CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Shadowy people rumoured to provide food for contender on ice (6,6) 8 Does it beat bean? (5) 9 Tilts toes, mincing along with high heels (9) 11 Still a 50 per cent chance with nothing (4,2) 12 Saint Lauren, for example, resigned from fashion (8) 14 Spiky houseplant is cause of reduced speed on part of horse harness (6,4) 15 Profit from corn that’s not right (4) 18 Is able to temper original hypocrisy (4) 19 Chick’s on shelf, having dance around (10) 21 Win away game? (8) 23 Fail to speak on time, we hear, and cause error in pool (6) 25 Give shouts of pain at each edge of Pacific Ocean (6,3) 26 University of Texas offers container for volte-face (1-4) 27 Dead fast time blown apart – acknowledges one’s lost (6,6)

DOWN

1 Lands a few difficulties with blighted hopes (5,4) 2 “Say go,” one ordered, to be lenient (2,4,2) 3 Hurry to remove leader from packed crowd (4) 4 They mind pigs pouring Chardonnay, say, into bits of pots (10) 5 Vinegary face ticked one box (6) 6 Don’t go out for a meal when resident here at inn (3,2) 7 Add electronic constant to my surgical procedure (12) 10 Help party escape from jail with vegetables (6,6) 13 Regardless of what’s involved, comic calls toast (2,3,5) 16 Racing out to spoil during battle (9) 17 Quote returned in regulation about purse (8) 20 Zen enlightenment one found on South American hill (6) 22 How shower cubicle may be secured around initial leak (5) 24 Voluntarily give up, it’s said, with friendly gesture (4)