Cryptic crossword - The Scotsman 01/05/14

ACROSS

1 Perform one song, initially, even first-class, so try as hard as you can (2,4,5,4)

9 One liar acts up, in burlesque (9)

10 Would a little girl be startled, at first, by feelings? (5)

11 Clearing good boy, at the end (5)

12 Grande dame took common girls to find some beetles (9)

13 Was a 16 down right back bitter? (5)

15 Dilute the course of a cataract (5,4)

17 Accelerates, at one time, to speed over it (9)

19 Ship’s captain promoted second character to hold back water in the city (9)

21 Father had to get a new warning device (5)

23 Did a man have to leave the US to get the girl? (5)

24 Fashionable society in fine fettle (5)

25 To correspond with seaman, the French find appropriate (9)

26 Describe how we throttle in the ring, but have to surrender (5,2,3,5)

DOWN

1 Nominate delegate to draft a note (9)

2 Hold the wrong artist, say, over atrocity (7)

3 Although always poetic, that’s a bit uncanny (5)

4 In the US, is a union branch close by? (5)

5 Ratifies elaborate details in the V and A (9)

6 Small parrots have nothing on other fliers (9)

7 Impose ban on me returning to the pub, and having to leave (7)

8 Model get requests for engagements (5)

14 Plot with academic to get at a colleague (9)

15 Took reserved private out of circulation (9)

16 Is prone to nail up old type (9)

18 Did a great old chemist have a bond with an ancient city? (7)

20 Iris got a painter in area of London’s East End (7)

21 Property of a top-secret society (5)

22 Prune back hard, to some hilarity (5)

23 Stand up before the court, in short (5)