CRYPTIC CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Battle in street leading to goods impounded by law (8) 5 Clever group of diners disregarding time (4) 9 Musical success by star covering tango up to now (8) 10 Trouble in Belgium with alternative on the right (6) 11 Model train in state that’s healthy (8) 12 Agreement in a combination of notes, we hear (6) 14 Make more efficient floundering men’s retail (10) 18 Solicit group of brothers for judicial direction? (5,5) 22 Hear about the Italian bishop’s hat (6) 23 Expedient required for fleet facing difficulty (5,3) 24 Where eight might be found as an unbroken sequence (2,1,3) 25 In America, single, drunk, showing brutish quality (8) 26 Attack vehicle in reservoir (4) 27 Support the man clearly discontented in view of the future? (8)

DOWN

2 One on board giving measure of programme’s success (6) 3 Hotel in reach in poor quarter (6) 4 A trite rule that’s spoiled written material (10) 6 Sack male in top disciplinary facility (4,4) 7 Greeting penned by a poet I fancy in African country (8) 8 Device that could make mum more embarrassed (8) 9 Mess when accommodated in two hospitals (4) 13 Serve e.g. grub cooked using no animals ultimately — as this? (10) 15 Very critical about supporting son, and object (8) 16 Rejoicing in lab crazily interrupts project (8) 17 Rigid objections raised and tolerated endlessly (8) 19 Be economical, having munched crisp over minute (6) 20 Decadent English fellows having summer in Paris (6) 21 A big strike upset international alliance (4)