CROSSWORD

Clues across

1. Issued tweets from the wilds? Mad! (8) 5. Pay-back for a cartoonist (6) 10. Advances stealthily, lopping tops off bordering bushes (5) 11. Marx, an individual beginning to deflate when cruelly punctured (9) 12. To indulge idly is one indication of position (9) 13. A herb for flavouring your old meat when half-gone (5) 14. Figurehead leads the conservative side: panic! (6) 15. Dyke got old, not as good as new (7) 18. Trudge back to hospital with trendy swimmer (7) 20. Tatty exterior, went inside, made a score (6) 22. Heads for Arctic zone, taking extra care of old American (5) 24. Learn glib trick to appear a little familiar (4,1,4) 25. Directors of Visa are not very lifelike in performance (9) 26. Kind of jack that is standard for Britain’s workers as a group (5) 27. It is dismal and arid around Listener (6) 28. Devious lie given as sweet talk, say (8)

Clues down

1. Like the Listener’s delivery: with little enthusiasm for an audience (6) Typically voguish officer in the army (2,7) 3. Rebuilding tea chests: boring Scottish competition (7,3,5) All run out as terrible hex cast on trans-Tasman rivals (7) 6. Romeo, a trumpeter in disguise, is pleasantly warm (4,11) 7. Like Wellington with many twists and turns (5) 8. Communist leaders like Elizabeth I (8) Bestie fired mistakenly when touring pole (6) 16. Getting it together in dishevelled night gear (9) 17. A DVD about terrible acne at a high level (8) 19. Kingdom with Republican leader in denial (6) 20. Adjusted the radio to receive melody and cacophony (5,2) 21. Have breather during exercise then take to the pool (6) 23. There, milling around, is a crowd (5)