Daily Answers

1-across – Second drink in isolated spot : BACKWATER

6-across – Glimpse object of especial interest : SIGHT

9-across – Taking photographs of spectators where marksmen practise : SHOOTINGGALLERY

10-across – Land shortage ignored by duke : EARTH

11-across – Maintenance allowance Olympian squandered : PALIMONY

13-across – Literary character, jumping bail, put in prison : CALIBAN

15-across – Likely to remain fine in South, possibly after about one : SETFAIR

16-across – After last of nightmares, refuse to sleep : SLUMBER

17-across – Pal carrying revolutionary weapon : MACHETE

18-across – Cop loses out in a disgusting place : CESSPOOL

20-across – Itinerant US actor making a comeback : NOMAD

23-across – Fruit British head dropped into perfect drink : BUTTERNUTSQUASH

24-across – Helped let learner driver out : EASED

25-across – As good as gold? Not us : RUNNERSUP

1-down – A nervous wreck in box, on trial : BASKETCASE

2-down – Group of singers sing endlessly about love : CHOIR

3-down – Perform a baptism to celebrate a birth : WETTHEBABYSHEAD

4-down – Can one holding drill start to repair a kitchen utensil? : TINOPENER

5-down – Royal feast cut short : REGAL

6-down – I’m unfortunately turned over by trick, a computer fraud : SALAMITECHNIQUE

7-down – New measuring device, reportedly for fruit : GREENGAGE

8-down – Film and play opening in Soho : TOYS

12-down – Amity shown by female diner relaxed on liner : FRIENDSHIP

14-down – Rule at sea confused eminent poets : LAUREATES

15-down – Dope easy to name : SIMPLETON

19-down – Proprietor in state of depression having day off : OWNER

21-down – Upset mason grumbles : MOANS

22-down – Efficient porter grabbing first of bags : ABLE

1-across – Block Somerset’s foremost spinner : STOP

4-across – Way in which ginger’s used? : CATFLAP

9-across – Heavenly girl seen round about, heading for arcade : ETHEREAL

10-across – Some favour banking in town : URBAN

11-across – Financial agency vacating property : CLEARINGHOUSE

13-across – Up against it, adult within points out : INASPOT

15-across – Beast making awful noises on lake : LIONESS

17-across – Excited seeing small band : GENESIS

19-across – Fundamentalist spoke about Conservative : RADICAL

20-across – Hear about soldiers with TA stuck inside a drainage basin : CATCHMENTAREA

22-across – First sign of tooth decay – canine needs to be extracted : ARIES

23-across – Cheat to secure point in card game : CRIBBAGE

24-across – Clothes got grey, unfortunately : TOGGERY

25-across – Singer in musical, Tormé : ALTO

2-down – Article on extremely memorable subject : THEME

3-down – Clown, I report, is funny : PIERROT

4-down – Army officer is in the central part, we hear : COLONEL

5-down – Better golf club, hopefully : TOUCHWOOD

6-down – Work switch in job centre : LABOUREXCHANGE

7-down – Coppers shut in church : PENCE

8-down – Go from job to job to ruthlessly pursue one’s aim? : STICKATNOTHING

12-down – Phone engineer around noon : RING

14-down – Has to step off as quickly as possible : POSTHASTE

16-down – The Italian entering well of storage chamber : SILO

18-down – Incomplete drawing by unknown character : SKETCHY

19-down – Greek wine – what could be nastier? : RETSINA

20-down – Talk about front of relief map : CHART

21-down – Machine that’s programmed to drill almost overturned : ROBOT

1-across – Noon, and crate’s broken open for delicious drink : NECTAR

4-across – Sailor almost in a depression? Very close : ADJACENT

9-across – Show vet : SCREEN

10-across – One who’s got over nasty virus starts to visit other relicts : SURVIVOR

11-across – Firing girl taken in by lad is mistaken : DISMISSAL

13-across – About right, worthless people causing mêlée : SCRUM

14-across – Displays : AIRSANDGRACES

17-across – Star in launch a pirate injured : ALPHACENTAURI

21-across – Phoned after parking accident : PRANG

23-across – Tries in middle of proper dummy run : REHEARSAL

24-across – People in authority adopting strange logo for divinity : THEOLOGY

25-across – Is coming back low, male in wind : SIMOOM

26-across – Mention a bogus name : NOMINATE

27-across – Animal, steer, following embarrassed female : REDFOX

1-down – End of game inventor reviewed : NOSIDE

2-down – Character cutting could be a cheat : CARDSHARP

3-down – A row about the Spanish workshop : ATELIER

5-down – Wife, after large drink, gives incomprehensible talk : DOUBLEDUTCH

6-down – One who offers counsel, as diver at sea : ADVISER

7-down – Little fish always biting line : ELVER

8-down – Sweet one aboard streetcar is heading for university : TIRAMISU

12-down – Coach runs into box where there’s a problem with actors : STAGEFRIGHT

15-down – Causes unnecessary alarm as crow flies off : CRIESWOLF

16-down – Monk runs as Russian leader : RASPUTIN

18-down – Article on Heights in the Middle East from one from Luanda? : ANGOLAN

19-down – Not similar to ‘fizzy’ ale in UK : UNALIKE

20-down – Peak around South American capital with cross : CLIMAX

22-down – A force losing second group of elite soldiers : ATEAM

1-across – That is to be presented by belted earl and duke in Edinburgh : AULDREEKIE

6-across – Shot in chest, a bombardier : STAB

10-across – Hold and study article cast in metal : CONTAIN

11-across – Female having the potential to succeed : HEIRESS

12-across – Attempt to get money out of don entertaining the crowd : PUTTHESQUEEZEON

13-across – Bloomer over getting child in free : ORCHID

15-across – Jazz pianist making brilliant appearance, first to last : HINES

18-across – Winning a crown : AHEAD

19-across – Motion initially to wife, inside playing music : MOTOWN

22-across – You’ll need to get a round in before playing this dangerous game : RUSSIANROULETTE

24-across – Saying about young goat on deserted mountain : SKIDDAW

25-across – In which one may eat meals daughter and I take home close to nine : DINETTE

26-across – Competition’s not finished yet : EVEN

27-across – Plants in garden Shay cultivated : HYDRANGEAS

1-down – Say yes to trust and agree to buy : ACCEPT

2-down – See lieutenant rounding English height in the distance : LENGTH

3-down – Get in touch about a church : REACH

4-down – Writer in West Germany – he collapsed : ERNESTHEMINGWAY

5-down – Lush, not dried out, and drinking up as we speak, it wouldn’t surprise me : ISHOULDNTWONDER

7-down – A line that can’t be bettered in entertainment’s signature tune? : THERESNO

8-down – See 7 : BUSINESS

9-down – See 7 : LIKESHOW

14-down – Embarrassed, old woman producing drink containing meths : REDBIDDY

16-down – A pass splitting the French in game : LACROSSE

17-down – Industrial region – seediest, possibly : TEESSIDE

20-down – Astute running secures bronze : STATUE

21-down – Holiday in a secluded spot : RECESS

23-down – Revolutionary line number brought over : LENIN

1-across – A doctor tucked into mother’s curry : MADRAS

4-across – Worry beads, article held inside chapel : BETHESDA

9-across – Parish priest, the old cartoon character : POPEYE

10-across – A bishop’s treatise, hard to understand : ABSTRACT

11-across – Second lecture’s about old SE Canadian city : MOOSEJAW

13-across – Gloomy king embraced by loved one : DREAR

14-across – Phone foreign singer about British drug : PHENOBARBITONE

18-across – Trooper understanding who’s paying for treatment? : PRIVATEPATIENT

19-across – Circles vowel in error : LAPSE

21-across – Small bill sent to one by food company : WEETABIX

24-across – Really popular result : INEFFECT

25-across – Against one girl having to travel west for capital : VIENNA

26-across – Common central spot in fish : GREENEYE

27-across – Trainspotter, a girl, close to track : ANORAK

1-down – Daughter falling off bike makes one be miserable : MOPE

2-down – An alcoholic declines nothing : DIPSO

3-down – Country once hell in one area : ABYSSINIA

5-down – Joint requiring oil and hard rubbing : ELBOWGREASE

6-down – Loathed bowler, say, on journalist : HATED

7-down – Shiver, unhappy in makeshift bed : SHAKEDOWN

8-down – Ratty, one criminal lawyer : ATTORNEY

12-down – BBC wary – joke misguided in nonsense verse : JABBERWOCKY

15-down – Brutus, for example, portrayed in a musical, work of art : HAIRPIECE

16-down – Check, having lost top copy : IMITATION

17-down – Orthography, it’s what witch is good at? : SPELLING

20-down – Petite female caught by rising river : ELFIN

22-down – Private meal lacking starter : INNER

23-down – Highly disagreeable row : RANK