Author name: crosswordanswers

8-across – Step in – inert even : INTERVENE

9-across – Towards the stern : AFT

10-across – Inflexible : RIGID

11-across – Enormous wave : TSUNAMI

12-across – Indulging in daydreams : WOOLGATHERING

14-across – Gossiped : TITTLETATTLED

18-across – Go into again : REENTER

20-across – Parts of speech : NOUNS

22-across – Choose : OPT

23-across – Have a second job – piano sonata : MOONLIGHT

1-down – Level : TIER

2-down – Men-only party : STAGDO

3-down – Spendthrift : PRODIGAL

4-down – Get lost – Michael Jackson song : BEATIT

5-down – Boyfriend : BEAU

6-down – Trip into a wild area : SAFARI

7-down – Kind of musical instrument : STRINGED

12-down – Final defeat – ABBA song : WATERLOO

13-down – Twist together : ENTANGLE

15-down – Score : TWENTY

16-down – Flatfish : TURBOT

17-down – Laze – airport waiting room : LOUNGE

19-down – Prison sentence : TIME

21-down – Fill up : SATE

6-across – Unsettled : DISCONCERTED

7-across – Hairstyle : PONYTAIL

8-across – Sentimental stuff : CORN

9-across – Ignoble – HQ : BASE

11-across – Cadge : SCROUNGE

12-across – Slothful person : SLUGGARD

15-across – Bits of 8 Across : EARS

16-across – Move gradually – Irish island : INCH

17-across – Attack – talk or argue excessively about : BELABOUR

19-across – Afraid to speak plainly : MEALYMOUTHED

1-down – Light grey : ASHY

2-down – Confused situation : MORASS

3-down – Pertaining to the eye : OCULAR

4-down – Break : FRACTURE

5-down – Fairground attraction : MERRYGOROUND

6-down – Make an embarrassing blunder : DROPACLANGER

10-down – Fragile material – kind of paint : EGGSHELL

13-down – Records : ALBUMS

14-down – Great sorrow – or ludo : DOLOUR

18-down – Danish physicist, Nobel winner in 1922 : BOHR

1-across – Reaper’s tool : SCYTHE

5-across – 1940s jazz style : BEBOP

9-across – Fess up : ADMIT

10-across – Whole number : INTEGER

11-across – Portray precisely : DELINEATE

12-across – Lend : ADD

13-across – Subtle difference : NUANCE

15-across – Benefits : ASSETS

18-across – Golfer’s goal? : PAR

19-across – Related to plants : BOTANICAL

21-across – Joy : ELATION

22-across – Devout : PIOUS

23-across – Spartan slave : HELOT

24-across – Light, fast boat : CUTTER

2-down – Bedouin transport? : CAMEL

3-down – Huge : TITANIC

4-down – OT prophet : ELIJAH

5-down – Perform one’s ablutions : BATHE

6-down – Animals hunted for sport : BIGGAME

7-down – Epic about “Man’s first disobedience” : PARADISELOST

8-down – MP’s first contribution to parliament : MAIDENSPEECH

14-down – It’s sent “par avion” : AIRMAIL

16-down – Children’s play area : SANDPIT

17-down – Belonging to a specific population group : ETHNIC

19-down – Constructed : BUILT

20-down – Stifle : CHOKE

1-across – Rodgers and Hammerstein musical : SOUTHPACIFIC

7-across – Description of a potential occurrence : SCENARIO

8-across – Country singer – payment method : CASH

9-across – Loan shark? : USURER

11-across – Cancels : ANNULS

12-across – Provoking great mirth : SIDESPLITTING

15-across – Circular, curving line : SPIRAL

17-across – Pick at : NIBBLE

19-across – Acquire : GAIN

20-across – Idiot : IMBECILE

22-across – Altruistic work : PHILANTHROPY

1-down – Hits – unimaginative Christmas present? : SOCKS

2-down – Scare or confuse : UNNERVE

3-down – Gender-specific object pronoun : HER

4-down – Worship : ADORATION

5-down – From an ancient civilisation : INCAN

6-down – Hormone important in metabolism : INSULIN

10-down – Feeling of disgust : REPULSION

13-down – Charge with an offence : IMPEACH

14-down – Plant Raleigh brought from America : TOBACCO

16-down – Of the kidneys : RENAL

18-down – Sweet food – 8 Across : LOLLY

21-down – Contemptuous interjection : BAH

6-across – Quarrel or haggle : WRANGLE

8-across – Public square : PLAZA

9-across – African antelope : GNU

10-across – Stately : DIGNIFIED

11-across – Help for addicts : REHAB

13-across – Celebrate noisily – or rites : ROISTER

15-across – Alarm : STARTLE

16-across – Cacophonous : NOISY

18-across – Words pronounced by an unseen speaker : VOICEOVER

21-across – Meadow : LEA

22-across – Tropical fruit : GUAVA

23-across – Hire : RECRUIT

1-down – Old Russian lady – Baku bash : BABUSHKA

2-down – Venerable? : AGED

3-down – Eye specialist : OPTICIAN

4-down – Location of Timbuktu : MALI

5-down – Dekko – male bird : GANDER

6-down – Flutter : WAGER

7-down – Enthusiastic, diligent person : EAGERBEAVER

12-down – Incidentally : BYTHEWAY

14-down – Preliminary test : TRIALRUN

15-down – Brutal : SAVAGE

17-down – It causes fermentation : YEAST

19-down – Muslim leader : IMAM

20-down – Somewhat erotic : RACY