Yes, this was mainly quite easy but there were some very good surfaces. “Bob has no trousers” made me laugh. “Poor Bob”, I thought. I also liked DOVER SOLE, ABSTINENT, PREVENT and LAMPSHADE.
I found the puzzle reasonably entertaining but like others, I thought CRAMPON was a bit of a muddle. Anyway, thanks Chiffers.

Pat Nixon, then First Lady of the USA, donated two PANDAs to the Washington Zoo (otherwise she would have kept them on the White House lawn?).  They were part of China’s panda diplomacy (following ping-pong diplomacy), having been given to the Nixons during their China trip.  (Apparently Edward Heath, then British PM, didn’t want to be left out, and asked for 2 pandas which duly arrived at London Zoo.)  

That’s an unrecognisably young Willie Nelson.  I did say that the links were to “blog/crossword”.  After I had typed “how time slips away” cf. 13across, the song, co-written and performed by Willie, “Funny How Time Slips Away” started playing in my head.

Wakey Wakey was Billy Cotton’s signature call.

The US reciprocated panda diplomacy by sending a pair of musk oxen to China.

After 2 oil spills off Brazil, the oil company, Chevron Corporation, is deep in it.

Russ Conway had a hit with Side Saddle.

And thank you all for your comments.

Thanks scchua; I thought a cleaver was, well, a ‘cleaver,’ not a knife, but I see Wiki says it is a knife, so my objection stops here. NeilW @7; I can’t see the objection to ‘into;’ if someone is put into jail they are banged up.

Picture 1 is Pat Nixon – When a news photographer wanted her to strike yet another pose while wearing an APRON, she firmly responded, “I think we’ve had enough of this kitchen thing, don’t you?” Pic 2 is WILLIE NELSON; not sure of the link, but he did have a song called PARTNERs After All. Pic 3′s link has already been established to Bill COTTON. Pic 4 is a Musk Ox (?) [It's not a PANDA, and doesn't need CRAMPONS, but is a GREAT BEAST!] Pic 5 relates to the CHEVRON oil spill. Pic 6 as before is Russ Conway, who played Side SADDLE.

Not convinced by saddle = charge. To charge somebody with doing something doesn’t necessarily mean you are saddling them with it, they may want to do it. I guess it sometimes works, but not always.

Unexpected is a spurious word in 13. Anyone with something incurable, like me, will tell you that relapses are totally expected. Deterioration defines relapse (sort of), whether it is expected or not.

Cheers…

I only got to this this afternoon. A pleasant enough stroll on the whole. I found the top right corner the most difficult and the most enjoyable to crack. I agree with Querulous@5 re ‘jail’ (verb).