I found this quite a bit easier than usual, but I may have been lucky in knowing many of the references, solving time just under 15 mins.
* = anagram
ACROSS
1 FIR ST AID “Stayed”
6 CO(ME) T O
9 THE L-SHAPED ROOM (dream hotel posh)* good seamless join at book/hotel. Book by Lynne Reid Banks made into a film, which I was familiar with.
10 PE (K) E Middle letter of walKies
11 ABE (Lincoln) R RATION
12 FLESH OUT (Those flu)*
11 NO BODY “Diary of a Nobody” – again a book I knew about
16 P OUNCE
17 SHERATON Very well hidden in a fluent surface reading
18 DELIA SMITH L1 in (this Edam)* L1 to be read, I think as £1 (money)
21 K NEW last letter novel = new. Hope you were not trying to find out what was Steinbeck’s last book
22 WHIPPE(t) R SNAPPER r = runs (cricket) Definition: pup
23 Henri TROY A T French writer, of Russian origin, who died fairly recently, wrote historical novels, again I was lucky to be familiar with him.
24 POTATOES (pots o’ tea)*
DOWN
2 IN T HE ALTO (GET) HER Got this straightaway from the definition
3 ST EVENSON(g) Robert Louis
4 AT SEA Hidden
5 D EA (RE) ST
6 CLEARANCE Cryptic definition, referring to aircraft
7 MER IT Merc with it for c (cycle)
8 TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE GB Shaw’s play “Too True to be Good” ‘arranged’. Good definition: Unbelievably brilliant
13 OVERSPENT (never stop)* Excellent surface
15 BLACK SPOT Double definition
17 SLIP S UP
19 (s)IMPLY
20 HE (His Excellency) ART
Can’t let this one by without commending DAC’s surfaces. I particularly liked ‘get arrested’ in 2 down.
…yet that was the one thing in the puzzle that I was not happy with. To me “arrested” does not convey the concept of containment very well (I consider the word to be more related to the stopping of someone). I’d have been happier with something like “caught” or “taken into custody”.
Being a literary philistine I also struggeled a bit with the book/play references (TROYAT, Shaw, L-SHAPED ROOM) but at least Diary of a Nobody rang a bell from other crosswords.
Good puzzle though.
23ac had to be “Troyat” but I had to google it to confirm. And until I got a checking letter I wasn’t sure which way round “good” and “true” were in 8dn since Shaw’s title ‘arranged’ the original expression. Nice puzzle, though.