Fifteensquared

I had a great time with this puzzle. Not as hard as Viking usually is, but with lots of clever wordplay. Thank you Viking.

Across

1 SELF-CLEANING (LENS IF GLANCE)* A nice &lit to start off the puzzle.
8 BONJOUR BONSOIR RIO SNOB (pretentious Brazilian) reversed. // Updated: Thanks to Gaufrid, Mike04, John French.
9 UNCLASP UNCL[e] (pawnbroker, mostly) ASP (a reptile)
11 ENTRANT ERRANT (looking for adventure) – R (first run) + NT (books). ERRANT has 2 Rs; Viking taken care to indicate which one to substitute.
12 EXTREME EX (former) TREE (elder) around M (mass)
13 TIMID (IT)< (DIM)< (gloomy, from the east)
14 ADDRESSES (DA)< (lawyer i.e. District Attorney, backs) DRESSES (formal clothing)
16 ESCAPE KEY ESCAPE (get away) KEY (part of Florida, ref: Florida Keys). Alludes to the escape key on a computer keyboard, which gets one out of jammed processes. Lovely play on ‘freeze’, the surface makes one think of visiting warm Florida during the winters.
19 ON CUE sounds like ‘on Q’ (about to get letter)
21 SOLACES LACE (doctor) in SOS (appeal). Another good clue.
23 ENDORSE from ‘attEND OR SEnd’. I’m always bowled over by such cleverly hidden answers.
24 NURTURE RUT (train track) RUN (to cover a distance), all reversed i.e. to the west + E (east)
25 UPROOTS (DROPOUTS)* – D
26 DETERMINEDLY DETER (check), (DENY IM)* around L (pound)

Down

1 SANCTUM ANC (African National Congress, South Africa’s governing party) in STUMP (defeat) – P (losing power)
2 LEOPARD POE (writer) reversed, in LARD (fat). ‘fat cat’ blends beautifully.
3 CART-TRACK CART and (CART)< = vehicles travelling in both directions, + [bloc]K
4 ELUDE DELUDE (fool) – D
5 NECKTIE (NIKE ETC)*
6 NEATENS N (SATEEN)*
7 OBJECT LESSON (OBSOLESCENT) * around J (judge). An object lesson is a warning or instructive experience.
10 PRESS RELEASE PRESS (urge) RELEASE (acquittal)
15 DAY RETURN cd&d
17 CALORIE A (one) (I ROLE)*, after C (short for carbon)
18 PICTURE PI (sanctimonious) CURE (remedy) around T (time)
19 ORDERED dd
20 CURSORY SCURRY (dash), with head down => moving the S below; around O (nothing)
22 STEAM A (one) in STEM (check)