CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

8 Refusing to obey orders of French husbandto-be (7)

9 Chief among vice is to stay at home (4,2) 10 Carbohydrate for infant prodigy? (6) 11 Sign that it’s OK to thump sub viciously (6,2) 12 Whoppers told about soap solutions (4) 13 University post offers good company (10) 15 Magnums, perhaps, for what reason given at skating performance? (3,4)

17 Living like a horse with predictable demeanour at first (7)

20 The Grim Reaper’s colleague is the tamer if in dire straits (6,4)

22 Deduction about Middle Earth was rude and brief (4)

24 Detective’s attitude is to maintain aloofness (8)

26 School monitor is so deft originally (6) 27 To transmit data continuously is master stroke (6)

28 Find out music’s finished (8)

DOWN

1 Thieves trying to enter church office (6) 2 Untruths came up in subject of scar tissue growths (8) 3 and 14 Where to roll laughing with cheap wine, perhaps, where debate is open to all members (2,3,5,2,3,5)

4 Let stag go free with psychological wholeness (7)

5 It sounds like ‘e spotted Biblical hairy man (4)

6 Last couple leaving Dust Bowl for makeshift reservations (6)

7 Calculate effect of adding inch to statuette (8) 14 See3

16 Choir sat uncomfortable in horse-drawn vehicles (8)

18 Supports leading Northern Ireland problem in Europe (8)

19 Give false information about alcoholic beverage being soft drink (7)

21 Smash head off millinery worker (6) 23 Allude to addition of drug to joint (6) 25 Count not counting royalty when deprived of sensation (4)