CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

Across

1. Frightened of races being thrown on the day (6)

8. To be discriminatory about women and lose head (5)

9. Human nature had moon to play with (7)

11. Don't forget to be concerned with one having subs to pay (8)

12. Put to sea, but not under sail (5) 15. One gets older for a long, long time (4) 16. Put question to a newt in the country (3)

17. A bit of opera in Italian Mary failed to start (4)

19. Hangs it out with a snap of the teeth (5)

21. A way to walk out of that op (8)

24. How rare to lie in, farther back in time (7)

25. Light form makes real difference around the South (5)

26. The condition might feel wrong with a non-drinker (6)

Down

2. Is unable to include Haydn's first song (5)

3. Try acting to erase her version of it (8) 4. The entrance is where cross is put up (4)

5. High temperature made life very difficult inside (5)

6. In a pound I'm showing a leg (4) 7. Begin, but don't finish, with an asterisk (4) 10. Ruin a test Dave devised (9) 12. Ongoing TV drama may be seen in a bar (4)

13. Iron glove with nut at leg to adjust (8) 14. Treat one as a sweetheart to a brewers’ mix (4)

18. A scintilla of initial satisfaction, and one can leave car (5)

20. It may relieve one at work to have a magic formula (5)

21. Go one behind another to make things smooth (4)

22. Expel American entry in Bible part (4) 23. Prince Henry took Falstaff's first drawn hole at golf (4)

Yesterday's solution

Across 1. Discernment 8. Suicidal 9. Joke 10. Blush 13. Yo-yo 16. Talk 17. Zeus 18. Eats 20. Stern 24. Tire 25. Tendrils 26. Sensational

Down 2. Iris 3. Chill 4. Reads 5. Enjoy 6. Assortments 7. Remorseless 11. Urges 12. Halve 14. Open 15. Flat 19. Skein 21. Treat 22. Rodeo 23. Visa