| Across | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | SAFETY MATCH | |
| Most of feta listed in report by rival is light (6,5) | (FET(a) inside SAY) + MATCH | |
| 9 | AMINE | |
| Excavation taking place behind a basic compound (5) | MINE behind A | |
| 10 | RANDOMISE | |
| Administered building with a roof that curves outside, is set up unsystematically (9) | RAN + DOME outside IS | |
| 11 | ENTERING | |
| Starting intern shuffled in, say (8) | Anagram of INTERN inside EG | |
| 12 | WINKLE | |
| A sea creature we injected with dye and left (6) | WE outside (INK + L) | |
| 14 | See 22-down | |
| 15 | DEFACEMENT | |
| Distortion unsettled deaf joiner (10) | Anagram of DEAF + CEMENT | |
| 18 | BESTIALITY | |
| I converted laity after most highly depraved behaviour (10) | (I + anagram of LAITY) after BEST | |
| 19 | LAPP | |
| European friend turned soft (4) | PAL reversed + P | |
| 21 | SOFFIT | |
| Backing provided inside relatively unprotected underside of an architectural structure (6) | IF reversed inside SOFT | |
| 23 | BOUGHT UP | |
| Purchased all available stock of branch established in recession (6,2) | BOUGH + PUT reversed | |
| 26 | ROAST DUCK | |
| A spoilt stud tucked into surprise baked meal (5,4) | (A + anagram of STUD) inside ROCK | |
| 27 | LEMMA | |
| Subject’s division in Jerusalem maybe (5) | JerusaLEM MAybe | |
| 28 | EARTH TREMOR | |
| Explosion of three mortars for the most part is an unsettling experience (5,6) | Anagram of THREE MORTAR(s) | |
| Down | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | SKIN TESTS | |
| Allergy sufferer may take these stray kittens located on board (4,5) | Anagram of KITTENS inside SS | |
| 2 | FLEER | |
| Fugitive left in charge, right? (5) | L inside FEE + R | |
| 3 | TARANTELLA | |
| Report about a wild outburst before a dance (10) | TELL outside (A + RANT) + A | |
| 4 & 25dn |
MINT BUSH | |
| Vast sum of money coach put on hot Australian native (4,4) | MINT + BUS + H | |
| 5 | TWO-SIDED | |
| Pig’s heart used in odd stew strangely is controversial (3-5) | I inside anagram of ODD STEW | |
| 6 | HOICK | |
| Jerk, one dressed in white (5) | I inside HOCK | |
| 7 | PARENT | |
| Executive’s offsider ripped apart author (6) | PA + RENT | |
| 8 | DESERT | |
| Uncultivated end of field with gnarly trees (6) | fiel(D) + anagram of TREES | |
| 13 | FAST WORKER | |
| Pair engaged by freaks sorted out right person who achieves results quickly (4,6) | TWO inside anagram of FREAKS + R | |
| 16 | ELASTOMER | |
| The Spanish maestro developed flexible material (9) | EL + anagram of MAESTRO | |
| 17 | MINISTER | |
| Member of parliament is over time in Pitman’s notation (8) | (IS + T) inside MINER | |
| 18 | BISTRO | |
| Street bordered by writer’s little restaurant (6) | ST inside BIRO | |
| 20 | POPLAR | |
| Phosphorus identified in frozen tree found mostly in the northern hemisphere (6) | P inside POLAR | |
| 22 & 14ac |
FLAME TEST | |
| Limits employed in uniform elementary analysis (5,4) | METES inside FLAT | |
| 24 | GOLEM | |
| Wings of owl possessed by stone creature of Jewish legend? (5) | O(w)L inside GEM | |
| 25 | See 4-down |
