1-across – Platitude, commonplace comment : CLICHE

4-across – Outcast, pariah : LEPER

7-across – Attractively unusual : QUAINT

8-across – Punch repeatedly : PUMMEL

9-across – Debatable : MOOT

10-across – Desperate : HOPELESS

12-across – Drunken Roman celebrations : BACCHANALIA

17-across – Social response to a sneeze : BLESSYOU

19-across – In proximity : NEAR

20-across – Develop gradually : EVOLVE

21-across – Fire or light warning : BEACON

22-across – Take an oath : SWEAR

23-across – Main route : ARTERY

1-down – Unit of electrical charge : COULOMB

2-down – Stupid : IDIOTIC

3-down – Go to bed : HITTHEHAY

4-down – Parasitic insect : LOUSE

5-down – City buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius : POMPEII

6-down – Piquant sauce : RELISH

11-down – Bank card identifier : PINNUMBER

13-down – Asounding : AWESOME

14-down – Direct descent, pedigree : LINEAGE

15-down – Comparison, relationship : ANALOGY

16-down – Preoccupy : OBSESS

18-down – Break off : SEVER

1-across – In conflict : ATODDS

4-across – Adroit, intelligent : CLEVER

9-across – Addition to a Will : CODICIL

10-across – Carnivorous lizard : GECKO

11-across – Middle Eastern country : SYRIA

12-across – Collection of historical records : ARCHIVE

13-across – Means of identifying acidity or alkalinity of a substance : LITMUSPAPER

18-across – Bacterial infection : CHOLERA

20-across – Legal ruling on a point of Islamic law : FATWA

22-across – Top level of celebrity : ALIST

23-across – Thrift : ECONOMY

24-across – : EVENLY

25-across – Purloined : STOLEN

1-down – Charge with an offence : ACCUSE

2-down – Command : ORDER

3-down – Orate : DECLAIM

5-down – Science of reasoning : LOGIC

6-down – Substance conferring immunity : VACCINE

7-down – Engaged in a vioent public disturbance : RIOTED

8-down – Unbearded : CLEANSHAVEN

14-down – Worship : IDOLISE

15-down – Insult, offence : AFFRONT

16-down – Abrade : SCRAPE

17-down – Deep gorge : CANYON

19-down – Sing the praises of : EXTOL

21-down – Ugly creature in folklore : TROLL

1-across – Friendly, affable : SOCIABLE

5-across – Secular, non-clergy : LAIC

9-across – Contagious viral disease : MUMPS

10-across – Decaying animal flesh : CARRION

11-across – Sleepwalker : SOMNAMBULIST

13-across – Punctual : ONTIME

14-across – Foment : STIRUP

17-across – Traditional English breakfast fare : BACONANDEGGS

20-across – Middle Eastern native : ISRAELI

21-across – Apportion : ALLOT

22-across – Bridge or road charge : TOLL

23-across – Person of wide learning : POLYMATH

1-down – Identical : SAME

2-down – Decaying organic material; fertilizer : COMPOST

3-down – Forgetful, pre-occupied : ABSENTMINDED

4-down – Temporary substitutes : LOCUMS

6-down – Plea of being elsewhere : ALIBI

7-down – Memorial to the dead : CENOTAPH

8-down – Treatment of several people at the same time : GROUPTHERAPY

12-down – Professional working to influence legislators : LOBBYIST

15-down – The trappings of monarchy : REGALIA

16-down – Dark blue colour : INDIGO

18-down – Shade of deep pink : CORAL

19-down – Yen, hankering : ITCH

6-across – Place of ablutions and of Marat’s assassination : BATHTUB

8-across – Stuff oneself : GORGE

9-across – Leg bone : TIBIA

10-across – Former student : ALUMNUS

11-across – Where Poirot investigates the murder of Samuel Ratchett : ORIENTEXPRESS

14-across – Race instructions : READYSTEADYGO

17-across – Mythological monster – illusion : CHIMERA

18-across – Add together : TOTUP

20-across – Beg : PLEAD

21-across – Missing : LACKING

1-down – Slaughterhouse : ABATTOIR

2-down – Attempt : STAB

3-down – Sieve – tax : STRAIN

4-down – Fruit tree plantation : ORANGERY

5-down – Optical device – French city : LENS

7-down – Do pioneering work : BLAZEATRAIL

8-down – Cantankerous person : GRUMP

12-down – Unreal : IMAGINED

13-down – Obstruction – cessation : STOPPAGE

15-down – Give in : YIELD

16-down – Assault : ATTACK

17-down – Get by : COPE

19-down – Hallucinogenic experience : TRIP

1-across – High-grossing film : BLOCKBUSTER

8-across – Someone reluctant to throw things away : HOARDER

9-across – Strong, usually blue fabric : DENIM

10-across – Small monkey – H. H. Munro’s pseudonym : SAKI

11-across – Fish supplying caviar : STURGEON

13-across – Chronicles : ANNALS

14-across – Crossword rival? : SUDOKU

17-across – Exceed : OUTSTRIP

19-across – Pericles, Prince of ___ : TYRE

21-across – Song’s opening passage : INTRO

22-across – Flowering plant – faeries : FREESIA

23-across – Long-running Australian soap : HOMEANDAWAY

1-down – Char, say : BLACKEN

2-down – Probability : ODDS

3-down – Martial art : KARATE

4-down – Sell more cheaply than : UNDERCUT

5-down – Anxious : TENSE

6-down – I may be one : ROMANNUMERAL

7-down – Leningrad Symphony composer : SHOSTAKOVICH

12-down – Abundance : PLETHORA

15-down – Epic journey : ODYSSEY

16-down – Peeved : MIFFED

18-down – Possibly sacred, symbolic object : TOTEM

20-down – Feline utterance : MEOW