Cryptic Crossword

ACROSS

7 Small animal and minute bird holding on (8) 9 As substitute, make score often? (6) 10 Soft term of endearment is insincere (6) 11 Major post in advertising business (8) 12 Maiden I, perhaps wrongly, concluded is not well understood (14) 15 Section of final song, and original source, too (4) 17 Avoid what’s hot and cold initially (5) 19 Stepping finally on ladder, or part of one (4) 20 Observed action of opponents in court, say, with appeal (9, 5) 23 Old book favouring words like “doth” and “hath” (8) 25 Support alternative to flights going in one direction (6) 27 Capital’s first letter followed by second (6) 28 Metaphor is making, in part, for pithy pronouncement (8)

DOWN

1 Child raised on hotel food (4) 2 Get old and revised list of items (6) 3 Conclusions in hard case came from judge (4) 4 Guidance daughter needed, trapped in a bad habit (6) 5 Awfully tedious Republican who’s unlikely to win? (8) 6 Contributor of vital liquid assets deposited in bank (5, 5) 8 I comply with rearrangement of international events (7) 13 Provide with pictures from artist in US, little altered (10) 14 Constant temperature for competition (5) 16 Summary covering struggle with weight (8) 18 Having got to the end of most of the difficult part of course (7) 21 In this way, husband is capturing rook or another bird (6) 22 Partly switching sides – pathetic (6) 24 Writer understood about his heroine’s character deficit? (4) 26 Don’t eat convenient kind of food (4)