1-across – Speed up for ages, then stop calamitously : STEPON

5-across – See 1 across : THEGAS

8-across – Blessing everyone coming in is swell : BALLOON

9-across – Against a trio performing in Canada? : ONTARIO

11-across – People promised to give these battle calls : ENGAGEMENTRINGS

12-across – Supporter to get ¿1,000 a game : BRAG

13-across – Mean people hide cigarette-lighter components : SKINFLINTS

17-across – Cafe with calm atmosphere won’t take 50% off : RESTAURANT

18-across – Places in Oslo citizens avoid : LOCI

20-across – Taking flat in Gateshead with prudish girl is a bloomer! : EVENINGPRIMROSE

23-across – Fruit from South Africa – a must – is coming back : SATSUMA

24-across – Change suit, union leader having gone inside university : VARSITY

25-across – Soldiers accept bill for floral arrangement : RACEME

26-across – Suppose piano must be removed and carry on : RESUME

2-down – Messages sent by Lawrence to poor Mrs Gale : TELEGRAMS

3-down – Turn over page on lake : PLOUGH

4-down – One not included when it’s lighting-up time? : NONSMOKER

5-down – Point of growing things, some with ornate leaves : THORN

6-down – Hospital department I depend on without reservation : ENTIRELY

7-down – Biblical character and motoring organisation man : AARON

8-down – Complain to leading restaurateur in Bruges about fast food : BEEFBURGERS

10-down – Passionately evil bosses reformed before end of play : OBSESSIVELY

14-down – One with no wheels, still to be tested? : NONDRIVER

15-down – New word for men standing around igloos, drunk : NEOLOGISM

16-down – Person that is holding dog having paws seen to? : MANICURE

19-down – Sneers, which irritates woman standing on top : SMIRKS

21-down – Craft is back underneath once more : EXTRA

22-down – Little prayer when backing vehicle in, say : GRACE

1-across – Wrongly, I’m tied to kitchen range for specialised distribution : NICHEMARKETING

8-across – We must hold success to be spotless : WHITE

9-across – Cord used by Bill in North-West port : BOOTLACE

11-across – Important occasion leads to top level in show business : BIGTIME

12-across – Heartless Harry, doctor and worker, will construct water pipe : HYDRANT

13-across – Syringa, one with label placed outside, lifted up : LILAC

15-across – Historic announcer destroyed crow with nitre : TOWNCRIER

17-across – Decorate me in the mirror, almost a beauty, using his make-up : EMBELLISH

20-across – Representative has lifetime with National Trust : AGENT

21-across – Dream about first person to have Enigma decoded : IMAGINE

23-across – Hawk in prison almost after row : TIERCEL

25-across – Our visit is spoiled by such musicians : VIRTUOSI

26-across – Short woolly jumper kept in motor by Diana : CARDI

27-across – Type of novel tells of union and betrayal : SEXANDSHOPPING

1-down – Communication about shot in modern crime : NEWSBULLETIN

2-down – Stick with cold fish : CLING

3-down – Mournful Alice with a leg broken : ELEGIACAL

4-down – Nasty men get a bit on all sides : AMBIENT

5-down – Skill to cope with sound of denial to what extent? : KNOWHOW

6-down – Covered it up, having shown the way : TILED

7-down – One variety of peach, but a number can be seen outside the damaged crate : NECTARINE

10-down – Lying much indulged in by Sheherazade : STORYTELLING

14-down – Pronounce with rounded lips: Poor Isabella and I : LABIALISE

16-down – Short time to get container for iced summer drink : CLARETCUP

18-down – Arctic rocks unmoved : ICECOLD

19-down – Doctor, it’s h-hot, or at least getting warm! : HOTTISH

22-down – Within part of the neo-Latin tradition : INTRA

24-down – Dog starts creeping over rough ground inquisitively : CORGI

1-across – Utterly blown out from wordsmith : BULWER

4-across – See 1 : LYTTON

9-across – Dustman : ADAM

10-across – Consort making name in Co-Conran creation : COHABITANT

11-across – Where the ayatollahs lie in state with an omophagous Amazonian : PIRANA

12-across – Son of Slad’s directors catching my drift with this? : LEEBOARD

13-across – North Atlantic threat a pretext to make an Italian hop : BERGAMASK

15-across – With ____ of leaves and ripple of rain : LISP

16-across – The limit of Procol Harum’s colour chart? : PALE

17-across – Coming before the water hazard : ADVENTURE

21-across – Ash Wednesday, oddly enough, not so fast : EMBERDAY

22-across – Captain Scott names the game hunter : FALCON

24-across – Populate the county? Cool it! : SETTLEDOWN

25-across – Harry Ramsden’s contribution to IT? : CHIP

26-across – Some coal left out for fire : IGNITE

27-across – Anthropologist’s objective in Melton Mowbray? : PIEMAN

1-down – Eleventh hour in the BBC Book Department? : BEDTIME

2-down – Witch reverting to nameless creature : LAMIA

3-down – Old forty-niner’s right to raise hell : EXCLAIM

5-down – Why, some say, a French priest has the right to talk nonsense : YABBER

6-down – One might own the body of this designer’s work : TATTOOIST

7-down – This paint completely dry, is it? : NONDRIP

8-down – What 1 across 4 wrote applied to times of ashy destruction : THELASTDAYSOF

14-down – Girl wearing underwear here in Texas : GALVESTON

16-down – See 8 : POMPEII

18-down – Levantine gentleman speaking, initially, of France and North Dakota : EFFENDI

19-down – Thus the Colossus managed to carry the first load of bricks : RHODIAN

20-down – Against entering trade disruption at short notice : ADVERT

23-down – Alternative medicine man : LOCUM