FRIDAY CROSSWORD

Across

1 One slaying behemoth finally in land of dragons and scary monsters (6,6)

8 As the French say, one leap can make you free (7)

9 Personal extension often given a ring that is put through or hangs on (7)

11 Articles in English and German keeping tabloid newspaper in pieces (7)

12 Lopsided grin lad gives beloved (7)

13 Feeling faint, sleep comically interrupts home repairs (5)

14 Organised newsroom split by a group having a row (9)

16 Henry Marsh welcomes parking beside US city – little money is needed (9)

19 Reporter’s style cut (5)

21 Legendary creature in college – something afoot! (7)

23 Extract from mineral ore Leicester woman found on rocks (7)

24 Was fashionable tailor’s outer coat finished? (7)

25 Drip fermented a keg ale (7)

26 Exercise? Right kind should be easy to follow (4-8)

Down

1 One promotes growth in the Middle East (7)

2 Professional restorers clean up nude, Roy missing odd bits (7)

3 Dishevelled, I wondered what comes over me at night? (9)

4 Like a weed – just put energy in to make it flourish (5)

5 Raw rice to be cooked for jumbo’s handlers? (7)

6 Pride, I’ve got – I smile to cover it up (7)

7 Hack with press making argument from both sides (3,3,6)

10 Rail traveller with no ticket who gets in first (6,6)

15 Shade’s down with prince maybe coming over (5,4)

17 Signs of hesitation after one in bunch dilly-dallies (7)

18 Place stranger finds tortoise? (7)

19 Woman, originally, mariners admire at sea (7)

20 Wife all over infant with no top or jumper (7)

22 All-time low turnover of desperate man tailed by Inland Revenue (5)