CRYPTIC CLUES

ACROSS

1 Leathery sheep sounded defeated (7-6) 10 Twist of net affects sack, say (7) 11 Quirk or Quisling? (7) 12 Open wide to swallow top of ripe fruit (5) 13 Egg raven breaks with time, for the most part (2,7) 14 Quite austere box, light brown in colour (7) 16 One who questions the science and saga about their origins (7) 18 Shreds some lace makers (7) 21 Give the cold shoulder to young girl with a large knife (7) 23 The first Princess Caroline worked in the Potteries? (9) 24 Has butchered kangaroo’s skin made into military headgear (5) 25 Most unfruitful home for birds lay beyond the meadow (7) 26 Gourmand put husked rice into whisked puree (7) 27 On account of air, bank worker turned clairvoyant (7,6)

DOWN

2 Actor with a walk-on part caught with quote from the play? (7) 3 Commonplace inception of tariff and custom (5) 4 Offensive sight and sound, I made out (7) 5 Sells down the river with punt on shafts of light (7) 6 Sucking up bar’s central cellar (9) 7 Competitor sprinted into massage tent (7) 8 Officer dispatched to contain justified rage (8) 9 Devoted chauffeur tried to come up in the inside (4) 15 Cruel edges on the highest point are the most sharp (9) 17 Shopper found revamped store much diminished in the end (8) 19 Storm over donor at game (7) 20 Austere paintings lined the vault (7) 21 Sprayed scent on permit (7) 22 Generally like a straight line drawer (2,1,4) 23 Come down hard on an animal skin (4) 24 Drop small ball (5)

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

Across: - 1 Custard apples. 8 Organs. 9 Agitator. 10 Medicine. 11 Shafts. 12 Ursine. 14 Skeletal. 16 Talented. 19 Putter. 21 Mystic. 23 Alacrity. 25 Tortures. 26 Agaric. 27 One for the road.

Down: - 1 Curve. 2 Swahili. 3 Abstinent. 4 Drawers. 5 Pairs. 6 Leakage. 7 Short wave. 13 Ready to go. 15 Esplanade. 17 Entitle. 18 Dead set. 20 Tornado. 22 Cargo. 24 Tried.