1-across – Noticeable job : OBJECTIONABLE

8-across – <span>Painter</span><i>,The Persistence of Memory</i> : DALI

9-across – Youngster’s recreational associate : PLAYMATE

10-across – Tiny tahini ingredient : SESAMESEED

12-across – Card game with ‘shooting the moon’ – cabbage centres : HEARTS

14-across – Still at the original place : INSITU

15-across – Not top-notch : SECONDRATE

19-across – Imaginary circle,prime perhaps : MERIDIAN

20-across – Standard monetary unit of Thailand : BAHT

21-across – Goings-on : FUNNYBUSINESS

2-down – Bangle : BRACELET

3-down – 1978 musical : EVITA

4-down – Like some beaches : TOPLESS

5-down – Speechify : ORATE

6-down – Fleets of warships : ARMADAS

7-down – It may be strummed by a troubadour : LUTE

11-down – Components of suture : STITCHES

13-down – Ill-advised kind of ‘roulette’ : RUSSIAN

14-down – Batting spells : INNINGS

16-down – Ascend : CLIMB

17-down – Redbreast : ROBIN

18-down – Suitor – fop : BEAU

1-across – Ready to eat : RIPE

3-across – Small celestial body : ASTEROID

8-across – Olive ___ – dreary : DRAB

9-across – Rudeness : ENDUSERS

11-across – Vessel in the cold – conversation starter : ICEBREAKER

14-across – Seventh ___ : HEAVEN

15-across – Bread brand – agile : NIMBLE

17-across – Means of access to a tree house,e.g. : ROPELADDER

20-across – The Greek one has 24 letters : ALPHABET

21-across – Sports item thrown from behind an oche : DART

22-across – Languid – unlike Santa? : LISTLESS

23-across – Protection for inhabitants of high chairs : BIBS

1-down – It means ‘stop’ : REDLIGHT

2-down – It goes between crockery and table : PLACEMAT

4-down – American writer Susan,1933–2004 : SONTAG

5-down – Promoting unity among branches of Christianity : ECUMENICAL

6-down – It may bode good or evil : OMEN

7-down – Where a newsreader sits : DESK

10-down – Mêlée : FREEFORALL

12-down – Largest UAE emirate : ABUDHABI

13-down – Accumulated debris : DETRITUS

16-down – Dido’s love,for a spell : AENEAS

18-down – Grey,Marshal or Wessex : EARL

19-down – Mimics : APES

1-across – Impound : CONFISCATE

7-across – Displayer of an L : LEARNER

8-across – Contrivance of interlocking parts for fastening : CLASP

10-across – Form of cricket : TEST

11-across – <span>One that’s </span><i>Laughing</i><span> in the Wallace Collection</span> : CAVALIER

13-across – Less sensible – breakfast item : RASHER

15-across – Wine seller – a bodge : BODEGA

17-across – Poppycock : CLAPTRAP

18-across – e.g. Peter the Great : TSAR

21-across – Diversion for a toddler – trombone component : SLIDE

22-across – Pollen producers : STAMENS

23-across – e.g. honey : ENDEARMENT

1-down – Leather riding leggings : CHAPS

2-down – Low square : NINE

3-down – Encroachment : INROAD

4-down – Big crested parrot : COCKATOO

5-down – Occasion for nourishment : TEATIME

6-down – Crockery frames : PLATERACKS

9-down – Eternally frozen subsoil : PERMAFROST

12-down – One with an appreciation for the finer things : AESTHETE

14-down – Aquatic creature that’s not really feline : SEALION

16-down – Wilhelm II,e.g. : KAISER

19-down – It comes between blood and tears : SWEAT

20-down – ___-in-arms – 23ac : BABE

1-across – Hardly a gallop : SNAILSPACE

7-across – <span>Prey of a Traitor in </span><i>The Traitors</i> : FAITHFUL

8-across – Bobber in a dock : BUOY

9-across – Single sheet of glass : PANE

10-across – Not an official recording : BOOTLEG

12-across – Pale blue-eyed felines : SIAMESECATS

14-across – Weakness – biting the dust : FAILING

16-across – Very eager : AGOG

19-across – <span>Singer – ale seen in Manet’s </span><i>A Bar at the Folies-Bergère</i> : BASS

20-across – PM between James and John : MARGARET

21-across – Beatles’ background : MERSEYSIDE

1-down – Acute – musical note – natty : SHARP

2-down – Feeler : ANTENNA

3-down – Back,Bank or luggage : LEFT

4-down – It goes over your head : PULLOVER

5-down – Biblical unit of length : CUBIT

6-down – Over-par scores : BOGEYS

11-down – George Sand and George Eliot,e.g. : PENNAMES

12-down – Beetle revered in ancient Egypt : SCARAB

13-down – Inhabitant of Kabul,e.g. : AFGHANI

15-down – Fine,smooth cotton thread used especially for stockings : LISLE

17-down – Long-necked,bright-plumaged wader : GREBE

18-down – Donkey’s sound : BRAY

1-across – Plato’s tutor : SOCRATES

5-across – Throne’s platform : DAIS

9-across – A proper look at the books : AUDIT

10-across – Concerning the ticker : CARDIAC

11-across – Instrument often erroneously referred to as a xylophone : GLOCKENSPIEL

13-across – Bird with a very showy mate : PEAHEN

14-across – 7” platter : SINGLE

17-across – Cowboy’s voluminous headgear : TENGALLONHAT

20-across – Evidently sincere : EARNEST

21-across – Postponement of rising : LIEIN

22-across – Pip – source – offspring : SEED

23-across – Workshy : BONEIDLE

1-down – Retinal ___ : SCAN

2-down – Wiggle in ‘soupçon’ : CEDILLA

3-down – Rigid document carriers : ATTACHECASES

4-down – Shun : ESCHEW

6-down – Legal term meaning ‘elsewhere’ in Latin : ALIBI

7-down – Soi-disant : SOCALLED

8-down – Artist’s name for ferric ferrocyanide : PRUSSIANBLUE

12-down – Devoid of blemishes : SPOTLESS

15-down – OK : GOAHEAD

16-down – The worse for wear : BLOTTO

18-down – Hospital employee : NURSE

19-down – Green Gables inhabitant : ANNE