26d,apply short sanction to some as bothersome(4)a?b?
16d,iiiinnnngggg,...at a stretch(10) p?o?o???n? is it prolonging???
27a, the conscience of clark kent,(8) I thought would be superman, I have s?p?r??? However if it is ,that makes prolonging wrong.
4DOWN iI think the answer could be BANE ---This meaning from online directory Bane \Bane\ (b[=a]n), n. [OE. bane destruction, AS. bana
murderer; akin to Icel. bani death, murderer, OHG. bana
Is 27down SANE
I thought of Hare as in Burke and Hare - murderers and grave robbers
Less likely because he wasn't convicted of murder would be;
Sade as in the Marquis de Sade- the ade could then tie in with the word first in the clue to give first ade (aid) or where the term sadism FIRST came from-