| Across | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | TUCK SHOP | |
| Minor food supplier gathers plant popular with brewers (4,4) | TUCKS + HOP | |
| 5 | MASSES | |
| One thousand clowns – that’s a lot (6) | M + ASSES | |
| 9 | WEAKENED | |
| Tie the knot around a dodgy knee lacking strength (8) | WED outside (A + anagram of KNEE) | |
| 10 | SCRIBE | |
| Plagiarism admitted by some heartless writer? (6) | CRIB inside S(om)E | |
| 12 | RESISTING ARREST | |
| Rising star, wrongly taking ecstasy before break, is not cooperating with police (9,6) | (Anagram of RISING STAR outside E) + REST | |
| 13 | LOUNGE | |
| Lie about fencing charge, admitting nothing (6) | LUNGE outside O | |
| 15 | SLIGHTS | |
| Ignores beacon on board vessel (7) | LIGHT inside SS | |
| 18 | REMAINS | |
| A miner disturbed head of skeletal corpse (7) | Anagram of A MINER + (S)keletal | |
| 20 | RUNG UP | |
| Called dog returned after scamper (4,2) | PUG reversed after RUN | |
| 22 | BIRTHDAY PRESENT | |
| Bad printers – they messed up an anniversary gift (8,7) | ANagram of BAD PRINTERS THEY | |
| 25 | BLAZON | |
| Fire not fully depicted on a coat-of-arms (6) | BLAZ(e) + ON | |
| 26 | SUPERIOR | |
| One after change in purse or prize (8) | (I after anagram of PURSE) + OR | |
| 27 | EATERY | |
| Pals leaving separately confused restaurant (6) | Anagram of SEPARATELY minus PALS | |
| 28 | LEATHERY | |
| Tough end of silverside marinated in bubbly (8) | silversid(E) inside LATHERY | |
| Down | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | THWART | |
| Check the slightly diminished growth on skin (6) | TH(e) + WART | |
| 2 | CLASSROOM | |
| Educational facility’s young female jumper measured in centimetres (9) | (LASS + ROOM) inside CM | |
| 3 | SHEDS | |
| Drops off bridging section of unfinished symphony (5) | unfiniSHED Symphony | |
| 4 | ONE-TIME | |
| Old limitations lifted from money before issue turned up (3-4) | m)ONE(y + (EMIT reversed) | |
| 6 | ACCORDION | |
| String, one used in a kid’s musical instrument (9) | (CORD + I) inside (A + CON) | |
| 7 | SEIZE | |
| Apprehend witnesses in audience (5) | Sounds like SEES | |
| 8 | SWEETISH | |
| Elevated golfing area in stylish environs is quite nice (8) | (TEE reversed) inside SWISH | |
| 11 | AGES | |
| Gets old silver assessed at the centre (4) | AG + ass(ES)sed | |
| 14 | NEIGHBOUR | |
| Huge robin disturbed one nearby (9) | ANagram of HUGE ROBIN | |
| 16 | HOUSEWIFE | |
| Exercise in how I iron, is needed for unpaid worker (9) | USE in (HOW + I + FE) | |
| 17 | PROBABLE | |
| Candidate with a good chance of success implicated lab in inquiry (8) | Anagram of LAB inside PROBE | |
| 19 | SLAP | |
| Close associates backed rebuke (4) | PALS reversed | |
| 20 | RAPTURE | |
| Pressure applied by trade union in unusual form of transport (7) | (P + TU) inside RARE | |
| 21 | STOREY | |
| Keep middle of kayak level (6) | STORE + kaYak | |
| 23 | ROAST | |
| Baked food, as in tripe (5) | AS inside ROT | |
| 24 | EVENT | |
| Item on a programme is just running ahead of time (5) | EVEN + T |
