1-across – Aplomb – or kind of a trick? : CONFIDENCE

6-across – 4, whichever way you look at it! : BOOB

9-across – Cutter between Channel Islands, losing direction, distressed : INCISOR

10-across – Bullfighter Damon shown exit, we hear : MATADOR

12-across – ‘Paella?’ groaned displaced American writer : EDGARALLANPOE

14-across – Jury’s findings after court’s thrown out Italian scorer : VERDI

15-across – Runners’ trainers? : BEANPOLES

16-across – Excess denim – rare – fancy! : REMAINDER

18-across – Part of caterpillar going slowly : LARGO

20-across – Per Spooner, the time for gardening had come: no-one told me : HOWWASITOKNOW

23-across – To begin with, thoroughbred turned, went at moderate pace : TROTTED

24-across – Mix using seeds to augment relish – delicious, primarily? : MUSTARD

25-across – Confines swans : PENS

26-across – Buff and shine statue, mostly vigorously : ENTHUSIAST

1-down – Prune extract : CLIP

2-down – Heavily armed and dim – peacekeepers flipping! : NUCLEAR

3-down – At home, Mark supposing that Everyman is able to take time to be petty : INSIGNIFICANT

4-down – Fright being topless, a mistake : ERROR

5-down – Chair reupholstered with lamé fabric : CAMELHAIR

7-down – Crossword setter’s into dictionary, mate: that’s kind of complex : OEDIPAL

8-down – Where you might get a flat top – hopefully not from the tenor : BARBERSHOP

11-down – They go up and down in tailspin, storm raging : TRAMPOLINISTS

13-down – Somewhat extrovert, he topes too much : OVERTHETOP

15-down – Badly bred, dined staying in PJs? : BEDRIDDEN

17-down – Butcher’s second wife unhappy : MOWDOWN

19-down – Basic facts; a little conflict’s arisen : RAWDATA

21-down – Va-va-voom, or emphatically minimal speed? : OOMPH

22-down – Change hearts of greedier visitors : EDIT

1-across – Detective Inspector, cop, old copper, last thing in obnoxiousness: dinosaur! : DIPLODOCUS

6-across – Nothing new about Welshman : OWEN

9-across – Jalopy in which conductor confined? : RATTLETRAP

10-across – Rowers swaggered : CREW

12-across – Snob: one who calls everyone simply ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’? : NAMEDROPPER

15-across – Catchy song remixed, Warmonger – No Good : EARWORM

16-across – One’s just arrived, consumed by inert gas : NEONATE

17-across – Sally’s beginning to wear uniform – twice, as a rule : USUALLY

19-across – Polymeric rows, ornately twisted – essential in nutrition, primarily? : PROTEIN

20-across – Pages describing Scotsman Oscar having row with keyboardist : PIANOPLAYER

23-across – The writer swindles revered figure : ICON

24-across – From prison, runs into trouble – who sees it all? : BIGBROTHER

25-across – Standard choice of extremes of Neoplatonism : NORM

26-across – Meets anger flexibly for treaties : AGREEMENTS

1-down – As you heard, one who’ll stain clothes is awful : DIRE

2-down – Meaty spread for the Crown : PATE

3-down – English actor to flourish following location of Disney World : ORLANDOBLOOM

4-down – ‘Best opera? Time’s running out! Time’s running short!’ … ‘I’m not sure’ : OPTIMUM

5-down – African’s somewhat smug and annoying : UGANDAN

7-down – Lacks power supply in offices etc : WORKPLACES

8-down – City’s owner, surprisingly, Banks : NEWORLEANS

11-down – Yogurt: ‘moo’ or ‘oat’, principally? Irritated parent’s testy response : GOTOYOURROOM

13-down – Topless – impertinence – starting again! : RESUMPTION

14-down – Minstrel with horn going round queen, old and grumpy : TROUBADOUR

18-down – Flogging – initially taking seconds, becoming year – crying in pain : YELLING

19-down – Outstanding isle for exile: constantly speak up : PAYABLE

21-down – Feature observed in etching : CHIN

22-down – A woman – a flower – Everyman with chance? Almost : IRIS

1-across – Perhaps selfie after selfie, ultimately overblown : EPIC

4-across – Also one of Disney+’s characters : PLUS

8-across – Spooner’s to cycle past Royal Courts of Justice? Let’s hear some music : STRIKEUPTHEBAND

11-across – Principally, facecloth : FLANNEL

12-across – Result of rogue régimes? : EMIGRES

13-across – Duke wearing beam following frothy coffee: how modern! : LATTERDAY

14-across – Depicted as haggard : DRAWN

15-across – Thieved a gown : STOLE

16-across – Describing silvery metal, irritated Marie Curie twice cut off by lecturer : MERCURIAL

19-across – Head of Anatomy to regret tartan cap – flipping unprofessional : AMATEUR

21-across – Namby-pamby takes money from old prince : MILKSOP

22-across – Loud coo and cluck up here? : CLOUDCUCKOOLAND

23-across – Quick – cut French cheese : BRIE

24-across – In hearing, is conscious of sensory organ : NOSE

2-down – Pink geese, barking dog : PEKINGESE

3-down – Joined overthrow of government – then governed : COUPLED

4-down – Like young wizard’s bowls and plates? : POTTERY

5-down – Taking slices of charcuterie – we’ve all been there : UTERI

6-down – American-European union welcomed by Florida as advantageous : USEFUL

7-down – Inventor facing the wrong way: side on : EDISON

9-down – Criticise King Edward for one having beef with this? : ROASTPOTATO

10-down – Acid satire represented a part of the Med : ADRIATICSEA

14-down – Old Spanish coins criminally unsold? Boo : DOUBLOONS

15-down – Formality that’s found in toast : STARCH

16-down – Grammar queen ignored to some extent in exhibition venue : MARQUEE

17-down – Mike ran madly to get little baking dish : RAMEKIN

18-down – They’re fatty muscular flaps: Everyman had tucked in : LIPIDS

20-down – Tree you might turn to for advice : ELDER

1-across – Loose rope – vessel misses the alarm? : OVERSLEEPS

6-across – Hot beverage, somewhat archaic : CHAI

9-across – In Paris, Peter embraces girlfriend in townhouse? : PIEDATERRE

10-across – City consultor regularly ignored : OSLO

11-across – Location for evening dress? : IRONINGBOARD

15-across – Recovered from gangrene, wallaby’s fresh start : RENEWAL

16-across – Location with unpleasant smell: its effect is psychological : PLACEBO

17-across – ‘I cry a river’: first of stanza’s lines showing who’s under pressure : ISOBARS

19-across – Caribbean island offering halos, certificates of miracles, did you say? : STKITTS

20-across – Emulate xylophonist: ring any bells : STRIKEACHORD

23-across – Frank in tennis championship? : OPEN

24-across – In stomped University College head, now and again brought into use : INTRODUCED

25-across – Everyman’s eating spot of acrid duck sauce : MAYO

26-across – Artist to draw outline of the old mine? Almost : TRACEYEMIN

1-down – Supermarkets not opening? Oh dear! : OOPS

2-down – Earl to go for duelling sword : EPEE

3-down – As Spooner tells it, public school’s meat is a bird of prey : SPARROWHAWK

4-down – Seeing back half of salter, in lane, reversing – it’s going on forever : ETERNAL

5-down – Rod’s to knock up root vegetable : PARSNIP

7-down – Monarch, one surrounded by hams, cracked joke with dirty ending : HISMAJESTY

8-down – To odiously fudge announcement after the event : ITOLDYOUSO

12-down – Time for shopping – badly, if rack damaged : BLACKFRIDAY

13-down – Occasion hoping for bright ideas after British wet weather : BRAINSTORM

14-down – Tipsiness: so tiny crackers sandwiching French cheese : INSOBRIETY

18-down – Tool for bridge? : SPANNER

19-down – Primarily solid – perhaps heavenly, endlessly rotating in circles? : SPHERIC

21-down – Apple computers lifted in con : SCAM

22-down – Last bit of wine – private room – paradise! : EDEN

1-across – Tree resins in health facilities sent back : SAPS

3-across – Common insects: audience hurries away : HOUSEFLIES

9-across – What’s in jug? Lichee fruit : UGLI

10-across – Messed around with ease, I might be on a roll : SESAMESEED

11-across – Bureaucrat to avoid waterfowl : MANDARINDUCK

15-across – Pine marten perhaps leading in distance raced : FURLONG

16-across – Ignoring some affront, he got busy : ONTHEGO

17-across – Everyman initially nags deputies: they fill the cells : INMATES

19-across – Corroborate order for Paddington to go? : BEAROUT

20-across – Writhing, hurt, rocks or reels at first, filled with dread : HORRORSTRUCK

23-across – According to Spooner, not one youngster or the other is to wed : TIETHEKNOT

24-across – In den, with stomach churning, peddler of falsehoods : LIAR

25-across – Records rugby highlights in woven illustrations : TAPESTRIES

26-across – Empire invaded by Spanish finding home by Central America : INCA

1-down – Miss embraced by oiled nudist hunk : STUDMUFFIN

2-down – Race car, for example – or kayak! : PALINDROME

4-down – Job available in Gap : OPENING

5-down – Creep showing how to describe what’s average in two words? : SOANDSO

6-down – Egg on this: santé! : FRENCHTOAST

7-down – Notion, almost perfect : IDEA

8-down – Scandalous author – disturbing eroticist, principally? : SADE

12-down – Characters seen in Britain’s Got Talent and The Winter’s Tale? : APOSTROPHES

13-down – Rising gyration : REVOLUTION

14-down – Alternative adopted by disruptive shakeout somewhere on the Yellow Sea : SOUTHKOREA

18-down – Attacking footballer, one with brilliant match? : STRIKER

19-down – Read aloud Howl, poem: will it scan? : BARCODE

21-down – Piece of info, ASAP! : STAT

22-down – Look furtively – in both directions? : PEEP