Solving time, 20 mins.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 FAST Double definition – clue dividing at anything/impure
3 HACKNEYED My favourite clue “Overfamiliar and cheeky when mixing” (and cheeky)*
9 RA(N)GE thing = what’s fashionable
10 LIE IN WA(I)T Tyler
11 BE (RE) T
12 SATANISM (Mass ain’t)*
13 ANTI-IMPERIALISM (Paris militiamen)*
17 DISCOUNTENANCED (Sad unconnected I)*
18 SMART S ET
21 (s)AMPLE about 16.7% = one-sixth
23 POLYTHENE (yet no help)*
24 TI(g)ERS
25 CON CORD(s) AgreemenT
26 ETON note<
DOWN
1 FIRE Russell BRAND re controversy last year at BBC
2 SENORITAS (assertion)*
3 HOLDS UP ONE’S HEAD head = boss
4 CHESTER-LE-STREET (test selector here)* less o. Durham ground which hosted test cricket for the first time in recent years but was disappointed not to be awarded an Ashes Test. I think this is what the clue refers to.
5 N (IN)ON
6 William Butler Y(E)ATS stay< e = end of odE
7 DATE alternate letters of Dear Trev ‘missing’ put in to help the surface reading.
8 NEUTRINO (nun to ire)*
14 A MA RANTH (a thorn)* less o
15 I NCIPIENT (nice pint)*
16 MID- (SEAS) ON mid-on, fielding position in cricket.
19 ME (LO)N
20 RETRO Double definition
22 EPIC hidden in thE PICture.