Previous solution

Across: 1. Sponge 4. Astonish 9. Avenue 10. Remedial 12. Pack-drill

13. Abele 14. Unscientific 18. Confidential 21. Aorta 22. Candidate 24. Consigns 25. Little 26. Enhanced 27. Smirks.

Down: 1. Stamp out 2. Opencast 3. Gourd 5. Spellbinding 6. Operation 7. Irises 8. Halter 11. Significance 15. Isolation 16. Disaster 17. Sleepers 19. Gauche 20. French 23. Idiom.