ACROSS
1 Cricketer as hard as nails? (7)
5 Rockery plant lays all over the place, in front of everything (7)
9 Looked longer at detours, being redirected (9)
10 Superior meal with no trace of soup (5)
11 A number of worthies found among men in England (4)
12 Bible host destroyed by hard test word (10)
14/5d Refrain from drunken carnage? (2-2-2,3,1,6,2,3)
15 Collectors of bones and rocks (7)
16 He gets in half of cash – pound is to decrease in value (7)
18 Many things about a man to feel disgust at (6)
20 Writer, source of treasure, not about to slip back (10)
21 Boring display abandoned by a Parisian (4)
24 Smallest part of domicile, a stable (5)
25 Damage and illness mostly European preserve (9)
26 River bird with bill at the front (7)
27 Sailor, Frenchman, consumed a great deal (7)
DOWN
1 Tanned forehead before end of vacation (5)
2 A new fashion in outfits initially threatened merchant (7)
3 Night flier picking up six letters (4)
4 French invader imprisoning most of the noble lines – Percy or Westmoreland, say (5-10)
5 See 14 across
6 Surprised comment prompted by solvers’ silence? (3,4,3)
7 Certain the writer packs power at the topmost level (7)
8 Horses surrounding church in border country (7)
13 Company, increasingly curtailed, absorbing small French rival (10)
16 Part of ear hearing sound on meadow (7)
17 Eastern trees rot? (3-4)
19 Manor-house containing ancient bag (7)
22 Crime article supported by newspaper (5)
23 Actors in Lloyd-Webber musical (two changing places) (4)
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