CRYPTIC CLUES

ACROSS

1 Bad dresser races round to boast (9) 8 Gangsters wasted dosh and got nothing (5) 10 Extra pears are ordered (5) 12 Raw material from forest (3) 13 Rubbish in statistics (3) 14 Benefit of Japanese drink (4) 15 Church has genuine breakfast (6) 16 Amusement with small wine (5) 18 Stopped solving case with journalist (6) 20 Unfortunately sent home (4) 22 Hope woman has somewhere to sit (3) 23 Lose argument about the Baltic, say (3) 24 Begin small quiche (5) 25 Row about a rug, to a point (5) 26 Celebrity takes directors to one side (9)

DOWN

2 Lawbreaker gets shepherd’s staff (5) 3 Eros tramples flower (4) 4 Traces out wheel (6) 5 Talk at zero speed (5) 6 Boffin made this spicy concoction (9) 7 Tidy up cult, deter change (9) 9 Furniture useful to an actor (7) 11 Associate new parent with resistance (7) 15 Seafood payment method (3) 17 Wept about queen getting tin mixture (6) 19 Isolated a section (5) 21 Keen to agree to change (5) 23 Reportedly start race for ingredient (4)