1-across – Announcer’s autocue? : TAILBACK

5-across – Having docked, moved up and down with the waves : BOBBED

9-across – Ball comes to rest on peg : LEGBREAK

10-across – Highlight, ie streak, front part of hair : STRESS

11-across – Flower-patterned cloth, carefully designed : DEEPLAID

12-across – Tax-related fine is set by State : FISCAL

14-across – Board game with ten moves to counter : MANAGEMENT

18-across – Girl in therapy for skin problem : CRAQUELURE

22-across – Present for appointment, having to hold on : DONATE

23-across – Duck a l’orange : MANDARIN

24-across – Old headdress vulgar – put on better : MOBCAP

25-across – Crop tends to lie awkwardly : LINTSEED

26-across – Fell, we hear, for this yarn : CREWEL

27-across – Flower from a desert in bloom : AGERATUM

1-down – Taken to ring outside Spanish city : TOLEDO

2-down – Artist has painting restored and framed : INGRES

3-down – Just lean on Jack when he returns above : BARELY

4-down – Kind of chair one lowered overboard : CHARITABLE

6-down – Non-member is unlikely winner : OUTSIDER

7-down – Voice is breaking – fit for longs : BREECHES

8-down – Forlorn miss stood up, taken in by boyfriend : DESOLATE

13-down – Girl comes up to town looking for a reference : MAPREANING

15-down – Speculative by half – deposited in account after account : ACADEMIC

16-down – Foul, bad, mean, grasping, low and abhorrent : DAMNABLE

17-down – Gearbox designed for transit causes it to break down : SUITCASE

19-down – He puts his baby to bed before running off … : EDITOR

20-down – … to Fathers’ Club : PRIEST

21-down – Maenad danced about wearing a chaplet : ANADEM

8-across – Second company store ordered small motor-cycles : SCOOTERS

9-across – Blue with cold, I rushed back : EROTIC

10-across – Water bed? : BOTTOM

11-across – Display is set in Heaven : PARADISE

12-across – European country with one short bridge : SPAN

13-across – Is its output measured in degrees? : UNIVERSITY

15-across – Most wealthy independent church to be still around : RICHEST

16-across – Satisfy a couple of leading players wanting relaxation : APPEASE

18-across – Met Sherry’s new collection of would-be poets : RHYMESTERS

19-across – Article in colour rejected as expensive : DEAR

20-across – Something containing many layers? : HENHOUSE

22-across – Backing group taking time to reveal their principles : TENETS

23-across – Gazed back at old Bob, looking angry : STARED

24-across – Players can pop in here for a change : PAVILION

1-down – Bill praises mum for bringing in gifts : ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2-down – Where to find her Simon at night, perhaps? : NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

3-down – MB, sure rise can be arranged, makes repayment : REIMBURSES

4-down – Germ-free month I take into account : ASEPTIC

5-down – Risk having airmen standing around back of plane : FEAR

6-down – Cold individual dropping in in a snooty way : CONDESCENDINGLY

7-down – Sad fact is it is no different, which leads to complaints : DISSATISFACTION

14-down – Letter to Times sure to be revealing : EXPOSITIVE

17-down – A slip you had to pay for? : RECEIPT

21-down – A Parisian affair leads to ruin : UNDO

1-across – Back ‘obson’s choice? : ENDORSE

5-across – Southernwood induces repose : SLUMBER

9-across – Firm agreement with a publisher, perhaps : BINDINGCONTRACT

10-across – Excites hothead among former moderate Conservatives : WHETS

11-across – Game that may be worn out : NEWMARKET

12-across – Give indirect advice, but no hard tip? : DROPAHINT

14-across – Comparatively dismal colour put on right : BLUER

15-across – Thrown out, it is said, by class system : CASTE

16-across – Tears by poor head’s supporters : ADHERENTS

18-across – One obliged to tipple gin in plenty : ABOUNDING

21-across – Operatic heroine who has attained full maturity : ISOLD

22-across – Political pact in much trouble with correspondence : MUNICHAGREEMENT

23-across – Kind of stakes for young children? : NURSERY

24-across – Refrains from upsetting sides on the way back : DESISTS

1-down – England leader bowled out and jostled : ELBOWED

2-down – Play at accident black spot, perhaps : DANGEROUSCORNER

3-down – Put back in control over country : REINSTATE

4-down – The Spanish drink from Scotland? : ELGIN

5-down – Timing device for outpost sentinel : STOPWATCH

6-down – Awful tragedy involving political extremist : ULTRA

7-down – Nomads by the dark stream’s side : BLACKBURNROVERS

8-down – Revolver of dual aspect : ROTATOR

13-down – One girl holding a drink that’s non-existent : IMAGINARY

14-down – He did not see a timer fault in the public service vehicle : BARTIMEUS

15-down – Pedlar of the realms of gold? : CHAPMAN

17-down – Keeps calm as boy jumps over broken seat : SEDATES

19-down – Suitable position for hospital in French resort : NICHE

20-down – Stained with blood, as skirt may be : GORED

1-across – So Kipling’s great steamers, travelling world incognito: not a hundred left or scuttled : ROLLING

5-across – Panda car crashing during tour of duty : BEARCAT

9-across – Soldier wearing waterproof: that’s charming! : MAGIC

10-across – See 1 : DOWNTORIO

11-across – It’s Hoddle with we ten, sadly: so what did the eleventh do? : LETTHESIDEDOWN

13-across – Jack’s address keeps a place for the Old Man : AHOY

14-across – See about charm offensive? Who knows? : SEARCHME

17-across – Blackguard and apostate living in old city quarter : EXECRATE

18-across – Haul left in robbery : BLAG

21-across – The Mr Fixit of the Child Support Agency? : MAINTENANCEMAN

23-across – Photograph a man with creativity: might get snap out of it : TAKEHEART

24-across – Faultless banker’s self-assertion? : IDEAL

25-across – Say! Not bad for excellent line one carries : LITOTES

26-across – Bohemian syncopation? : OFFBEAT

1-down – Frost’s poem, the Ancient Mariner? : RIME

2-down – Some bowlers aim to wreck: oblige feet to move : LEGBEFOREWICKET

3-down – Work up? Nice work – if you can get it! : INCITE

4-down – Appliance of modern-day force: get out of it! : GADGET

5-down – Rued looking up Miss Smith’s recipe network : BEWAILED

6-down – Right! Name a beast evolving from the aardvarks : ANTBEARS

7-down – Joyce who wrote: Work hard, raise a City partner and point to a growing family : CARYOPHYLLACEAE

8-down – H-horned characters, perhaps, get around this barrier : THORNHEDGE

12-down – Hitchcockian setting of O! Let me stab wildly! : BATESMOTEL

15-down – Tiny Tim right to get a ticking-off about it : CRATCHIT

16-down – Antigone’s tragedy no good to such collegians : ETONIANS

19-down – Double blow from the micro-network : ONETWO

20-down – Outstanding work sought in disaster areas : RELIEF

22-down – Mass circulation impediment : CLOT

1-across – Rum-running mastermind? : MOVINGSPIRIT

8-across – Who in French film gets Guardian employees discharge from office? : QUIETUS

9-across – One charges single PC, losing business : IMPUTER

11-across – One can’t detect hum with this and ends on one’s back : ANOSMIA

12-across – Adjust to conditions, as must the batsman Polyphemus? : GETONES

13-across – : EYEIN

14-across – This gauges resources and signifies a river : MEANSTEST

16-across – Redesign short business ad from a neutral point of view : UNBIASSED

19-across – Loud parrot describing Czech novelist : KAFKA

21-across – See inventor shake a piece of laboratory equipment : BELLJAR

23-across – Close case neatly : NONSUIT

24-across – One needing bananas hurried outside fast : RAMADAN

25-across – Cruel hoax by one in pub : INHUMAN

26-across – What ferryman’s heard to charge – nothing for actor : RIVERPHOENIX

1-down – A gold coin extra for entertaining language : MOIDORE

2-down – 6 breakin’ in useful substance : VITAMIN

3-down – 13 motion from big apple men only get to add up : NYSTAGMUS

4-down – Playground music? : SWING

5-down – The force of 9s, not having right to change : IMPETUS

6-down – Concentrated decimal point : INTENSE

7-down – Old fashioned anaesthetic for 9, say : SQUARENUMBER

10-down – Does it offer the first clue for deciphering a setter? Not so! : ROSETTASTONE

15-down – Instruction that’s for use at the bar and not in a brawl : ANDANTINO

17-down – Tree’s one branch in two? : BILIMBI

18-down – Award music presenter university degree in latter years : ADJUDGE

19-down – Short ruler contains short measure for member of Fagin’s gang? : KINCHIN

20-down – Puzzle spy chief with instant outward flow : FLUMMOX

22-down – Would you see railwaymen as a result of taking this approach? : RUNUP