Solving time, just under 20 mins.
* = anagram < = reversed
1 DISSEMBLANCE SE in (Lib Dems can)*
9 L EASE L END Usually known as Lend-Lease but both alternatives are in dicts
10 TROOP po(o)rt< port = left
11 NU DE <ed
12 SHACK LET ON
13 GALACTIC, Gala for he in hectic
15 IN TACT
17 EXODUS Book of the Bible – I did wonder tho if the two parts were very similar as that’s what the book is about. Or maybe it’s Leon Uris’s book (Exodus) on the founding of Israel later made into a film. In any event, no problems solving it, tho.
18 PO(MA)NDER
20 NIGHTDRESS (shed resting)* less e (attire finally – last letter) Elaborate construction & lit
21 GROT Double definition
24 LYRIC Hidden, and referring to Cliff, perhaps. Playing on meanings of ‘pen’
25 NECES(SA)RY (scenery)*
26 MAKE ENDS MEET
DOWN
1 Bob DYLAN Hidden (and an & lit touch perhaps)
2 SCAN DALMONGERS (old Germans)*
3 (Sw)EDEN I think this is why – ‘first couple’ referring to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the first two letters of Sweden.
4 BLENHEIM ORANGE (one here blaming)* A well-concealed anagram – even tho I’d never heard of it, I worked it out from crossing letters. When checking after, surprised to find it’s in neither Chambers nor Collins but is in the Concise OED. And it seems oranges can sometimes be apples after all!
5 AB DUCT
6 C (A TALON) IA
7 FORT LAUDERDALE (Tearful lad rode)*
8 SPINSTER N in (priests)* Good surface
13 GREEN FLY Ditto
14 CRUST ACE A
16 (CORSICA) N (a croc is)* last thing man wants = last letter n
22 TRY ST
23 IS IS