IRISH DAILY MAIL CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 How to sell lots at knock-down prices? (5,7) 8 I beat hooking boxer, European (7) 9 Rice Sam prepared, a bit rough at the edges (7) 11 Wimp longing to retain rare way of removing water (4-6) 12 German song told a story (4) 14 Pack soldiers into social event and scout rally (8) 16 Compete with woman over capital (6) 17 Make mistake taking part in 25 (3) 19 Everyone follows peer making poor delivery at Lord’s (2-4) 21 Gaze at girl holding good lens (8) 24 Russian leader’s current transport (4) 25 Brown runs into tower loft perhaps? (6,4) 27 Where spread may go, having lots of success (2,1,4) 28 Consistent and even-handed extracting it (7) 29 Time invested in CID cop scams smashed records (7,5)

DOWN

1 Sum laid out for heretical belief system (7) 2 Our planet’s developing countries? (5,5) 3 He crossed Boyne battling with English colonist (8) 4 Free top-class wine store in northern Germany (6) 5 Check big match (4) 6 Address induction of priest, ignoring din (7) 7 Big port smelts iron ore with jade I gathered (3,2,7) 10 A dimmer sun in unusual period of fine weather (6,6) 13 Add spice to bananas and biscuits (6,4) 15 One’s been exiled from Ireland before (3) 18 Cereal product cooked by reader (3,5) 20 Showing off, Virginia appears in underwear party (7) 22 A graduate probes some weird tiny animals (7) 23 Well-known inn with large disco occasionally (6) 26 Small retired person briefly in TV series (4)