No 13640, Saturday 20 Aug 2022, Dr. X

ACROSS

1   Fellows having trouble with 'it' get drug that's guaranteed to work (4-4) FAIL-SAFE {F}{AIL}{SA}{F}{E}

5   Old, small game bird (6) OSPREY {O}{S}{PREY}

10 Hit member involved in rejecting permit for bar (7) TRAMMEL {T{RAM}{M}EL<=}

11 Fell backwards, escorted outside bar in high spirits (7) EXALTED {AXE<=}{L{T}ED}

12 Crook in sleaziest affair (5) STAFF [T]

13 Mocking vile racialist (9) SATIRICAL*

14 Short course in deduction and prying (12) INTERFERENCE {IN{TERm}FERENCE}

18 Difficult youngster starting to lie in scrutiny, caught with heroin in fair (7,5) PROBLEM CHILD {PROB{Lie}E}{M{C}{H}ILD}

21 Women in stalls dance in exploitative workplace (9) SWEATSHOP {S{W}EATS}{HOP}

23 Subject in examination, new for boy (5) PRONE PRO(-b+n)NE

24 Predicament of director getting e-mail about stealing money (7) DILEMMA {D}{ILE{M}MA*}

25 Trapping nilgai, lion finally jumped (7) NAILING {NILGAI+lioN}*

26 Foremost of sleuths in case cracked by Yard, most devious (6) SLYEST {Sl...s}{L{Y}EST}

27 I thus interpret line on map denoting linguistic feature (8) ISOGLOSS {I}{SO}{GLOSS}

DOWN

1   Thief slyly steals special amulet (6) FETISH {FETI{S}H*}

2   Cool off, to some extent (2,1,3) IN A WAY {IN}{AWAY}

3   Uncertainty in important knockout round (9) SEMIFINAL {SEM{IF}INAL}

4   Hateful damsel craftily entraps associate with maximum effort (4,5,5) FULL STEAM AHEAD {HATEFUL+DAMSEL}* over {A}

6   Told to watch step (5) STAIR (~stare)

7   Restrained English jerk involved in rift (8) RETICENT {R{E}{TIC}ENT}

8   Hosting retro party, roared and sang with rapidly changing pitch (8) YODELLED {Y{DO<=}ELLED}

9   Instinctive that this might tear while bending over (4-2-3-5) SEAT-OF-THE-PANTS [DD]

15 Weakening in arena, consuming energy drinks (9) RELAPSING {R{E}{LAPS}ING}

16 Espies rogue filming cheat's revolting affairs (8) EPISODES {EPIS{DO<=}ES*}

17 Leave after a little racy pole dancing act (4-4) ROLE-PLAY {LAY}<=>{Racy}{POLE*}

19 Express disapproval about egg and fish (6) BONITO {BO{NIT}O}

20 Restricts with hard borders (6) HEDGES {H}{EDGES}

22 Fixes broken items (5) TIMES*

Reference List

Fellow = F, It = SA(Sex Appeal), Drug = E, Old = O, Small = S, Game = PREY, Member = M, Fell = AXE, Escorted = LED, Bar = T, Course = TERM, Deduction = INFERENCE, Scrutiny = PROBE, Caught = C, Heroin = H, Fair = MILD, Women = W, Stalls = SEATS, Dance = HOP, New = N, Boy = B, Director = D, Money = M, In case = LEST, Yard = Y

Special = S, Cool = IN, Associate = A, English = E, Jerk = TIC, Party = DO, Arena = RING, Energy = E, Drinks = LAPS, Cheat = DO, Leave = LAY, Egg = NIT, Hard = H

Colour/Font Scheme

Definition, Solution, Component letters, Embedded links, Theme word,  Reference list word, Anagram Indicator, C/C indicator, Reversal Indicator, Hidden word Indicator, Letter Pick indicator, Deletion Indicator, Homophone Indicator, Movement Indicator, Positional Indicator, Substitution Indicator, Opposite indicator, Link/Connector, Extraneous