Cryptic crossword - The Scotsman 01/11/13

ACROSS

8 Crazes about two articles appeal to nitwits (8)

9 Epochs of royalty are something to rub out (6)

10 Novelty switch (6)

11 Got up blushing in girl’s shade (4,4)

12 Appeal to friend for precious stone (4)

13 No-one thanks for return to drug taking place of living (10)

15 They say the enemy is lying up in the woods (7)

17 Besotted with gloves put on back to front (7)

20 Be honest - attic feels shaky (4,4,2)

22 Ancient ruler spotted in train carriage (4)

24 What happens to simmered soup or sauce in well-run kitchens (8)

26 Hound when lost head over bird (6)

27 Magazine run by students featuring Orkney’s patron saint (6)

28 Works on what apes tore apart (8)

DOWN

1 Go on a pub crawl, but not to dance (6)

2 Hellenic woven material (8)

3 Servant, we hear, ate the stew prepared for meal (4,3,3)

4 Put down a writer (7)

5 Swept up nearly to far end of benches (4)

6 Rug provided for nodding dog, perhaps (6)

7 I hear former East European is a very tall thin person (8)

14 Exercises for schoolchildren missing last bus with train schedules (10)

16 Eavesdrop sound effect where I’m standing (8)

18 Shipshape islands seen from boat (8)

19 Sort of distaste for a guillotine (7)

21 Not the first moment (6)

23 Relaxed by measure of heat on warm sea (6)

25 Alien surrounded as going in the direction of China, say (4)

Thursday’s solution

Across: 1 Varied, 4 Apparent, 9 Cancel, 10 Contrite, 12 Treat, 13 Overcomes, 14 Opening, 15 Brae, 19 Byre, 21 Recount, 24 Butters up, 26 I will, 27 Outsider, 28 Invite, 29 De scends, 30 Adonis.

Down: 1 Vacation, 2 Rendered, 3 Electrify, 5 Proverb, 6 Antic, 7 Enigma, 8 Tsetse, 11 Long, 16 Auctioned, 17 Audition, 18 Ateliers, 20 East end, 21 Rapt, 22 Abroad, 23 Status, 25 Elite.