ACROSS
1 The assured expertise I put
to half of clergy (8,7)
9 Left what must
be charged for one’s share (7)
10 History
without the French is very serious indeed
(7)
11 Detailed oak container of
endless rice wine in this city
(5)
12 Bird eater is natural at
dancing (9)
13 A concentrated Spanish
water found high in the Andes
(9)
15 Habitual pot user backs into a
red target? (5)
16 The wife is
beheaded in Alexander’s battle
(5)
18 Addicts' treatment: You start
off on half-life of herbal remedy
(9)
20 Description of royal party
free for all, with unknown absentee
(9)
23 Missing odd man’s spleen found
in ski resort (5)
24 Reduce poundage
in transit or leave
immediately (2,3,2)
25 A vessel
dipped into wine that could be turned into tapioca
(7)
26 Horror house producers and
directors attend to a freakish predator
(10,5)
DOWN
1 Secret container for
qualification I got in first aid treatment – leave it alone!
(10,5)
2 Position of fascists in the past
– it’s a mixed bag (7)
3 Hints about
Iceland’s troublemakers (9)
4 A golden
rule for two films which could be viewed either way round
(5)
5 In harmony with a carbon thread
worker (9)
6 Run it around an Olympic city
(5)
7 Learn to swear and knock people out
(7)
8 Cry ‘Behold’! (11,
4)
14 My ship got capsized but this
four circumnavigated the world
(5,4)
15 Runs through play about male
idiots (9)
17 Cruel words overheard
in an island gorge (7)
19 Swedish
university offers up short song of praise to Angstrom
(7)
21 Topless game of cards seen on
a rooftop (5)
22 Half-holy spies in
the birthplace of St Nicholas
(5)
