DAILY MAIL CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Knock back excellent beer in splendid clothes (7) 5 American backs books about old city’s commuter belt (6) 9 Somewhere to tie up second seal (7) 10 Fashion model to retain Arab title (7) 11 Racket in Edinburgh (3) 12 Very dignified and cold before ominous shaking (11) 13 Head off drunk for game of chance (5) 14 A dispute with chief about rare object found at end of shaft (9) 16 Samson blessed man among rebels in service at sea (9) 17 A reduced department with talent (5) 19 Seen kid head off, playing this? (4-3-4) 22 Whip? About time (3) 23 Distinctive one seen in unusual places … (7) 24 … in which to find large tool used in theatre (7) 26 Old coin does surprisingly include copper (6) 27 With 21, doctor treated customer (3,4)
DOWN
1 Alter form of some film about defence ministry (7) 2 Kind and tolerant character understood Agnes somehow (4-11) 3 Foreign money picked up in field (3) 4 Best to avoid cooked sugar beet — it’s boring (5) 5 Smoother second side about to overwhelm Irish (5,4) 6 He could inherit 10 duck kept in store on farm (5) 7 Can they detect oxygen in far-flung Pleiades sector? (5,10) 8 Poster about Clio, for instance, was entertaining (6) 12 Sing like Crosby, performing after his first half (5) 14 Learner-driver in Lima road sadly may run over this (9) 15 Try women’s old horse (5) 16 Division in church? Miss trips round it (6) 18 Nominal chief of tribe’s ritual dances (7) 20 Roadie unfortunately belts last word (5) 21 Follow to make certain king’s leaving (5) 25 Support current commercial cases (3)