ACROSS
1 What people may say before
being shot (6)
4 A public place to go for
MI6 workforce (6)
8 Try to match
fast-running bird, now defunct (7)
9
Hoffman admits babies at first refuse receptacle
(7)
11 J'accuse! – author goes after
formidable female and Italian 1 across
(10)
12 Uncouth types manhandled sofa
(4)
13 His dad almost killed him linking
savings scheme to account (5)
14
Foreshadows terminal moment in angry strop
(8)
16 Genghis Khan's place sees
unconstrained hooliganism (not his) (8)
18
Ring pack it in, holding nothing (5)
20
Place lodge next to bend (4)
21 Feeding
slot ten cents secures inner bone (10)
23
Implore bishop with processed 1 across
(7)
24 Rudimentary prison houses excessive
type of 1 across (7)
25 Behold start of
race and send packing (3,3)
26 Remain
ahead and avoid relegation (4,2)
DOWN
1 Three characters desert
tonsorial cover-up to form band (5)
2
Words of praise for hyperactive goalie holding United
(7)
3 Getting brown in windy Calais is
fiendish (9)
5 Northern Irish extremists
undergo Dutch 1 across (5)
6/7 Half of
Hamlet's question took olfactory sample – like
malodorous 1 across, perhaps? (3,2,2,7,2)
10
Illness has Palin (M) writhing around in bed (9)
13
Soldier is doubtful they put people on pedestals (9)
15
French 1 across gives Spanish what for, steeped in corruption
(9)
17 Spanish king ascends in half of gruesome Swiss 1
across (7)
19 Go! Don't go! Linger unduly (7)
21 Fed up
about cold and initially unstimulating brew (5)
22 Naive person at
university to study hard
(3,2)
