CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

No 16,540

ACROSS

1 Compassionate mystic worried about old newsreel company (11) 9 Remain around with the French food (7) 10 Money in the bank that’s essential for tightrope walker (7) 11 Cut short test back (3) 12 Guide fits in, for instance, to meet needs (7) 13 Nice there — I arrive shattered (7) 14 Regret odd bits of route (3) 15 Finished an example of 9 (5) 17 Uninspired diva managed to secure second of operas (5) 18 Endorse book to a smaller extent (5) 20 Sound replacement for fragment of unacceptable episode? (5) 22 Go off right on time initially (3) 24 Child goes round path without taking a breather (7) 25 Income to do with location of event (7) 26 Article appearing in 1 Across (3) 27 Try new hue to cover current paint (7) 28 Terminal at hospital protected by cipher (7) 29 Basic principles of cryptic clue for lures? (6,5)

DOWN

1 Vatican basilica food upset city on Baltic (5,10) 2 As Spooner might put it, QC cleaner’s a weakling (7) 3 Evaluate Anglo-Saxon, for example (5) 4 Spend season inactively in Ireland once, without one note (9) 5 Middle East city exam allowed to be set up (3,4) 6 Open on same court roughly at the same time (15) 7 It detects cut, so I hear (6) 8 Daughter called up order (6) 16 Officer runs off grabbing table in mess (9) 18 Kind German visits West African state (6) 19 Dust blower is brought up with small volume in hopper (7) 21 Vital op could become critical (7) 23 The hollow rotten tree may do this (6) 25 It’s to come up again in core curriculum (5)