Daily Answers

1-across – Procedure for perfecting posture : PILATES

8-across – Film with Dustin Hoffman as ‘Dorothy’ : TOOTSIE

9-across – Shangri-La : NIRVANA

10-across – Besmirched : SULLIED

11-across – Greys,Guards or pine : SCOTS

13-across – Slangy comfort : CUSHINESS

15-across – Birds with collective noun ‘flamboyance’ : FLAMINGOS

18-across – County – twerps : BERKS

21-across – One unlikely to have a tin ear : MAESTRO

22-across – <span>Dory’s condition in </span><i>Finding Nemo</i> : AMNESIA

23-across – Take back on – a redtop : READOPT

24-across – Like a lavishly ceilinged Chapel : SISTINE

1-down – 72 in a firkin : PINTS

2-down – Slowly and stately on a score : LARGO

3-down – Written record : TRANSCRIPTION

4-down – It’s hardly a hurry : STASIS

5-down – Appealing insurance aspect : NOCLAIMSBONUS

6-down – Hanker : ASPIRE

7-down – 007 director Sam : MENDES

12-down – Word before ‘division’,‘phone’ or ‘membrane’ : CELL

14-down – Unwaisted kind of dress : SACK

15-down – They’re in thighs : FEMURS

16-down – eg the Brighton Centre and the International Convention Centre Wales : ARENAS

17-down – Old fourpence coins : GROATS

19-down – Spud cakes : ROSTI

20-down – Tsk! : SHAME

1-across – Pre-assembled : READYMADE

8-across – Prepare for Prue Leith,perhaps : BAKE

9-across – Cloak-and-dagger operations : ESPIONAGE

10-across – Omit – cavort : SKIP

13-across – Meh : TEPID

15-across – Like some swimming pools : HEATED

16-across – Cash cow : EARNER

17-across – Ban – one like 7d : OUTLAW

19-across – Additional : SECOND

20-across – Leaves for lunch? : SALAD

21-across – Bathroom powder : TALC

24-across – As it were : SOTOSPEAK

25-across – Alight – obtain – property : LAND

26-across – Showing shoulders : STRAPLESS

2-down – The life of Riley : EASE

3-down – Supporter of the throne? : DAIS

4-down – Coined – in the money! : MINTED

5-down – AKA bow-wow : DOGGIE

6-down – Bafta-winning Katherine – or napkins : PARKINSON

7-down – Pseudo-Spanish word for a bandit : DESPERADO

11-down – In a husky manner : THROATILY

12-down – Desolate milieu : WASTELAND

13-down – <span>State,setting for </span><i>Rio Bravo</i><span> and </span><i>Hud</i> : TEXAS

14-down – Went out with – old news : DATED

18-down – Avant-garde : WAYOUT

19-down – Tasty triangle : SAMOSA

22-down – Amorphous mineral used as a gemstone : OPAL

23-down – Where crane drivers operate : CABS

1-across – Slick of speech : SMOOTHTONGUED

8-across – Rainbow’s shape : ARC

9-across – Keeper of public records : ARCHIVIST

10-across – Fritter away : SQUANDER

11-across – School for Tom Hiddleston and James Bond : ETON

13-across – Closely fitted necklace : CHOKER

14-across – S/he may wear the ‘1’ shirt : GOALIE

16-across – Not quite closed : AJAR

17-across – Obtaining – attractive : FETCHING

20-across – Rouse : STIMULATE

21-across – It’s the end of one,they sometimes say : ERA

22-across – Men decree them : CREMEDEMENTHE

1-down – They’re administered to wrists : SLAPS

2-down – Story start : ONCEUPONATIME

3-down – Miniature locomotives etc : TRAINSET

4-down – Season,dream or parking : TICKET

5-down – Jimmy or Brad? : NAIL

6-down – Gormless : UNINTELLIGENT

7-down – French term for easing of tension : DETENTE

12-down – Cement,sand,stone and water : CONCRETE

13-down – Cult ___ : CLASSIC

15-down – Look out! : BEWARE

18-down – Status – standing – standard : GRADE

19-down – Die shape : CUBE

1-across – Gaudy and OTT : OSTENTATIOUS

9-across – Ram in the sky : ARIES

10-across – Increasingly drizzly – former Monacan ruler : RAINIER

11-across – What you may do to oats or your ‘r’s : ROLL

12-across – What a full stop ends : SENTENCE

14-across – Scallywag : RASCAL

15-across – Hoyle’s predecessor : BERCOW

18-across – Playful marine mammal : SEAOTTER

20-across – Apple’s digital assistant : SIRI

22-across – In an intemperate manner : IRATELY

23-across – She said ‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ : ALICE

24-across – Bandit at the bird-feeder : GREYSQUIRREL

2-down – South ___ – guards : SHIELDS

3-down – Timor or Grinstead : EAST

4-down – Fowl – country : TURKEY

5-down – Square root of 169 : THIRTEEN

6-down – One often pickled in the pub : ONION

7-down – Script scribe : SCREENWRITER

8-down – Rigid harness : HAIRDRESSING

13-down – Nitwit’s quality : DAFTNESS

16-down – Thai,for one : CUISINE

17-down – Ta-ra! : SEEYOU

19-down – Peak performance : AGAME

21-down – Pale – sporting – expo : FAIR

1-across – Burst – éclat – publicise : SPLASH

4-across – Pétanque : BOULES

9-across – Imperial measure of eg a paddock : ACREAGE

10-across – Underwater acronym : SCUBA

11-across – Make joyous : ELATE

12-across – Writer awarded ‘best of all Bookers’ : RUSHDIE

13-across – Augment with a scarf and brooch,perhaps : ACCESSORISE

18-across – Not sedimentary and not metamorphic : IGNEOUS

20-across – Inventor claimed by both Croatia and Serbia : TESLA

22-across – Hawaiian ‘hello’ : ALOHA

23-across – Red Sea nation : ERITREA

24-across – Like some wire and comments : BARBED

25-across – Touch with tenderness : CARESS

1-down – Like 007’s cocktail : SHAKEN

2-down – Pre-metamorphic creature : LARVA

3-down – Not acute,not right and not obtuse : SCALENE

5-down – Rockers supposedly to reunite for a tour in July 2025 : OASIS

6-down – Town associated with the sainted Bernadette : LOURDES

7-down – Container for salt or cocktails : SHAKER

8-down – Writer’s side : WEIRDSISTER

14-down – Map marking for eg a hill : CONTOUR

15-down – Nastier : RETSINA

16-down – <span>NaHCO</span>₃<span>,as it’s known in the kitchen</span> : BICARB

17-down – Cross-Channel destination for some : CALAIS

19-down – Like Humpty Dumpty : OVATE

21-down – Slope’s small stones : SCREE