The Herald crosswords
ACROSS
1 Symbolic picture concerned with award ceremony (14)
9 Hard centre surrounds
tedious job (5)
10 Acting partner in charge of a Central American country (5,4)
11 A diary salesman backing
trainer? (7)
12 Thin and wavy fish
outwardly active (7)
13 At this point in the
rehearsal (4)
14 Green tea's brewed by
young people (9)
18 Placed ideally in tree (9)
20 Celebrity turns from
vermin (4)
22 Honest support (7)
25 Following trial, tucked in with a will (7)
26 Hormone replacement for gene's root (9)
27 Send it back with the tax (5) 28 Rebuilt Bard's theatre, do act (5,3,6) ▪
DOWN
1 Wrongly pierce notes on cookery (6)
2 Decency to support one tyre change (9)
3 An ugly thing – a stye, perhaps (7)
4 Under a spell and thence transformed (9)
5 Model pleads for jobs (5)
6 Artisan upset old foreign royal (7) 7 Nothing on grape plant is for sheep (5)
8 Infantile and shabby, I get removed (7)
15 Exit scene dramatically for a living (9)
16 Type of fan for the dentist? (9) 17 Hear sad music playing, make light jacket (7)
19 Regalia smashed in African country (7)
20 Knight knocked back German name, seeking Italian dish (7) 21 Niche for politicians' holiday (6) 23 Part of a step in escalator is ergonomic (5)
24 Mean to be close (5)
ACROSS
1 Up to this time (8)
5 Paint crudely (4)
9 Winner, victor (9)
10 Bounder (3)
11 Cartoon bear from Jellystone Park (4)
13 Popular painkiller (7)
16 Haul, lug (4)
18 Scoundrel (6)
19 Process of getting older (6) 21 Intelligent (4) 23 Good-humoured (7)
25 ___ too, far from (4) 27 Feather scarf (3)
28 Edgy, anxious (9) 30 Counter-current (4) 31 Marmite, casserole (8)
DOWN
1 Country ride on a horse (4) 2 216 gallons of ale (3) 3 Scholarly (7)
4 Danger (6)
6 Squeeze-box with a keyboard (9)
7 Witty talk (8)
8 Piece of stage equipment (4)
12 Beyond control (3,2,4) 14 Marine mammal (4) 15 Introductory statement (8) 17 Spoken, of the mouth (4) 20 Pertaining to heredity (7) 22 One-room residence (6) 24 Boxing match (4)
26 Cut, revise (4)
29 Part of the mouth (3)