CRYPTIC CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Company initially provides funds (7) 5 Entrance expert on ship going round Cuba (6) 9 Bloke consumes last of dinner before cheese (7) 10 Version of bible (Old Testament) as decorative trinket (7) 11 Put away grub each time (3) 12 Fast setter bewildered the papers (5,6) 13 Like the sea it rises, occasionally deadly (5) 14 Crude parcel containing bread roll and fruit (4,5) 16 Miners on beer tormented boss (6,3) 17 Gannets usually and not owls primarily leave this (5) 19 Criticise idol defending stock alarm mechanism (5,6) 22 Sack ten in A&E (3) 23 One who prefers the best new titles I introduced (7) 24 Like ham maybe, enjoying continued success? (2,1,4) 26 Appropriate east wing perhaps (6) 27 Hot spicy dish avoided by Charlie’s more costly and faster! (5,2)
DOWN
1 Most wary actors adopt guises now and then (7) 2 Uninformed host managed to maintain current time (6,9) 3 Wool supplier rises and falls (3) 4 Outside broadcast excluded from nasty part of play (5) 5 Judge a rare piece on merit (9) 6 Copper fragment’s length once (5) 7 Analyst played with rope and flex, that’s obvious (4-11) 8 Artwork’s universal in country (6) 12 Wrong fellow supported by a London university (5) 14 Some say reptile swallowed savoury cake (9) 15 Gas spoiled organ (5) 16 Writer turns up with 22, a relation (6) 18 Partially hide where napkin is often placed (7) 20 Part of South America’s cold, by the sound of it (5) 21 Honk at horse or canine maybe (5) 25 Broadcast song (3)