Author name: crosswordanswers

1-across – Congratulate : SLAPONTHEBACK

8-across – Seed : NUT

9-across – Fly, garcon : GYRFALCON

10-across – Relative by marriage : SONINLAW

11-across – Travelled quickly : SPED

13-across – Make evident : ATTEST

14-across – Apprise: grass! : INFORM

16-across – Great merriment : GLEE

17-across – Against a river’s natural flow : UPSTREAM

20-across – Introduce an idea or attitude into the mind of: immunise : INOCULATE

21-across – Rent out: grant : LET

22-across – Important step towards an achievement : HALFTHEBATTLE

1-down – Polishes : SANDS

2-down – Behaving in a silly way : ACTINGTHEFOOL

3-down – Accompanist, keyboard player : ORGANIST

4-down – Fearsome person: kind of sauce : TARTAR

5-down – Combination of style and vigour : ELAN

6-down – : ACCEPTONESLOT

7-down – Realm : KINGDOM

12-down – Curse; object of loathing : ANATHEMA

13-down – Extreme torment : ANGUISH

15-down – Narcotic : OPIATE

18-down – 1.094 yards : METRE

19-down – Hard animal fat used in cooking : SUET

1-across – Secondary action : BYPLAY

4-across – Social position : STATUS

9-across – Tube taking inhaled air from the larynx : TRACHEA

10-across – Spread or diffuse through; inspire : IMBUE

11-across – Fourth letter of the ancient Greek alphabet: river feature : DELTA

12-across – On the wrong track; awry : OFFBEAM

13-across – The style, music, place, etc in current fashion : ALLTHEVOGUE

18-across – Large, powerful short-haired dog : MASTIFF

20-across – Melting snow : SLUSH

22-across – With a forward motion: in accompaniment : ALONG

23-across – Make illegal : LAUNDER

24-across – Social media messages : TWEETS

25-across – Salad item or cooked vegetable : CELERY

1-down – Happen to : BETIDE

2-down – Smooth lustrous round structure of calcium carbonate : PEARL

3-down – Transverse; at an oblique angle : ATHWART

5-down – Pilferer : THIEF

6-down – Diorama; vignette : TABLEAU

7-down – Torrid, erotic : STEAMY

8-down – Sate, be replete : EATONESFILL

14-down – Lithe; nimble : LISSOME

15-down – Make unclear, indistinct, or blurred : OBSCURE

16-down – Diacritical mark : UMLAUT

17-down – Fortified wine of Spain : SHERRY

19-down – Cast metal obtained from a mould : INGOT

21-down – Disproportionate : UNDUE

1-across – Live in permanently : RESIDE

4-across – Organisation : SETUP

7-across – Horror-struck : AGHAST

8-across – Stabbed with intent to harm or kill : KNIFED

9-across – Himalayan legend : YETI

10-across – Type of translucent porcelain : EGGSHELL

12-across – Current position : STATEOFPLAY

17-across – Mass communicators : THEMEDIA

19-across – Eastern men of lore; Epiphany figures : MAGI

20-across – Fatty animal substance in soap making : TALLOW

21-across – Hard to understand, see through : OPAQUE

22-across – Social class : CASTE

23-across – Paramount : UTMOST

1-down – Backslide : REGRESS

2-down – Indefatigability : STAMINA

3-down – Carry out an unpleasant act, eg murder : DOTHEDEED

4-down – Air cavity in the cranial bones : SINUS

5-down – Thin crisp lustrous silk : TAFFETA

6-down – Scull : PADDLE

11-down – Hit maximum speed : GOFLATOUT

13-down – Latticework support for plants : TRELLIS

14-down – Rheumatic pain in the small of the back : LUMBAGO

15-down – Tory? Ugh! : YOGHURT

16-down – Constant : STATIC

18-down – Show feelings excessively : EMOTE

5-across – Stop work; strike : DOWNTOOLS

8-across – Become limp : WILT

9-across – In arrest : RESTRAIN

10-across – Staggered : REELED

11-across – After Psalms, the longest book in the Old Testament : ISAIAH

13-across – Acts as a conversation starter : BREAKS

15-across – See 13 : THEICE

16-across – Productive: financially sound : ECONOMIC

18-across – State positively : AVER

19-across – Testimonial : REFERENCE

1-down – Mexican corn-meal pancake : TORTILLA

2-down – Natural : INBRED

3-down – Art of growing dwarf varieties of tree : BONSAI

4-down – Innuendo : SLUR

6-down – Witty remark; gag : WISECRACK

7-down – Merchant banker, perhaps : FINANCIER

12-down – Recess : ABEYANCE

14-down – Smile coyly : SIMPER

15-down – Heart : TICKER

17-down – Exigency : NEED

5-across – Fund : BEARTHECOST

7-across – Monster : OGRE

8-across – Laboratory instrument : TESTTUBE

9-across – Good-natured : AFFABLE

11-across – Linking peg : DOWEL

13-across – Seize forcibly : WREST

14-across – Site of unpredictable volcanic activity : HOTSPOT

16-across – Desert arachnid : SCORPION

17-across – Entertain regally : FETE

18-across – Edible root of the Americas : SWEETPOTATO

1-down – Exceptional : RARE

2-down – Impressive in appearance; majestic : STATELY

3-down – Belief in a god from reason not revelation : DEISM

4-down – Serpentine : TORTUOUS

5-down – Set of ingenious plans: the whole thing : BAGOFTRICKS

6-down – Romantic dinner, for example : TABLEFORTWO

10-down – Rod’s seat : ASSORTED

12-down – Rely upon : COUNTON

15-down – Abandons : JILTS

17-down – Young of a horse : FOAL