DOUBLE CROSSWORD

CRYPTIC ACROSS

1 Guys tripped up with cries of pain (7)

5 Reduces chances of Casanova? (7)

9 Singer can use the composition (9)

10 Souse is high (5)

11 Pelt down and run across backwards (4)

12 Lay off calf, solitary and following the field (5,5) 14 Complain of pain in the neck being about to break down (7)

15 Make dotty soirée start with drink (7)

17 One caught in award during hospital check-up (7) 19 Signal way to accept the unfamiliar (7)

20 Lost for words and so is the translation (10)

22 Solid timber with mahogany top (4)

25 Musical work tops centre stage (5)

26 Mastermind used diplomacy in capturing American spies (9)

27 Diced its root for food (7) 28 Talk about sham arrangements of the veil (7)

DOWN

1 Side confront tenacious opener (5)

2 Made holes in front of tenure agreement (9) 3 Unwilling to drop lightheaded promise (4)

4 Trainee used trick to keep rodent inside (7)

5 Lots of corn to hoist into ship (7)

6 Has bellied out when carelessly dressed (10) 7 Sacred order guarding religious beliefs (5)

8 Stand as centrespread with hand out (9) 13 Formation dances tend to be the issue (10)

14 Tip water around one’s head, creating damp hairstyle (9)

16 Communist leadership to rise up mid-revolution (9) 18 Constructed hotels round African land (7)

19 Inscribe in blue outline (7) 21 Worry to be losing head of hair (5)

23 Fur coat for southern leader in northern capital (5) 24 Secures elimination matches (4)

QUICK ACROSS

1 Predatory South American fish (7)

5 Spectre, apparition (7) 9 Trim, neat (9)

10 Overflow (5)

11 Soya bean curd (4) 12 Disrespectful (10) 14 Scornful or ironic language (7)

15 Individual instruction (7) 17 In general (7)

19 Astound, stun (7) 20 Fomenter, prime mover (10)

22 Explosive device (4) 25 Rejoice (5)

26 Caver (9)

27 Element used in transistors (7)

28 Passage between the mouth and oesophagus (7)

DOWN

1 Assert, propound (5)

2 Give added support to (9) 3 Prying, inquisitive (4) 4 Transposition of letters to form a new word (7) 5 Schoolchild appointed to a position of authority (7) 6 Austere, self-denying (10) 7 Two times (5)

8 Extremism, activism (9) 13 Resigned to one’s predetermined destiny (10) 14 Ostentation, flamboyance (9)

16 Winter sport (3,6) 18 Communication between groups (7)

19 Buttress, underpin (5,2) 21 Cranium (5)

23 Mineral found on alkaline shores (5)

24 Hawaiian dance (4)