale brewed at that place inside : ETHEREAL

18-down – Flowering plant in a Lancashire river : YARROW

19-down – What one may have expected from ‘Sweeney Todd’ : HAIRDO

20-down – Game the French boycotted is over : ACROSS

23-down – Writer, for example, brought up in a London suburb : PENGE

1-across – Small article by Dali in Central American capital : SANSALVADOR

9-across – Put the wind up a member crossing line : ALARM

10-across – Father in capital wants us brought over together : PARIPASSU

11-across – Chap was the leader, coming over and heading for Admiral Nelson : MANDELA

12-across – Gent has arm in an article of clothing : GARMENT

13-across – Stateswoman – chat nervously with her after start of tribunal : THATCHER

15-across – Streak across mud, getting immersed : SMUDGE

17-across – American after a taxi back? You can count on it! : ABACUS

18-across – So, a nicer new storyline : SCENARIO

21-across – Long-suffering patient, uncomplaining : STOICAL

22-across – Look at our Sunday paper, endlessly : OBSERVE

24-across – Irritation shown by terrible Russian chap having little time to gad about : GALLIVANT

25-across – The snow leopard, at one time around for all to see : OUNCE

26-across – Excellent company making film : HIGHSOCIETY

1-down – Health resort in a European country : SPAIN

2-down – Complex calculations made by anaesthetist? Crisis in middle of surgery : NUMBERCRUNCHING

3-down – Group of characters in sacred river requiring help : ALPHABET

4-down – House housing a bad-tempered woman : VIRAGO

5-down – Craftily, trader tempts one in a place on the high street : DEPARTMENTSTORE

6-down – Shrub grew on church official : ROSEELDER

7-down – Rodent, second seen in trade centre : MARMOT

8-down – A free BBC? : AUNTIE

14-down – A ring brought in by governess for a religious leader : AYATOLLAH

16-down – Short signs for wrong and right beneath a puzzle : ACROSTIC

17-down – Delegate, a southern character : ASSIGN

19-down – Key man, first to bat : OPENER

20-down – Means to support a learner driver, whatever the circumstances : ALWAYS

23-down – Hot drink, not busker’s first : RANDY

1-across – Iron starts to go on the blink, then radio : TRANSISTOR

6-across – Iceberg in local fjord : CALF

9-across – Refurbished an hotel in a town on the Shannon : ATHLONE

10-across – This may be used by a recovery vehicle in poor wet ground : TOWROPE

12-across – PM is to touch down in a place in the Arctic Ocean : CAMERONISLAND

14-across – Casseroles, say, old and new, Vera smashed : OVENWARE

15-across – Mad with nag at Kelso’s last : WHACKO

18-across – Good chap, engaging alternative comedian : GORMAN

19-across – Rings about artist having wild dreams : CHIMERAS

21-across – More than one good bloke lacking social graces appears in sharp suit : ROUGHDIAMONDS

24-across – International to manage trial : TESTRUN

25-across – Weave intricate net before getting to port? : ENTWINE

26-across – Harshly rebuke class : RATE

27-across – What the footballer did is co-operated : PLAYEDBALL

1-down – Leave, going uphill in carriage : TRAP

2-down – Punishment given by a belt set about bumpkin? : ATHICKEAR

3-down – Mates worry unduly about the song : STORMYWEATHER

4-down – They fleece judge on board ship : SHEARERS

5-down – Excursion abroad in front of galley : OUTING

7-down – A gypsy with a distinctive smell : AROMA

8-down – Rodent filmed out by river : FIELDMOUSE

11-down – The new stadium built for a London football club : WESTHAMUNITED

13-down – Restoring development around West Berlin, perhaps : SONGWRITER

16-down – Girl causing unexpected stir in Communist country : CHRISTINA

17-down – Room overlooking yard in a French skiing centre : CHAMBERY

20-down – Outstanding gesture : SIGNAL

22-down – Disrupt cheerful group : UPSET

23-down – So fortunate : WELL