DOUBLE CROSSWORD

CRYPTIC ACROSS

1 Set above Britain, or the UK, for example (12)

9 Factor in blood before opening up jibe in conversation (7)

10 Rotter in the fruit-box falls (7)

11 Agencies make ends meet with help in return (5) 12 Moving ponderously towards an occupation in wood? (9)

13 Parched after sizzling nude bask (8)

15 Expert has a word at last, it follows a play on words (6) 18 Make white line in the sand (6)

19 Lambasting the poor organist (8)

22 Fourteen green pounds of building material? (9) 24 Follow imam’s core teachings (5)

25 Stabs at centre-left defences (7)

26 Cut it out and leave the groom alone? (7)

27 Fighting at the front to receive the first shot in tennis (5,7)

DOWN

1 Plenty hop after a roll (9) 2 Extra pale African leader? (5)

3 Blamed me for spoiling what was preserved (8) 4 Gains made by belittling main comedian (6)

5 Beats dust off sensory organs (5,4)

6 Endorse a half-pint relative to the giraffe (5) 7 Almost totally honest politician’s winning suit (6) 8 Stand by for the sound of mass (6)

14 Handed down as central position (9)

16 Behind bars for casting ingot into American currency (5,4)

17 Bull fighter abandoned rodeo art (8)

18 Boer oddly serving life for conviction (6)

20 End of drug deals being made in open spaces (6) 21 Rocks the boat between the digits (6)

23 Mother detailed poor fit of plain clothes (5)

24 Invest with first-class financial centre (5)