CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

▶ Across 1. Begin to sour with a low dog, led astray (6)

4. This is made to try (6)

9. A more fussily tidy artist (7)

10. A straight guide for one to head the government? (5)

11. Painful affliction afoot the ears are concerned with (4)

12. He was beheaded, and Saul curtailed this biblical character (4)

13. Black and white – and crusty, too (3) 15. See 7 Down

16. Corner a sailor may consider knotty (4) 19. Irishman has made a comeback on which to be ready to hand (3) 21. Academician is at home – in the shower, perhaps (4)

22. Droop, will you? That’s familiar, if old! (4) 24. Work with it reversed: carbon concerns sight (5)

25. Liberal universally to be seen in lid that’s fishy (7)

26. Fabulous creature stonily depicted as having a riddle (6)

27. Religious old Jew seen to be confused with two directions (6)

▶ Down

1. Ten I scatter among the wakeful, being scrupulous (13)

2. They may answer in the chemist’s laboratory (7)

3. Transport system has been confused, the place being beastly (4)

5. Large sums showing why composers are paid (8)

6. Flower trembling at a moo? (5) 7, 15 Across, 8 Down. Similarly bad, pitch having been applied from one source (6,4,3,4,5)

8. See 7 Down

14. A jolly-sounding container for the New Yorker, maybe (8)

17. Do some neat footwork – but slackmouthed? (7)

18. So up, start smoking (5)

20. Bit of mending? Not (a) on one – no comparison! (5)

23. Sign of more to come (4)