Daily Answers

5-across – Thou fumbler : RULEOFTHUMB

7-across – ___ vera : ALOE

8-across – Herb for chicken,vinegar etc : TARRAGON

9-across – Most hopeful option : BESTBET

11-across – Fastidious : PICKY

13-across – More competent : ABLER

14-across – Like Indiana Jones or Sir Robin Day,accessory-wise : BOWTIED

16-across – Monopoly property next to Jail with rhyming name : PALLMALL

17-across – Follow – dog – end : TAIL

18-across – Visually arresting : EYECATCHING

1-down – Frozen field that floats : FLOE

2-down – Like Beelzebub,facial hair-wise : GOATEED

3-down – Perfect,meteor or dust : STORM

4-down – Rails rut : RURALIST

5-down – Kind of in-line skate : ROLLERBLADE

6-down – Practice of maintaining financial accounts : BOOKKEEPING

10-down – Chelsea FC nickname – US music genre : THEBLUES

12-down – Whatever : POTLUCK

15-down – Trite : BANAL

17-down – Grasp – thin shoot : TWIG

1-across – Dark or dismal : SOMBRE

4-across – Foot the bill : PONYUP

8-across – World record? : ATLAS

9-across – Bag for books and pencils : SATCHEL

10-across – Atlantic island – wine or cake : MADEIRA

11-across – They may develop on a ‘dadbod’ : MOOBS

12-across – Bound together,as of communities : CLOSEKNIT

17-across – Old hat : PASSE

19-across – Style of Glasgow’s Luma Tower : ARTDECO

21-across – Veranda or line of houses : TERRACE

22-across – Online offender : TROLL

23-across – Ball bowled so as to pitch just under or beyond the bat : YORKER

24-across – Turn off and on again : REBOOT

1-down – Oleaginous – obsequious : SMARMY

2-down – Tuneful : MELODIC

3-down – Wise fellow – or prime minister until 2024 : RISHI

5-down – Backless chair – member of dynasty : OTTOMAN

6-down – Early web portal – yobbo – cry of joy : YAHOO

7-down – Like John Paul II : POLISH

9-down – ‘Elton John’,for example : STAGENAME

13-down – Gove era : OVERAGE

14-down – Wavering musical effect : TREMOLO

15-down – ‘Who cares’ stance : APATHY

16-down – Chalice : GOBLET

18-down – More certain : SURER

20-down – Church donation : TITHE

1-across – With a low,rounded upper hem : SCOOPNECK

8-across – Malaise : ENNUI

9-across – Proceeded privately : TIPTOED

10-across – Specs clipped to your nose : PINCENEZ

11-across – Double agent – blemish – burrower : MOLE

13-across – Lissom and lithe : LIMBER

14-across – Give the hoped-for response to one offering a ring : SAYYES

16-across – Polish PM Donald : TUSK

17-across – Fancy variety of church : BASILICA

19-across – One of many afire for Blake : CHARIOT

20-across – With way too high a BMI : OBESE

21-across – Suspicion – lessen ire : LEERINESS

1-down – Lee limes : SLIMEEEL

2-down – Source of power or groceries : OUTLET

3-down – He has a special ‘mobile’ : POPE

4-down – In large quantity,for reduced per-unit cost : ECONOMYSIZED

5-down – Like some beans and operating-theatre dishes : KIDNEYSHAPED

6-down – Relating to international relations : GEOPOLITICAL

7-down – Without any doubt! : ANDNOMISTAKE

12-down – They restore order in schools : JANITORS

15-down – Scottish spud : TATTIE

18-down – Fuzzy green foodstuff – former airline : KIWI

1-across – Large shirtless sportsman : SUMO

3-across – In instalments : EPISODIC

9-across – Ill tidings : BADNEWS

10-across – In any sense : ATALL

11-across – Sir Henry,partner of Charles Stewart Rolls : ROYCE

12-across – Old Testament book or broadcaster Rantzen : ESTHER

14-across – Reason for buying a sports car : MIDLIFECRISIS

17-across – Descriptor of Eurotrash : JETSET

19-across – Colour of Victorian photographs : SEPIA

22-across – Inventor of Poohsticks : MILNE

23-across – Kenyan capital : NAIROBI

24-across – Chardonnay and Perrier,perhaps : SPRITZER

25-across – Pound – pulverize – palpitation : BEAT

1-down – Like some mortgages of the early 2000s : SUBPRIME

2-down – Partner of truly and deeply : MADLY

4-down – Ten poetasters : POSTERESTANTE

5-down – Part of golf club,feather or sunlight : SHAFT

6-down – Storage solution – knickers : DRAWERS

7-down – A little elephant : CALF

8-down – Omani’s neighbour : YEMENI

13-down – Writer like David Sedaris : ESSAYIST

15-down – One taking paces at dawn? : DUELLER

16-down – English art and social critic,1819-1900 : RUSKIN

18-down – Toil – salty solution : SWEAT

20-down – Town west of Bournemouth,or its pottery : POOLE

21-down – Layers of green eggs : EMUS

1-across – Asian condiment and provider of umami : SOYSAUCE

5-across – Apple’s Steve : JOBS

9-across – Junk – fracas – vestige : SCRAP

10-across – Popular bathroom colour of the 1970s : AVOCADO

11-across – Spineless sort : INVERTEBRATE

13-across – Not noticed : UNSEEN

14-across – Mariner : SEADOG

17-across – Copacetic – up to scratch : SATISFACTORY

20-across – Landlocked country with two capitals : BOLIVIA

21-across – Posh,like some gases? : NOBLE

22-across – Rugby player until 2022 : WASP

23-across – Their wails portend doom : BANSHEES

1-down – Scarf or frame : SASH

2-down – They’re pants : YFRONTS

3-down – Trepidatious : APPREHENSIVE

4-down – Modest or immaculate : CHASTE

6-down – US president #44 : OBAMA

7-down – Palaeolithic,Mesolithic and Neolithic : STONEAGE

8-down – Uncomfortable surface to cycle over : COBBLESTONES

12-down – Busy POWs : PUSSYBOW

15-down – Abidingly sturdy : DURABLE

16-down – Port – wine – birthplace of Picasso : MALAGA

18-down – Knells – road fees : TOLLS

19-down – Part of an eye,camera or monocle : LENS