CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Animal returned to Arthur’s place? (7)

5 Whistle-blower concerned with liberal swallowing ecstasy (7) 9 Artist upset by competitor’s appearance (7)

10 Man comes from taverns, smashed (7)

11 Field in which one studies the earth (9)

12 Vegetable I put between two legs (5)

13 Flowers came up with spades (5) 15 Groan, consumed by obvious lapse (9)

17 Plots in Green’s novel (9) 19 Back in saddle I yearn to climb down (5)

22 Finish third in race and be defeated (5)

23 Bribe American with cheap second homes (9)

25 Preparing cocoa but heartlessly leaves (7)

26 Strength in golf decreasing? (7) 27 Regularly tenses head after doctor put a bandage on (7) 28 Celebrities, for example, restricted by loans (7)

DOWN

1 Golfer with clubs first to make mistake (7)

2 Reddish colour on small leaves on an island (7)

3 One finishing school perhaps not a crank (5)

4 Call doctor then elope (9) 5 Copper dependable?

Not at first (5)

6 Your flu is developing in a violent manner (9)

7 Wading through town (7)

8 Dead drunk, texting endlessly about

Charlie (7)

14 Nick spells strings of words? (9) 16 German city starts to treat immigrants as legally required (9) 17 Impassioned former lover advanced (7) 18 Excellent run produces cheers (7)

20 Joy, maybe, from Beethoven’s second movement (7)

21 Wise men after party getting quantities of medicine (7)

23 Wide thoroughfare south of Belgium (5) 24 By the side of a pine (5)