Cryptic Crossword - The Scotsman 04/07/13 - News - Scotsman.com 1 Falling out over little girl's compact (12) 8 One man took a long time to create a portrait (5) 9 After a very quiet start, praised and cheered (9) 11 Having located a platform for a preacher, get rid of it (6) 12 Begin, with little hesitation, some early courses (8) 14 With sound pens left out, is all at sea (10) 15 Steep place used to keep a small vehicle (4) 18 A few may collapse in the recess (4) 19 Friendly society meeting in a community centre (6,4) 21 Recognise fellow was replaced by tip-top personality (8) 23 Prevent catching first disease, at short notice (6) 25 Ran off on line, but not of one dimension (3-6) 26 May excel at a picnic or barbecue (5) 27 May be offended if girl's reimbursed (12) 1 Closing dates, at last, for obsolete routes (9) 2 Part-time police officers in secret society (8) 3 Talk about having resistance to take-over (4) 4 Meet up with one chap, finding time to be understanding (10) 5 There's not enough for setter to come to terms with, lacking energy (7) 6 Prompt sitter in life class to take some gin first (5) 7 Exemption needed to paint on different sides (12) 10 Parcel delivery for administration (12) 13 A second class staff have little time for classification (10) 16 Easy-going characters gathered together (9) 17 Flowering plants laid out on one log (8) 20 Gets rid of uniforms suited to small excursions (6) 22 Often, nuisance value can include boredom (5) 24 One teacher came back with a flower (4) Wednesday's solution: Across: 1 Go off the rails, 10 Octal, 11 Accentual, 12 Collected, 13 Sushi, 14 Despair, 16 Den Haag, 18 Avernus, 20 Pintado, 21 Datum, 23 Owl-parrot, 25 Neon light, 26 Epsom, 27 In the pipeline. Down: 1 Oftel, 3 False dawn, 4 Traitor, 5 Encoded, 6 Agnes, 7 Louisiana, 8 Forced landing, 9 All in good time, 15 Sweetcorn, 17 Nonpareil, 19 Stopgap, 20 Palmtop, 22 Mulch, 24 Resin.