CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 I’d recalled tucking into impulsive item for salad (6) 4 Rough strikebreaker’s

going to stir endlessly (8) 9 Japanese ruler removing

central element of firearm (6) 10 Note hobby that gets one

hooked takes time (8) 11 Detective arresting the old thugs, reportedly showing colours (9) 13 Naughty child loses

head — a mistake (5) 14 Having drunk a sherry ablest

drivers may fear these (13) 17 Don’t put in sir’s tooth wonky! They should straighten it out (13) 21 Note 500 bottles Inland

Revenue taxed (5) 23 A new version of Dante to

set up with explanations? (9) 24 Fine material in

newspaper to stop (8) 25 Poor nun reaching end of

Eucharist gets wine (6) 26 Those people acquiring old record for religious study (8) 27 It may delete items from cameras erroneously (6)

DOWN 1 Live on edge (6) 2 Lorna’s accepted temptation to make a

contribution (2,4,3) 3 Fuel vessel in hurry (7) 5 Bring into church, with introduction of Irishman, this old Tory (5,6) 6 Crazy about the Queen’s source of power (7) 7 Different article carried by soldiers (5) 8 Is artist playing Ravi Shankar? (8) 12 Healthy knight on board’s speciality, picking up a grand (3,3,1,4) 15 Crafty May’s reset less rigorous schedule for repayment (4,5) 16 Discovers reason to worry when England’s batting (5,3) 18 In exam clamour to get a

first or second perhaps (7) 19 Colonist left bitten by dog (7) 20 Newspaper boss makes investment finally in English fashion house (6) 22 Rascal with Irish accent

getting tip-off? (5)